Broken Promises: Human Rights, Accountability, and Maternal Death in Nigeria, a new report by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Women Advocates Resource and Documentation Centre, illustrates the systematic failure of the Nigerian government to live up to its human rights obligations. That so many women die due to pregnancy related complications can be directly […]
The Center has completed updating one of its signature publications, Bringing Rights to Bear. Initially published in 2002, Bringing Rights to Bear takes a long, hard look at the thousands of comments, statements, and recommendations produced by UN treaty-monitoring bodies, analyzing their potential for advancing reproductive rights. Our 2008 update, produced as a series of […]
On November 30, the Center, with Brazilian partner Advocaci, filed Alyne da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil, the first maternal mortality case to be brought before the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Alyne, a 28-year-old Afro-Brazilian woman, died of complications resulting from pregnancy after her local health center misdiagnosed her symptoms […]
UN Committee Establishes States’ Obligation to Address Maternal Mortality (Updated 3.18.21) In the first-ever maternal mortality case decided by an international human rights body, the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) condemned Brazil for failing to provide timely, nondiscriminatory, and appropriate maternal health services to Alyne Da Silva. The Committee recognized that States have a human rights obligation to […]
Center for Reproductive Rights and ADVOCACI file Petition with United Nations for Human Rights Violations Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Citizens’ Advocacy for Human Rights (ADVOCACI) filed a case in the United Nations against Brazil for failing to address the unacceptably high death rate of pregnant women in that country. The case, submitted […]
For decades, women seeking maternity services in health facilities across Kenya have suffered serious human rights violations — including verbal attacks, sexual assault, flagrant neglect and filthy conditions — often while giving birth, according to a new fact-finding report published by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Federation of Women Lawyers — Kenya (FIDA […]
Court finds Poland in violation of human rights and awards EUR 25,000 in case of woman left nearly blind. March 20, 2007 – The European Court of Human Rights held today, for the first time, that governments have a duty to establish effective mechanisms for ensuring that women have access to abortion where it is […]
New York, NY – Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that the country’s largest railroad, Union Pacific, is not discriminating against women by excluding coverage for prescription contraceptives in its health plan and therefore, is not required to do so. The ruling specifically addresses Union Pacific’s health plan policy, which […]
United States Goes Before U.N. Human Rights Committee Geneva – Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights urged the United States to uphold the legal pledge it made under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an international human rights treaty established in 1966 by members of the United Nations. The Center called on […]
Doctor Says Officials Violated Freedom of Speech New York New York, May 5, 2006 — The former director of an OB/GYN residency program at a Phoenix hospital has filed a newly amended complaint in an Arizona court alleging that county officials violated his freedom of speech when they fired him for publicly supporting abortion training […]