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Interview: The World Desperately Needs More Covid-19 Vaccines

New Report Shows More Companies Could Help Produce mRNA Vaccines

The coordinator of the AccessIBSA project, which campaigns for access to medicines in India, Brazil, and South Africa, and a vaccine expert from the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) Access Campaign published a report today…
Vaccine Lab Worker
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Interview: The Law Putting Illinois' Young People at Risk

Forcing Parental Involvement in Abortion Violates Rights

A law in the US state of Illinois that forces people under 18 to involve an adult family member in their abortion decision is failing some of the state’s young people and violating their human rights. In a new joint report with the American Civil…
An illustration of scales imposed over a woman's torso
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Interview: Libya’s Chaos Explained

Civilians Bear the Brunt of Renewed Fighting

Libya began descending into chaos after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. Could you summarize the complex situation in Libya today? The latest conflict started in April 2019, when an armed group in eastern Libya called…
Government of National Accord fighters take positions during clashes with east-based fighters from the Libyan National Army at Al-Yarmouk frontline in Tripoli, Libya on August 29, 2019.
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Interview: Rwanda’s Street Children Locked up, Abused

So what exactly is happening to Kigali’s street children? They’re being rounded up, mostly by police, and taken to a site called Gikondo Transit Center as part of a “rehabilitation process,” as the Rwandan authorities call…
202001AFR_Rwanda_main
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Interview: A Toxic Mix of Abuses on Congo’s Oil Palm Plantations

How European Development Banks Fail the Very People They Claim to Assist

Why did you focus your research on these oil palm plantations? These plantations provide jobs for many people. But their workers are being underpaid and exposed to unhealthy working conditions. The European development banks that finance these…
201911ENV_DRC_reportphotos
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Interview: Playing in Poisoned Dust

Being Outside is a Health Risk for Some of Zambia’s Children

How did you first become aware of the problem in Kabwe? We learned about it from an environmental group several years ago but became interested in doing our own research after seeing a young person from Kabwe speak at a United Nations event.…
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News

Interview: Keeping Armies out of Schools

Why has Human Rights Watch dedicated 10 years to this subject? We really believe that all kids everywhere are entitled to go to school and that they should feel safe in their schools wherever in the world they might be. We also feel that in…
Once soldiers make classrooms their home, the school can become a military target
News

Interview: Children with Disabilities in Kazakhstan Are Missing Out

All Children Should Have Access to School

Why did you focus on Kazakhstan for this report? The Kazakh government has committed to improving education opportunities for children with disabilities, but so far we haven’t seen that commitment lead to meaningful change. We wanted to better…
First grade math class in a mainstream inclusive school in Almaty, Kazakhstan, includes at least one child with disabilities.
News

Interview: Defying the Dominican Republic’s Abortion Law

So, all abortion is banned in the Dominican Republic? Yes. Even in instances where a woman or girl is pregnant from rape or incest, if her life is in danger, or if the fetus won’t survive outside the womb. But the ban, in effect since 1884,…
Rosa Hernández stands in her home below a photo of her daughter, Rosaura Almonte Hernández, who died in 2012 at age 16.
News

Interview: How Security Forces in Somalia Fail to Protect Children

After recruitment by Al-Shabab, children face difficult conditions in detention

How is it that children get involved with Al-Shabab in the first place?   Al-Shabab uses many means to recruit children, including enticements, deceit and force. Poor rural communities, with little protection, are particularly vulnerable to…
Photo of Somali children blindfolded.
News

Interview: The Horror of Australia’s Prisons

Prisoners with Disabilities Serving Time in Solitary, Face Physical, Sexual Abuse

How is it that 50 percent of Australia’s prison population has a disability? Eighteen percent of Australia’s general population has a disability. The most common type of disabilities found in prisons are mental health conditions. People with…
A prisoner lies in his solitary confinement cell in the safety unit at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre, northern Queensland.
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Interview: Intersex Babies Don’t Need ‘Fixing’

What are some of the misconceptions around being born intersex? Unfortunately, in our society we’re still at a point where most people don’t know the basic facts about being intersex. People think it is very rare, but really, up to two percent of the…
A poster by intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis
News

Interview: Zika’s Toll on Brazil’s Families

  What is it like in Recife and Campina Grande, the cities in northeastern Brazil that you visited? AK: What was shocking to me was the vast inequality. There are these beautiful high-rises and a beautiful beach in Recife, and then there…
Raquel bathes her daughter Heloisa, a girl with Zika syndrome born in April 2016. Raquel says she cannot afford the medicines her twin daughters need for convulsions.
News

Central African Republic’s Lost Generation

Fighters Occupying, Looting Schools Keep Children From Their Education

Soldiers camping out in schools and breaking up desks for firewood is common in parts of the Central African Republic.  According to a United Nations report from November, 20 percent of the country’s schools are not operational, many…
Seleka MPC fighters at a roadblock in Bojomo, Ouham province, with a desk they removed from the local school.
News

‘What Is My Future After This?’

Secondary Education Inaccessible for Many Children in Tanzania

Two in five adolescents are out of school in Tanzania, although the country has declared education a national priority and abolished school fees and financial contributions. Lack of money is, however, only one of the reasons why education ends after…
An unfinished science laboratory next to a classroom at a secondary school in Shinyanga region, northern Tanzania.
News

Interview: The Bullying of LGBT Kids in Japan’s Schools

School bullying is notorious in Japan and has been for decades. For LGBT kids in particular, the harassment, threats, and even violence in schools can be unbearable. School policies don’t adequately protect these students. At best, teachers are confused…

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