September, 16 2010, 02:06pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
AIUSA media office,Email:,media@aiusa.org,Phone: 202-544-0200 x302
Amnesty International Urges Governments Worldwide to Step Up Efforts to Prevent Women's Deaths in Childbirth, Saying Recent Progress is Too Slow and Too Many Women Are Still Dying
New Report Shows Decline in Deaths, but One Woman Still Dies Every 90 Seconds; Most Deaths are Preventable
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International today
urged countries to urgently step up efforts to reduce the number of women
dying in childbirth, saying while new United Nations figures show some
progress toward reducing maternal deaths worldwide, the numbers remain
too high to meet a key global target to save more lives.
The number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth
decreased from an estimated 546 000 in 1990 to 358 000 in 2008, according
to a report issued by several United Nations agencies on Wednesday.
But the figures show that the annual rate of decline in maternal mortality
is less than half of that needed to achieve the Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent between
1990 and 2015.
"Although a woman is no longer dying every minute, according to the new
statistics one woman is still dying every minute and a half", said Widney
Brown, Amnesty International's Senior Director for International Law and
Policy.
"Amnesty International welcomes the progress that has been made but the
fact remains that hundreds and thousands of women die every year in pregnancy
and childbirth, though these deaths are preventable."
"No women should die while giving birth, when such deaths are preventable.
Governments need to do much more to ensure that the most disadvantaged
and poorest women have equal and timely access to life saving care."
The new figures were published as heads of states prepare to meet and review
progress on the MDGs at a United Nations summit in New York next week (Monday
through Wednesday).
"Governments need to intensify their efforts
to ensure that all women enjoy their rights to maternal, sexual and reproductive
health and choice. said Brown.
Maternal Deaths in the United States
Amnesty International released a report this
year in the United States, "Deadly Delivery," that showed the
rates of maternal deaths in the United States have not improved in 20 years.
American women have a greater lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related
complications than women in 40 other countries. Two to three women
die every day in the United States from pregnancy-related complications
-- half of these deaths are preventable, according to the
Centers for Disease Control -- and more than 34,000 women nearly
die each year, many due to disparities in maternal health care that the
government is ignoring, African American women are nearly four times
more likely to die than white women.
To read the full report, please visit:
https://www.amnestyusa.org/dignity/pdf/DeadlyDelivery.pdf
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
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@StateDept In 2023, we documented Israel counter-terrorism YAMAM unit\u2019s abuses, including two extrajudicial killings & two indiscriminate and reckless killings, including of a child in Jenin in March 2023, constituting gross violations of human rights under Leahy Law & war crimes under Rome\u2026— (@)
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