Harmful Practices and Human Rights: An International Perspective

Harmful Practices and Human Rights examines different forms of harmful practices, globally, which constitute human rights violations as guaranteed in international and regional human rights instruments. Drawing examples from Africa, Asia, North America, Europe, and Australasia, it demonstrates how these practices undermine the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, and also impugn the dignity and autonomy of women and girls. Using diverse harmful practices as case studies, the book critically examines the factors that drive harmful practices in developing and developed countries. Specifically, this book focuses on a selection of harmful practices—including dowry payments, ukuthwala, intimate partner violence, harmful tobacco use and its gendered implications, trafficking in persons, widowhood practices, the chinamwari/khomba practice, and child marriage—from both the Global South and North. Its intent is to demonstrate the prevalence of these abuses and underscore the urgent need for states to take decisive steps toward eradication.