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Join HRiC’s Key Stakeholder Advisory Group

HRiC is forming a global network of lawyers, researchers and advocates dedicated to improving maternity care - everywhere. Join us! Human Rights in Childbirth (HRiC) is developing a new strategy to inform our advocacy and strategic direction over the next three...

Terms of Reference: Key Stakeholder Advisory Group (KSAG)

Human Rights in Childbirth (HRiC) is developing a new strategy to inform our advocacy and strategic direction over the next three years. Our goal is to develop a sustainable network of key stakeholders in order to make full use of, and build on, our collective skills...

Forced Sterilisation during Caesarean and Informed Consent – the case of I.V. vs Bolivia

I.V. vs. Bolivia was the first time the Inter-American Court of Human Rights analysed the foundations of the right to informed consent.

Shared Decision Making in Maternity Care

In this article HRiC outlines its opinion on shared decision making and how it relates to human rights, specifically in maternity care.

Report on Rights Violations in Maternity Care During COVID-19

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, HRiC has been collecting reports of disproportionate human rights violations in maternity care. The first set of rights violations have been published in a report (available below) and sent to the United Nations. , The...

Contribute to our Second Report on Violations in Maternity Care during COVID-19

Help us document what is happening taken in maternity care services in your country - send us a submission by Friday, 10 July 2020.The COVID pandemic is having an enormous impact on maternity care around the world. Minute by minute, day by day, practices and norms are...

HRiC informs European Parliament Action on Maternity Care during COVID-19

HRiC has been working with a Member of European Parliament to bring light to some of the problems women throughout Europe and the world are facing in maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report Rights Violations during COVID-19

Help us document what is happening taken in maternity care services in your country - send us a submission by Friday, 24 April.The COVID pandemic is having an enormous impact on maternity care around the world. Minute by minute, day by day, practices and norms are...

Midwifing Us Through the Epidemic

Now is the time to press our governments and policy makers to support midwifery care in communities as part of policies to address climate change or Green New Deals that are being prepared around the world – to make sure we are well-prepared for the next emergency or pandemic. We ignore midwifery models of care, essential midwifery skills, community and home birth at our peril – future generations will depend on them as part of crisis response.

Communications Volunteer Position

HRiC is seeking a communications volunteer – apply by 30 April 2019!

Announcing the 2019 HRiC Champions Award Winners!

We are excited to announce the 2019 winners of the HRiC Champions Award. It is a privilege to provide a platform for five strong women from different parts of the world who are working in their own settings and in other countries to improve maternity care for women, babies and families.

Hundreds of nominations poured in for the first edition of the HRiC Champions Award, showcasing amazing individuals from all over the world who are working to make human rights in childbirth a reality for families in their communities and beyond. Winners will be showcased individually over the next few months as we work with them over the next year.

We are proud to present five award winners, each in their own category:

Midwife: Heloisa Lessa, Brazil

Heloisa Lessa PhD, is an autonomous midwife attending home births in Rio de Janeiro and a birth activist. She trained with indigenous traditional midwives. She organized several birth conferences in Brazil and abroad and is an international speaker. She is the founder of a multidisciplinary team of midwifes and obstetricians caring for women in Rio and the Founder of Instituto Michel Odent. She received over 350 nominations for the Champions Prize.

Physician: Gloria Esegbona, United Kingdom

Dr Gloria Esegbona is a London specialist obstetrician from the UK who is passionate about maternal rights. She has empowered many birthworkers to set up maternal critical care units in Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi that have dropped death rates. And trained globally about how to bring choices and voices  to mothers and babies with the art of birth platform and her S_HE (Social Determinants of Health Equity) framework.

Activist: Sylvia Bahr, Honduras

Since 2007, Sylvia Bahr has worked on a volunteer basis in Honduras to advocate for human rights in childbirth and respectful maternity care in hospitals, empower rural midwives and transform obstetric violence. Now, she collaborates with the largest teaching hospital, medical school and Secretary of Health to improve conditions across the country. 

Lawyer: Francisca Fernández Guillén, Spain

Francisca Fernández Guillén is a feminist lawyer who specialises in sexual and reproductive health and patient’s rights. She collaborated as an expert with the Women’s Health Observatory (part of the Spain’s Ministry of Health) on the development of the “Strategy for Assistance at Normal Childbirth in the National Health System”. She also gives training and talks for professionals on health legislation and bioethics and contributes articles and opinion pieces to journals and specialist press. Francisca alknowledges that the work would not have been possible without  Teresa Fernández Paredes, Lucía  Maravillas Martínez Losas, Paloma Torres López, Marina Morla González y Tatiana Khemet. 

The Agnes Gereb Champion Award is a special award that celebrates individuals who have furthered the cause of human rights in childbirth in extremely adverse conditions, and who may have faced bullying, mobbing, professional sanctions, legal persecution, criminalization and even acts of direct physical violence.

This year, we are honoured to be able to give the award to the person it is named for – midwife and obstetrician Agnes Gereb from Hungary.

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