Violence, Health, and Human Rights

compiled by Jody Ranck
December, 1996

A

 Agger, Inger (1992). The Blue Room. Trauma and Testimony among Refugee Women. A Psycho-Social Exploration. Zed Books, London.

Allen, Beverly (1996). Rape Warfare. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Ashford, Lori S. (1995). "Gender equality and the empowerment of women." (New Perspectives on Population: Lessons from Cairo) Population Bulletin v50, n1 (March, 1995):17 (6 pages).

Abstract:
The International Conference on Population and Development, 1994, held at Cairo, Egypt, called on governments to raise the standards of living and quality of life of women and ensure gender equality, as women's development is crucial for population control and all-round development. Women are still widely discriminated against and are not given enough opportunities to participate in the policy-making process. Women's social condition can be improved through better education, employment opportunities and legal protection of their interests.

Ashworth, Georgina (1986). Of Violence and Violation: Women and Human Rights. Change, London.

B

 Byrne, Bridget (1996). "Towards a Gendered Understanding of Conflict." IDS Bulletin, 27(3):31.

C

 Center for Women's Global Leadership (1994). Gender Violence and Women' s Rights in Africa.

Charo, R. Alta. "Women's Health and Human Rights: The Promotion and Protection of Women's Health Through International Human Rights Law." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics v23, n2 (Summer, 1995):195-198.

Cook, Rebecca (1994). Women's Health and Human Rights: The promotion and protection of women's health through international human rights law. WHO, Geneva.

D

 Davies, Miranda (1994). Women and Violence. Zed Books, London.

E

 Eisenstein, Zillah (1996). Hatreds. Racialized and Sexualized Conflicts in the 21st Century. London: Routledge.

Espinoza, Leslie G. (1994). "Dissecting women, dissecting law: the court-ordering of Caesarean section operations and the failure of informed consent to protect women of color." National Black Law Journal v13, n3 (Fall, 1994):211-237.

Abstract:
A judicial system oriented toward court intervention and the medical profession's desire to seize reproductive power from women frequently deprive women of color of basic reproductive and medical rights. Both the courts and hospitals are dominated by white men, usually of a far dif ferent background and even language than that of the women involved. Rather than asking who should make such decisions as whether a woman needs a Caesarean section, the courts treat the core individual as less human than her fetus.

F

 Freeman, Marsha (1994). "Women, law, and land at the local level: claiming women' s human rights in domestic legal systems." Human Rights Quarterly, 16(3):559-575.

G

 Ginsburg, Faye and Rayna Rapp (1995). Conceiving the New World Order. The Global Politics of Reproduction. University of California Press, Berkeley.

J

 James, Joy (1996). Resisting State Violence. Radicalism, Gender & Race in US Culture. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

James, Stanlie (1994). "Challenging patriarchal privilege through the development of international human rights." Women' s Studies International Forum, 17(6): 563. Jolly, Margaret. "Woman Ikat Raet Long Human Raet O No? Women's rights, human rights and domestic violence in Vanuatu." (includes bibliography). Feminist Review, n52 (Spring, 1996):169 (22 pages).

Abstract:
Domestic violence in Vanuatu was debated in the context of the relations between tradition culture and Christianity. Western concerns for the civil rights of women grossly overlook the South Pacific perspectives of collectivity for the rights to economic development and self-determination. A conference on Violence and the Family in Vanuatu in 1994 studied ideological and cultural differences in addressing women's right within the broader domain of human rights.

L

 Laint American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (1996). "The Right to Live Without Violence. Women' s Proposals and Actions." Women' s Health Collection, Vol. 1.

M

 Mladjenovic, Lepa (1995). "Where do I Come From?" (Serbia). Index on Censorship, 24(4):72.

Moorehead, Caroline (1995). "Hostage to a Male Agenda." Index on Censorship, 24(4):64.

N

 Nelson, Toni. "Violence against women." World Watch v9, n4 (July-August, 1996):33.

