For information on upcoming reports on Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, please contact PHR . Rape, genital cutting, sexual slavery, discrimination and socio-political marginalization are some of the most common abuses targeted at women as a group.
Societal restrictions imposed on women by law can also constitute health and human rights abuses.
Segregation of hospitals, while not always a deliberately repressive action, is a restriction that has had severe health consequences in communities that do not have sufficient facilities for women. This tactic, used in Kashmir, Bosnia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in the last decade, has therefore placed the highest risk for HIV contraction on the population least empowered to protect themself from the disease.