Women's Human Rights Resources Database

The author notes that the African woman's exercise of her right to reproductive autonomy and reproductive health are closely linked to the customary laws and traditional practices applied in her community. This paper looks at several traditional practices which impede African women's rights in this area and at the evolution of customary law as it relates to the position of women in African society. Finally, it addresses how international human rights norms can be used to address the reproductive health needs of African women. The author concludes that changing custom and practice must occur through massive action on legal, educational and other fronts, and that international human rights norms must be linked to local and regional laws and human rights instruments to be effective. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Reproductive Freedom, International - Africa]

The author argues that UN Women must take an aggressive role in the standardization of health laws and policies in order to ensure that these laws and policies do not have negative or criminal consequences on the lives of women and girls, in particular those that are HIV-positive. Specifically, the article examines the criminalization of HIV transmission as well as public health policies that have the effect of making women vulnerable to persecution. The author uses the example of American courts' treatment of issues raised by HIV-positive women in the context of parenting and motherhood as a case study.

This article examines the interplay between international law norms on women’s reproductive rights and South African reproductive health case law. The author first summarizes key elements of abortion rights and reproductive health in international human rights laws such as CEDAW and CESCR. The author then sets out two approaches to defining reproductive autonomy that can be adopted in a given region’s legal system, including court cases. The first is a “reproductive choice” approach that is negative because it fails to dismantle societal norms, attitudes, and structural barriers that impede women’s reproductive autonomy. The second, preferred by the author, is a “reproductive justice” approach that centres disadvantaged women within a commitment to the structural transformation of society. The author then examines the contemporary court system in South Africa, determining that its courts currently use a reproductive choice approach. The author uses a particular South African court case as a basis for re-imagining the jurisprudence within a reproductive justice approach. Finally, they reflect on the usefulness of such court cases as transformative tools of reproductive justice because they can secure better implementation of abortion legislation for disadvantaged women.

This paper examines the Bangladesh Constitution and legal framework for reproductive rights, particularly a state-supported family planning program. Despite religious laws and strong religious beliefs in Bangladesh, the author argues that religious opposition to menstrual regulation and the use of contraceptives is scarcely evident. In fact, religion, including Muslim laws, can be used to promote family-planning and in general, reproductive rights for all women.

This paper applies feminist legal theory in assessing the potential to address HIV/AIDS prevention through the promotion of the use of condoms. Part 1 of the paper reviews the nature of the AIDS pandemic and its disproportionate impact on Africa. Part 2 outlines the role of women in African society and their particular vulnerability to HIV infection. Part 3 discusses current efforts to increase the use of condoms as an effective means to prevent HIV/AIDS infection in Africa. Part 4 reviews feminist theory on considerations of equality and Part 5 concludes by advocating for an acceptance model as an appropriate mechanisms through which to approach preventative techniques. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International - Africa]

This article discusses utilizing an international human rights framework as a tool for gender, sexuality, and women’s rights advocacy in the USA and Canada and to reflect on the potential for domestic impact litigation in the Caribbean and Latin America. The article discusses an approach that involves bridging geographic, linguistic, conceptual, and professional divides to foster the development of an “Inter-American Gender Justice Network” in the Western hemisphere. Three landmark cases are discussed, Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v United States, In re Campo Algodonero, and Karen Atala v Chile. These cases are all landmark cases for the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. The article discusses both positive and negative movements in the Western hemisphere that have gained traction lately.

This article discusses the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) engagement with the international human rights legislation (IHRL) framework. The OIC is the world’s second-largest intergovernmental organization and the only one unified around a single religion. Several of its human rights declarations justify restricting women’s rights by invoking the supremacy of Islamic law and norms. Blitt argues that failing to reject the OCI’s parochial, Islamic notions of equality and non-discrimination risks undermining the spirit of universality reflected in IHRL ideas of fundamental human freedom and equality in dignity and rights. More immediately, it legitimizes ongoing rights violations against women. Given the OIC’s reach in the Muslim world, these concerns potentially impugn the rights of large swaths of women around the world. Understanding the challenges that Islamic and other religious organizations have posed towards actualizing the IHRL framework will be key to ensuring its global effectiveness and harmony with cultural antecedents.

