WUNRN
CEDAW COMMITTEE LANDMARK DECISION ON
CASE OF
MATERNAL MORTALITY & WOMAN'S
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Decision:
Alyne da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil
08.16.11 - In the first maternal death
case to be decided by an international human rights body, the United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
establishes that governments have a human rights obligation to guarantee that
all women in their countries—regardless of income or racial background—have
access to timely, non-discriminatory, and appropriate maternal health
services. Even when governments outsource health services to private
institutions, they remain directly responsible for their actions and have a
duty to regulate and monitor said institutions.
Alyne da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil
(Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women)
12.10.08 - In a brief filed before the CEDAW Committee, the Center asks
the Committee to issue a decision requiring Brazil to compensate Alyne da Silva
Pimentel’s surviving family, including her 9-year-old daughter, and prioritize
the reduction of maternal
mortality, including by training providers, establishing
and enforcing protocols, and improving care in vulnerable communities.
Filing date:
11/30/07
Country/Region:
Brazil
Plaintiff(s):
Family of Alyne da Silva Pimentel
Center Attorney(s):
Luisa Cabal, Lilian
Sepúlveda, Ximena Andión
Partners:
Citizens’ Advocacy for Human Rights (ADVOCACI), based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Summary: Alyne, a 28-year-old
Afro-Brazilian woman, died of complications resulting from pregnancy after her
local health center misdiagnosed her symptoms and delayed providing her with
emergency care. Brazil's maternal
mortality rates are disproportionately high for a country of
its economic status, and the chances of dying in pregnancy and childbirth are
greatest among indigenous, low-income, and Afro-descendant women such as Alyne.
On November
30, 2007, the Center, with Brazilian partner Advocaci, filed Alyne da Silva Pimentel v. Brazil,
the first maternal
mortality case to be brought before the UN's Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Center's petition
argues that Brazil's government violated Alyne's rights to life, health, and
legal redress, all of which are guaranteed both by Brazil's constitution and
international human rights treaties, including CEDAW.
"Alyne's story epitomizes Brazil's violation of women's human rights and
failure to prevent women from dying of causes that, by the government's own
admission, are avoidable," said Lilian Sepúlveda, the Center's Legal
Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean. "We filed this case to demand
that Brazil make the necessary reforms to its public health system—and save
thousands of women's lives."
Link
to Full 22-Page Court Decision: http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/Alyne%20v.%20Brazil%20Decision.pdf