Abortion Is a Human Right: Daily Brief

Thousands of people in the United States have joined protests in recent days, after the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade on Friday. The US is now a global outlier on reproductive rights. At this pivotal moment, it is key to stress that those rights, including the right to access abortion, are grounded in internationally recognized human rights. Human Rights Watch has released a new question-and-answer document that articulates the human rights imperative, guided by international law, to ensure access to abortion, which is critical to guaranteeing many other fundamental human rights. We also organized a Twitter Space with experts on the topic, which you can listen to here.

Brazil is another country that has big problems when it comes to respecting the rights of girls and women, as they face alarming rates of sexual violence. Last year, a report of a rape was filed every 10 minutes at a police station in Brazil, according to the nonprofit Brazilian Forum of Public Security. Because of underreporting, the real rate of sexual violence is most likely higher. And a recent case in Santa Catarina shows the huge barriers to access legal abortion in Brazil, where a judge tried to convince an 11-year-old rape survivor to continue the pregnancy against her will and sent her to a shelter to prevent her from having an abortion. 

New research published today by HRW documents how armed separatist fighters in Cameroon have killed at least seven people, injured six others, raped a girl, and committed other grave human rights abuses across the country’s Anglophone regions since January 2022. In an uptick of violence, the separatists have also burned at least 2 schools, attacked a university, kidnapped up to 82 people, including 33 students and 5 teachers, and threatened and beat 11 students. “Armed separatist groups are kidnapping, terrorizing, and killing civilians across the English-speaking regions with no apparent fear of being held to account by either their own leaders or Cameroonian law enforcement” says HRW's Ilaria Allegrozzi. “Leaders of separatist groups should immediately instruct their fighters to stop abusing civilians and hand over abusive fighters for prosecution.”

The authorities in Lebanon should more effectively protect people from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, 15 organizations say in a joint statement on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The authorities should also investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment and hold accountable members of the security forces responsible for such abuse. “Despite an improvement to Lebanon’s anti-torture framework on paper, torture remains prevalent, and accountability for torture and ill-treatment is elusive. Lebanon needs to show that it is serious about combatting torture, and it should start by moving forward the many torture complaints that have been languishing before the judiciary without effective investigations,” says HRW's Lebanon researcher Aya Majzoub.

And there's some good news, as 47 United Nations countries have joined forces, denouncing Russia’s human rights record and calling for greater UN scrutiny. Since Russia invaded Ukraine again on February 24, human rights in Russia have not just been eroded, they’ve been obliterated. Censorship laws forced Russia’s last independent media to close or face criminal sanctions simply for commenting on the war. Since their adoption, authorities have pursued criminal charges against dozens for peaceful exercise of free speech, such as replacing price tags with anti-war messages or posting opinions against the war on social media, to, as in Vladimir Kara-Murza’s case, a speech against the Kremlin’s repression. Thousands more have been fined or detained for joining anti-war rallies.