The author argues that there should be greater state intervention in marriage, in particular, in the context of Commonwealth African states. Traditionally, customary law in many African nations restricts women's property rights and reproductive rights, and unequal power relations in the home can lead to gender-based violence. The author argues that the state has a dual obligation to promote equality and women's rights within intimate relationships, and these goals are best served by increased state regulation of marriage. The author argues that within the plural legal systems of Commonwealth Africa, statutory marriage regimes can provide women a more equitable alternative to the customary marriage law and an opportunity to protect their own rights within the marital relationship. The author proposes that Commonwealth Africa states implement a legislative floor that would create a minimum standard for women's rights within marriage. Johanna E Bond, Culture, Dissent, and the State: The Example of Commonwealth African Marriage Law (2011) 14 Yale Human Rts & Dev LJ 1.

This article begins with a description of female genital mutilation (FGM) practices and an examination of the international human rights provisions that may be invoked to protect individuals opposed to FGM. The rest of the article provides a guide on how United States adjudicators should determine asylum claims involving FGM. The international protection guidelines issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees serve as a basis for this guide. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, Reproductive Rights - Female Genital Cutting, International]

This article argues that the right to freedom of expression and information, taken together with a number of other international human rights, has evolved to the point that immediate and concrete obligations are now imposed on governments to provide, and to refrain from interfering with, the communication of information necessary for the protection and promotion of reproductive health and choice. Part I examines the nature of governmental obligations under international human rights law, the importance of information in securing the rights to reproductive health and choice, and mechanisms for promoting government compliance with the obligation to respect the rights to information. Part II lays out the relevant international jurisprudence concerning the right to freedom of expression and information. Part III identifies the components of the right to reproductive health information that impose immediate obligations on governments, concluding that these components should be enforced by human rights bodies and national courts. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Right to Know, International]

This article discusses various national responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with a particular focus on the incorporation of international guidelines and responses into national strategies. The article begins by reviewing the decisions of national level courts and assesses the extent to which these courts establish the rights of HIV-positive patients to appropriate health care. The authors also consider the particular needs of women patients in clinical care. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

This article proposed that the legal approach to abortion is evolving from criminal prohibition towards accommodation as a life-preserving and health-perserving option, particularly in light of data on maternal mortality and morbidity. The authors assert that the modern momentum for liberalization comes from international adoption of the concept of reproductive health, and wider recognition that the resort to safe and dignified healthcare is a major human right. They outline how respect for women's reproductive self-determination legitimates abortion as a choice when family planning services have failed, been inaccessible or been denied by rape. The authors conclude that recognition of women's rights of equal citizenship with men requires that their choices for self-determination be legally respected, not criminalized. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, International]

The authors note that a systmatic review of national and international developments regarding abortion showed that the progressive liberalization of abortion laws between 1967-1977 and 1977-1988 generally has been maintained during the last decade. This article traces devlopments in national legislation, leading court decisions, and constitutional provisions on abortion worldwide and analyzes United Nations conference documents, observations made by the committees that monitor government compliance with international human rights conventions, and the interpretative literature since 1988. The article describes punative, health, and human rights law reforms and explains that all three of these approaches have been used in abortion law development. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, International]

This article highlights the key features of the 2003 World Health Organization handbook Safe Abortion: Technical and Policy Guidelines for Health Systems, a non-political guide outlining practical methods for improving abortion services in countries where they are not prohibited. The authors summarize the guide recommendations, including the need for pre- and post-procedure clinical care, review and amendment of existing planning and managing services, including funding and training concerns, and the need for legal policy considerations. The authors conclude the guide is useful in encouraging providers to work within their domestic legal environment to not only provide safe abortions, but also to educate and reduce the need to resort to abortion. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, International]

This article looks at the causes and potential solutions to the high incidence of unsafe motherhood in developing countries. Various causes include social conventions favoring early marriage or creating women's powerlessness to resist unprotected intercourse with HIV/AID infected men; inadequate access to health care and qualified health care providers; and religiously based laws. Part of the article focuses on abortion rights and their socio-economic dimensions. It is argued that beyond the bio-ethics of autonomy, the role of macro-ethics and community values in shaping laws affecting women's maternal health must be considered and a public health approach incorporation human rights values should be adopted. The authors note that provisions found in primary human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Universal Declaration of Human Rights can serve to hinder the full recognition of women's rights and autonomy by linking the protection of women to their pregnant status or child-bearing role. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Safe Motherhood, International]

This article addresses the legal and ethical duties of health service when dealing with prospective patients who are minors. The authors discuss how the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) limits parental powers by emphasizing adolescents' "evolving capacities" for self-determination. The authors address a number of concepts relevant to medical treatment and the rights and capacity of adolescents including "mature minors", "emancipated minors", age of consent, and confidentiality. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Adolescents, International]

The article examines the history of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in general, and their establishment in Africa in particular. Using examples from three countries - Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa - the article critically analyses the promotional and protective mandates of these institutions and argues that their experience over the years in promoting human rights in their domains can be similarly useful in advancing the sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents. The author acknowledges the challenges NHRIs may face in doing this, including poor funding, undue interference from the executive and shortage of personnel. The author discusses some of these challenges and offers suggestions for the way forward.

