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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...

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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!

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

HRiC has been working with Predrag Fred Matić, a Member of European Parliament (MEP), member of the Committee on Gender Equality (FEMM Committee) and rapporteur for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights to bring light to some of the problems women throughout Europe and the world are facing in maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis and its effect on maternity care around the world, Human Rights in Childbirth has been working to document and advocate for the rights of families and their babies to receive evidence-based care.

HRiC has been working with Predrag Fred Matić, a Member of European Parliament (MEP), member of the Committee on Gender Equality (FEMM Committee) and rapporteur for Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights to bring light to some of the problems women throughout Europe and the world are facing in maternity care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the problems we have documented, and we have warned human rights organisations, policymakers and professional organisations about include:

 

  • Maternity services are being de-prioritised with regards to adequate staffing, personal protective equipment for staff and access to needed resources
  • Community and out of hospital maternity services (including midwifery units and home birth) are being closed down without warning
  • Women are being forced to submit to unwanted inductions and scheduled caesarean sections with no obstetric indication
  • Women are being separated from their newborn infants
  • Women are being denied the right to a companion in labour and birth, as well as visitors

 

All citizens are entitled to the protection of their right to the highest attainable level of health during this crisis. Mothers and babies should be no exception to that rule. The countries that have responded well to the needs of pregnant and birthing women strongly indicate that the aforementioned restrictions are unnecessary and disproportionate to the level of the needed safety and health requirements in relation to COVID-19 prevention and protection.

There are a number of good practice examples in some countries where, through systematic human-rights based approach, due changes have been made in order to protect the right to health at the highest attainable standard, with measures in place to protect both the medical staff as well as women and children in childbirth and pre and post-natal care. For example, some countries have ensured safety by acquiring adequate staffing and protective equipment as part of the targeted actions, while others have converted hotels near maternity hospitals into temporary birth centres to support both healthy non-symptomatic women and protect maternity healthcare workers from COVID-19 exposure. This is a measure implemented to ensure access to a safe childbirth environment, thus not allowing the situation of women giving birth in medical transportation vehicles and similar, which has happened in some instances where due measures were not taken. Other countries encourage birth companions and ensure the safety of all medical staff and patients in doing so with the implementation of protective restrictions on movement within hospital facilities. Health systems should not be actively engaged in damaging the health and well-being of pregnant women, mothers and babies. 

MEP Matić rallied the support of 62 fellow MEPs and sent a letter to the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides asking her to support activities which ensure the achievement of the fundamental right to health and ask you to urge Member States to ensure that maternity services are appropriately resourced and that women’s rights are respected through a proportional response to the pandemic in accordance with the best evidence and guidelines, including those provided by the WHO. The letter is below, along with a list of MEPs that have signed on.

Some next steps regarding the protection of women’s rights in maternity care we have proposed include:

  1. Ensuring adequate resources for maternity care, including staffing and protective equipment
  2. Ensuring that there are policies in every country and facility guaranteeing women companionship during labour and birth, in accordance with best evidence from WHO and other organisations that are monitoring the situation in real-time (e.g. the Union of European Perinatal and Neonatal Societies, and a consortium of Royal Colleges from the UK)
  3. Implementing, reinstating and resourcing midwifery units and home birth services
  4. Ensuring that policies during the COVID pandemic are based on evidence and facts, not fears.

 

HRiC will continue to advocate for a proportional response to the COVID-19 pandemic in maternity care, one that takes into account the human rights to health and privacy for both mothers and babies.

 

Daniela Drandić, M.Sc.

HRiC Board Member

Daniela Drandić holds an M.Sc. from the University of Dundee in Maternal and Infant Health and is Reproductive Rights Program Lead at Croatia’s largest parents’ NGO, Roda – Parents in Action. Daniela’s advocacy work includes organising regional and global campaigns for improvements in maternity care, working with regional and global human rights institutions and developing innovative educational tools to teach people about reproductive health, maternity care and human rights.

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