Center for Reproductive Rights at the 2010 Global Maternal Health Conference

The Center will be participating in the Global Maternal Health Conference convened by the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth and the Public Health Foundation of India from August 30 – September 1 in Delhi, India. Approximately 500 maternal health experts from around the world will unite at the conference to share emerging research, recent successful interventions and advocacy, and new innovative strategies for addressing pregnancy-related mortality and morbidity.

Nancy Northup, president of the Center, has been invited to speak at the conference’s plenary session on September 1, Maternal Health Accountability: Successes, Failures, and New Approaches. Northup will discuss the significance of taking a human rights approach to maternal mortality and morbidity and present on legal efforts to seek accountability for governments’ failures to uphold the right to survive pregnancy and childbirth, including in the Laxmi Mandal and Salenta cases in India and the Alyne case currently pending against the government of Brazil in front of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Melissa Upreti, Senior Regional Manager and Legal Adviser for Asia, will speak on a panel on August 31 discussing the role of international law and policies in addressing maternal health. Her presentation, Breaking the Silence around Maternal Morbidity through the Use of International Law and Legal Strategies, will discuss the Human Rights Council’s recent resolution on maternal mortality and morbidity as well as litigation in India and Nepal seeking accountability for government failure to prevent and treat maternal morbidity.