India Anti-Trafficking Bill Changes Little for Child Laborers, but Activists Continue Fight from the Bottom Up

By Elizabeth Donger The number of people trafficked in India for forced labor has been estimated at anything between 20 and 65 million. In June 2016 the Indian government published a new draft anti-trafficking bill that has been hailed by some as the country’s first-ever comprehensive anti-trafficking law and applauded for strengthening criminal investigation and prosecution processes. Yet due to several glaring issues this bill constitutes another missed opportunity to…

Human-Rights Based Approaches for Health Workers

With the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other partners, Harvard FXB Center has published a new quick reference guide to support health workers to effectively implement a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to sexual and reproductive health, maternal health and under-5 child health. The guide also invites practitioners to reflect on questions designed to help promote the protection of women and children’s rights at every level…

Fortress America: The US’s Willful Exclusion of Children Seeking Refuge from the Child Murder Capitals of the World

On July 28, 2016, the International Crisis Group released a detailed report on contemporary refugee flight from Central America. Easy Prey: Criminal Violence and Central American Migration, presents a stark picture of the tragedy unfolding to the immediate South of the US and is a troubling account of the US’s complicity in serious human rights violations. The latest in a long series of studies of the mass, northbound distress migration…

CALL FOR PAPERS: Discrimination against Roma & Effects on Health

Submission deadline: 28 February 2017 by Jacqueline Bhabha, Margareta Matache, and Teresa Sordé Martí Wherever they live, whether in low- or high-income regions, Roma populations experience significantly greater difficulty accessing health rights than the majority population.  A substantial body of research and several civil society reports reflect serious concern regarding the implementation of fundamental principles that are essential tools for ensuring a universal right to health.  According to these materials,…

India Moves Back to 19th Century for Most Vulnerable Children

“This measure is diametrically opposed to what India’s poorest children need.” by Jacqueline Bhabha On Tuesday July 26, 2016, the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of Parliament, approved a Child Labour Amendment Bill that could increase legal child labor in India, despite the government’s claims to the contrary. This measure is diametrically opposed to what India’s poorest children need.  As our recent report on child trafficking in India recently demonstrates,…