In a refugee camp in South Sudan, people escape the fighting in the country’s civil war, including rampant rape by militias and national armed forces. Members of the UN Security Council are drafting a resolution to strengthen victims’ rights, but the United States is resisting language on sexual and reproductive health services. GEOFF PUGH
The yearly debate on sexual violence in conflict is about to take place in the United Nations Security Council. As the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, has said, this event — on Tuesday, April 23 — presents a critical opportunity to assess progress in the last 10 years, ever since the mandate to end sexual violence in conflict and uplift survivors was established by the Security Council.
Unfortunately, it is all too clear that we may be regressing in crucial respects on the mandate’s goal. Credible sources indicate that the United States, as a permanent member of the Council, has threatened to veto the German-led draft resolution emanating from the debate if it includes any references to “comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and safe termination of pregnancy,” according to a source. Nevertheless, negotiations on the language, a source said, are continuing.
This regression on the reproductive health rights of women and girls was also clear in the stance of the US during the recent annual UN women’s conference, where it sought to eliminate or water down such language in the summary document.
According to sources, the US is also trying to ban language in the Council resolution regarding the International Criminal Court’s role in prosecuting perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict.
The possible services that the US would be vetoing in the resolution are listed in the recommendations of the report from the UN secretary-general on conflict-related sexual violence, published in March. Specifically, Secretary-General António Guterres recommends strengthening services for the survivors of sexual violence by ensuring comprehensive sexual and reproductive care. That would include access to emergency contraception, safe termination of pregnancy and HIV prevention.
The possibility that the US could veto the resolution is all the more shocking when you consider the contexts described in the report — widespread and systematic gang rapes of Rohingya women and girls in Burma; institutionalized sexual slavery of Yazidi and other minority communities by ISIS in Syria and Iraq; and the rape of young girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan by state armed forces and militia groups alike.
Guterres stresses that pregnancies are a devastating reality that accompanies these heinous crimes, making it all the more urgent to ensure sexual and reproductive health services.
If the US decides to veto the resolution on the basis of denying victims of sexual violence any sexual and reproductive health care, it will violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a party. The UN Human Rights Committee has noted in the context of Article 7 of the covenant, which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the importance of giving women who have been raped access to emergency contraception and safe abortion.
Any country denying abortion to women who have become pregnant after rape would be subjecting them to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. By forcing victims of rape to carry the pregnancy caused by sexual abuse, the US will also be directly contributing to increased suffering of countless victims from such violence.
The importance of providing sexual and reproductive health care for victims of rape cannot be overemphasized. Every year, nearly 70,000 women die from unsafe abortions. Additionally, many victims of rape try to kill themselves when they are denied reproductive care. The burden of a pregnancy resulting from rape is taking the lives of women around the world. And the US position will reveal whether the Trump administration would prefer that women die from suicide and unsafe abortions rather than provide access to reproductive and sexual health care.
As a young woman and an American citizen, I am ashamed that my country would undermine the sexual and reproductive health care needs of women who have been subjected to sexual violence.
In 2019, girls and women like Lucia from Argentina are still forced to endure life-threatening pregnancies due to rape. Lucia was only 11 years old when she was impregnated by a 65-year old man who was living in her household. Despite attempting to take her own life many times, Lucia was still denied access to a safe abortion and was forced to give birth at age 11.
In five days, the US will be deciding whether our country will stand by survivors like Lucia or whether the Trump administration — including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — will turn a blind eye toward the suffering of rape victims.
The post Will the US Stand With Victims of Rape in War? appeared first on PassBlue.
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