The rights to healthy living conditions and access to health care are human rights and important conditions for human dignity. Many women around the world are not able to fully enjoy these rights. They work in difficult and unhealthy conditions, are faced with domestic violence and female genital mutilation, and do not have access to birth control. Therefore there are many civil society organisations in the South and North that fight for health rights of women. To support the work of these organisations, Aim for human rights developed a practical tool: the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI). With this tool, organisations can systematically evaluate the effectiveness of national health policies for women. They can then make concrete recommendations to their governments on how the health policy could be improved. Read more

Domestic violence is violence committed by a member of the domestic or private circle of the victim. It occurs all over the world, in all social classes and within all cultures. The overwhelming majority of victims of domestic violence are women. Domestic violence is a violation of the human rights of the victim. Aim for human rights is developing a Domestic Violence Assessment Instrument (DOVA) which organisations can use in their work on combating domestic violence. With this instrument, organisations will be able to evaluate their government’s policies on domestic violence and point to specific areas requiring improvement. Read more

Trafficking in persons is a serious human rights violation. Traffickers abuse the vulnerable position of persons lacking legal or safe means to migrate to another country or area. Victims usually have to labour in slave-like conditions to pay off their 'debt' and face violence, abuse and exploitation. Most countries fight trafficking in persons. However, their policy does not always achieve what it was intended. Aim for human rights, together with other organisations, develops a method that shows the positive and negative effects of anti-trafficking measures. This makes lobbying for more better measures against trafficking more effective. Read more

The most important treaty for women’s human rights is CEDAW, the United Nations Convention on  the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Netherlands is a member of CEDAW and other human rights treaties. The Dutch state has thus accepted the obligation to implement and observe the rights of women in the Netherlands and abroad. Aim for human rights collaborates with a number of partner organisations in the Netwerk VN-Vrouwenverdrag (CEDAW Network) to ensure that the Dutch authorities take their obligations seriously. Read more

Aim for human rights regularly runs trainings on women’s rights for organisations in the Netherlands and abroad. These trainings are interactive and tailored to the needs of the particular organisation. Besides sharing knowledge on women’s rights, the trainings also focus on the manner in which women’s rights can be used within the organisation’s work. We develop methods that enable organisations to examine, evaluate and influence the implementation of women’s human rights. Our methods provide our partners with stronger arguments to lobby for the implementation of women’s rights in their country. Read more