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Reform Sri Lanka’s Draconian Abortion Law

Legalize Abortion for Rape Survivors and Others

Sri Lanka has among the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, so Justice Minister Ali Sabry’s recent call for parliament to consider legalizing abortion in cases of rape is a significant development. The government should move promptly to…
A protester holds a sign that reads "Our Silence, Our Strength"
News

South Asia’s Women’s Rights Activists Should Be Heard

International Women’s Day Should Prompt Real Reforms

As 2020 drew to a close, protesters across South Asia took to the streets, calling on their governments to take widespread sexual violence against women and children seriously, and to implement real reforms. But rather than listening to experts and…
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News

Demand for Action as Poland Tramples Women’s Rights

European Commission Should Hold Government Accountable for Violating Fundamental Rights

The message was clear at this week’s European Parliament hearing on Poland’s near-ban on abortion: the European Commission should act decisively to protect the lives and rights of women and girls and stop erosion of the values on which the European…
Women's rights activists, holding posters of the Women's Strike action, protest further tightening of Poland's restrictive abortion law in front of the parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
News

Hope for Kenya’s Forgotten Victims

Proposed Reparations Bill Chance to Compensate Post-Election Rape Survivors

This weekend, I received the sad news that Chepkorir had died. Chepkorir, whose name I have changed to protect her privacy, was raped in December 2007. The men who raped her beat her badly and she had been struggling with poor health…
News

Sri Lanka’s Face-Covering Ban a Wrongheaded Response to Easter Bombings

Emergency Measure Targets Muslim Women

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered a ban on face coverings in public as one of a number of emergency measures imposed following the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people and injured hundreds. The ban…
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News

Once Optimistic, Poland’s Women’s Rights Activists Live in Climate of Fear

On Black Protest Anniversary, Support for Women’s Rights Needed

On October 3, 2016, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Poland in defiance of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s attempt to enact a complete abortion ban.  #CzarnyProtest, or Black Protest, and #StrajkKobiet (…
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News

Risk of Sexual Violence Around Kenya’s Repeat Election

More Protection, Support for Victims Needed

Human Rights Watch research confirms that, once again, there was sexual violence against women and girls during the most recent post-election violence in Kenya. I interviewed over 50 victims and witnesses in Mathare, Kisumu, Bungoma, and Dandora.…
Kenya
News

In Poland, Being a Woman Can Be Bad for Your Health

Government Seeks to Limit Sales of ‘Morning After’ Pill

Poland’s government is again trying to curb women’s control over their bodies. After last year’s attempt to impose a near-total ban on abortion, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has introduced a bill to limit sales of…
Protesters hold coathangers to illustrate the danger to women’s safety posed by an outright ban on abortion © Reuters
News

‘I Don’t Think Her Heart Will Ever Like This Baby’

Protecting Children of Rape, the Invisible Victims of Conflict and Political Violence

Akinyi was only 11 years old when three men broke into her home in Kericho, Kenya, in December 2007, as post-election violence raged, and gang raped her and her mother. Akinyi became pregnant, but did not want anything to do with the baby girl she bore.…
Nafula K.,46, was gang raped together with three other women by four men in January 2008 while at an IDP camp.
News

Kenya’s Government Should Resolve Doctors’ Strike

Desperate Patients Trapped by Two-month Stand-off, Ensuing Life or Death Medical Crisis

“I am staring death in the face. We are dying one by one,” Rose Adhiambo told us. “My friend, a cancer patient like me, was buried today. I am stuck in this private hospital now with bills that I cannot pay.” Rose, a 46-year-old…
Kenyan doctors chant slogans to demand fulfilment of a 2013 agreement between their union and the government that would raise their pay and improve working conditions outside the employment and labour relations courts in Nairobi, Kenya, January 26, 2017.
News

Polish Women Rally to Protect Rights and Lives

Draft Law Would Push Abortion into Back Alleys

Coat hangers strung from trees and piled up in front of government buildings by protesters serve as a grim reminder that women’s lives are at risk under Poland’s proposed new abortion law. The bill, now under review by…
Woman holds a placard as she takes part in an abortion rights campaigners' demonstration in front of the Parliament in Warsaw, Poland September 22, 2016. The placard reads: "Let's save women".
News

Dispatches: A UN Boost for Rural Women’s Rights Worldwide

Emily, a widow from rural western Kenya, lived and farmed on her husband’s land for more than 30 years. While her husband was alive, they lived comfortably, and her four children were happy in school. This ended abruptly when her husband died, and her in-…
Female farmers resettled to Mwaladzi received land with poor access to water and limited productivity. The compensation package also included a new house.
News

Dispatches: Misunderstanding Rape in Kenya

“We women must respect ourselves. You cannot stay with a man drinking until 3 a.m.” This was the response from Mary Wambui, a member of parliament, to recent protests by female legislators and women’s rights activists over accusations that Gideon Mwiti,…

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