This article examines the impact of bride price on the sexual and reproductive health rights (SRH) of women in South Africa and Nigeria. By outlining the legal framework of both countries, the author argues that flawed interpretations of bride price directly inhibit SRH rights, which are entrenched in both international instruments (e.g., CEDAW) and domestic laws. By reducing women to the status of legal chattel, bride price may infringe on the right to bodily integrity and self-determination, encouraging early/forced marriage. However, the notion that payment connotes buying the bride is argued to be a misconception of the legal purpose of bride price in African cultures. Rather, bride price indicates a mere token of gratitude and confirmation of consent. Shifting societal norms to reflect this contemporary discourse requires educational initiatives that express bride price as a cultural observation without any ulterior motive to subordinate or commodify women. 

This article looks at the issue of time in abortion laws. Time is a very important factor in abortion laws because the laws often relate or refer to gestational age and length or pregnancy. This article focuses on three struggles over time in abortion laws: those related to morality, health and justice. The article concludes that in respect to morality, collective faith and trust should ultimately be placed in the moral judgement of those most affected; the pregnant women. The article concludes that in respect to health, abortions laws need to be more evidence based to counter the stigma associated with abortions which currently results in overregulation and access barriers. The article concludes that in respect to justice, it is important to recognize that abortion services need to be safe, legal, and accessible.

This article addresses the divergence between the lack of abortion legislation in Canada and women's own experiences obtaining abortions in Canada. The author addresses a mismatch between the public perception and the private experience and she connects women's experience with legal narratives as well as legal theory. The author asserts that ideological notions surrounding abortion can be reshaped by allowing women's experiences to inform the discourse of feminist strategy, partly through empowering women psychologically. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, Canada]

This article scrutinises the stand of the Catholic Church with respect to abortion, and recommends certain measures that should be taken. The first part of the article deals with the traditional attitude of the Catholic Church towards abortion and the role it has played in the international arena. The second part addresses the role and influence of the Catholic Church at the national level, analysing in particular the liberalisation process of abortion law in Spain. The final part presents several strategies by which the Church could constructively participate in the struggle for realising reproductive rights with respect to abortion. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, International]

This article investigates the constitutional limits of abortion in Europe. The first part of the article looks at various options found in different European countries for recognizing abortion and considers the advantages and disadvantages. The second part considers the approach to abortion restrictions under German Basic Law and potential lessons for other European countries. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, International - Europe]

The author of this article argues that the high mortality rates experienced by pregnant women globally are largely preventable. She advocates a broad-based movement informed by human rights to overcome maternal death and disability by improving access to, and the quality of, emergency obstetric care services, and prioritizing maternal health issues at the clinical and national policy levels. The author uses human rights principles to assert that governments have an obligation to address the health concerns of pregnant women. Her argument highlights the intersection of maternal health with other more conventional human rights themes, like dignity and gender discrimination. The author emphasizes the importance of using human rights to guide the design and implementation of maternal mortality policies and programs in order to achieve the goal of lower mortality rates. Specific examples are discussed to demonstrate how human rights can be applied in health programs. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Safe Motherhood, International]

This article discusses ways in which the analytical tools of public health can be used in conjunction with emerging theories of human rights to craft effective advocacy strategies, focusing particularly on women's reproductive health and reproductive rights. It notes that public health research, although often presented as an objective scientific inquiry, is actually a value-laden and therefore, highly political endeavor that should be used by advocates to elucidate the connections between women's health and the wider social, economic, and political conditions in which they live. The author points out that such research can then inform theory and practice in the dynamic field of women's human rights. This article suggests an approach to health and human rights collaboration that views women as committed, indispensable members of the collectivities in which they live, and that seeks to identify and implement social structures and cultural configurations that promote and support women's dignity and autonomy and thus, their health and well-being,in that social context. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Overview, International]