“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” That’s the first sentence of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations 63 years ago on December 10. And yet here we are, all these decades later, still fighting tooth and nail to ensure that those […]
Thirty years ago, women’s rights activists first marked November 25 as the day on which the world would demand an end to all physical and sexual abuse targeted at women. It took another 18 years before the United Nations officially recognized that date as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Progress […]
A Girl Who Changed the World, A Victory for Women Everywhere In 2009, a girl from Peru named L.C. demanded justice. Two years earlier, she needed an abortion—had a legal right to abortion—and was denied, suffering irrevocable harm. L.C. wanted to hold an entire government accountable, her doctors responsible, for failing her just when she […]
In a groundbreaking decision issued in L.C. v. Peru—a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partner organization in Peru PROMSEX—the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ruled that Peru must amend its law to allow women to obtain an abortion in cases of rape and sexual assault, establish a […]
(PRESS RELEASE) Today, an international human rights body condemned Peru for violating the human rights of a young woman seeking legal abortion services in the country and ruled that the government must ease its restrictions on abortion. In a groundbreaking decision issued in L.C. v. Peru—a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and […]
Over the past decade, thousands of Latin American girls and adolescents have gone to school expecting to learn and grow in a safe, trustworthy environment. Instead, these innocent children have suffered sexual violence at the hands of the teachers, school officials, and staff charged with their education and care. On October 24, 2011, in a […]
During the 143rd period of sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this week, the Peruvian state announced that it will be reopening the case of María Mamérita Mestanza Chávez v. Perú, as well as all other cases of coercive sterilization that occurred during the Alberto Fujimori regime (1990-2000) as part of its family […]
Peru: The Long March to Justice Six years ago this week, the Center for Reproductive Rights won a groundbreaking victory for the women of Peru and around the world . For the first time, an international human rights body condemned a country for failing to provide abortion services that were both legal and essential to […]
In August 2011, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners filed an amicus brief to the European Court of Human Rights in support of Joëlle Gauer and Others —five women with mental disabilities in France who were forcibly sterilized—arguing that forced sterilization constitutes a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Download the […]
In August 2011, the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners filed an amicus brief to the European Court of Human Rights in support of Joëlle Gauer and Others —five women with mental disabilities in France who were forcibly sterilized—arguing that forced sterilization constitutes a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Case filed: […]