Abstract:
Violence against women is considered the main human rights issue in the world, but it is rarely discussed. Women continue to be subjected to crimes such as domestic violence, forced prostitution, rape and genital mutilation. Fortunately, women's groups have made considerable progress in shifting national laws and international conventions to their favor. National governments are also developing legislation aimed at the eradication of several forms of gender violence.

O

 Omvedt, Gail (1990). Violence Against Women. New Movements and New Theories in India. Kali for Women, Delhi.

P

 Philipose, Liz (1996). "The Laws of War and Women's Human Rights." Hypatia, 11(4):46.

R

 Richters, Johanna Maria (date?). Women, Culture and Violence: a Development, Health and Human Rights Issue. Women and Autonomy Series, Leiden Unversity.

Rosenblum, Rachel ed. (1996). Unspoken Rules. Sexual Orientation and Women's Rights. Cassell.

S

 Sen, Amartya (1996). "Fertility and coercion." University of Chicago Law Review v63, n3 (Summer,1996):1035-1061.

Abstract:
Panic over the potential harm of a population explosion is often used to justify coercive population control tactics, but economic and social development may offer alternatives that respect reproductive rights and do not offend notions of justice. A goal-rights approach to population policy suggests that individual rights to have children should not be ompromised without compelling evidence. Research suggests that improving women's educational and employment opportunities reduces fertility rates more effectively than do laws limiting the ability to have children.

Stephen, Lynn (1995). "Women' s rights are human rights: the merging of feminine and feminist interests among El Salvador' s mothers of the disappeared." American Ethnologist, 22(4):807.

Stiglmayer, Alexandra (1993). Mass Rape. The War Against Women in Bosnia-Hercegovina.University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

V

 Vickers, Jeanne (1993). Women and War. Zed Books, London.

W

 White, Martha. "Protecting the human rights of women." Human Rights v22, n4 (Fall, 1995):5 (2 pages).

Abstract:
The need for the international human rights community to address all forms of violence against women was addressed at the panel "Public Rights, Private Injustice: Internationally Sanctioned Violence Against Women" at the 1995 ABA Annual Meeting. The panelists noted that, while the UN's definition of violence against women includes religious and cultural practices such as dowry murder and female genital mutilation, some signatories of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women have continued to condone violence against women.

Whitty, Noel. "The mind, the body, and reproductive health information." Human Rights Quarterly v18, n1 (Feb, 1996): 224-239.

Abstract:
The book, 'The Right to Know' asserts that reproductive health information is a right. The concept of reproductive health should be incorporated into human rights law and practice. It is important to women's health that they are provided with information about reproductive health care. The concept of a right to health, however, has been widely disputed. Health and human rights should be connected.

Y

 Yamin, Alicia Ely. "Defining questions: situating issues of power in the formulation of a right to health under international law." Human Rights Quarterly v18, n2 (May, 96): 398-438.

Abstract:
Much of the confusion generated by attempts to incorporate the right to health into human rights rhetoric could be resolved by focusing on empowerment and human flourishing as the rhetorical goal. This approach allows for the numerous social, economic and psychological factors governing individual health to be accounted for. One example of how health is governed by more than just access to health care is seen in AIDS prevention where married women are educated in prevention and have health care access but lack the ability to refuse to have sex with sexually careless husbands.

Yamin, Alicia Ely. "Empowering visions: toward a dialectical pedagogy of human rights." Human Rights Quarterly , v15, n4 (Nov, 1993): 640-685.

Abstract:
A human rights education which teaches students that government derives its power and legitimacy from the people it governs, and that civil rights are natural and not privileges to be granted or denied by government, will eslish an empowered citizenry to fight against human rights abuses in every nation. Personal and political empowerment are the key to a successful human rights education. Ensuring that all students are exposed to such information should be one of the main goals of the international community, as such an education will guarantee a more effective and direct human rights compliance regime.

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