On November 11, 2017, a thirteen-year-old girl broke down in tears when she found out she was thirteen weeks pregnant. Camila, as it has been decided to call her to protect her identity, was born in an indigenous community in the Peruvian highlands in the district of Huanipaca, Apurímac. The hell of this Quechua-speaking girl who grew up in a mud house without access to water and electricity did not begin that day, but a long time ago. Her father, the man who should ensure her well-being and be one of her first referents, abused her since she was nine years old. An ordeal that Camila was able to tell her mother—an illiterate woman with spinal paralysis—in those days.
Camila never wanted to be pregnant, let alone have a child from her father. However, at the Huanipaca health center, where she was treated, they did not provide her with any information about her right to access therapeutic abortion —legal in Peru since 1924— and rather insisted on continuing with the abortion scheme. prenatal care. Shortly after she was offered a birth plan. In December, on the verge of collapse and in the midst of suicidal thoughts, Camila and her mother requested the legal termination of the pregnancy, but received no response from the Prosecutor’s Office or from the health authorities.
On December 19, Camila was admitted to a hospital in Abancay, the capital of Apurímac. She had severe abdominal pain. That same day she miscarried. Her community, instead of showing solidarity with her, singled her out. Tormented, she Camila dropped out of school when she had just started high school. A couple of years later, in May 2019, her father was sentenced to life in prison. But at the same time, the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against him for the crime of inducing abortion. She went from victim to victimizer. In August 2018, Camila was convicted of self-abortion. She appealed and in June 2019 the sentence was revoked and the final file of the case was ordered, but the damage had already been done.
This Tuesday, Camila has found justice. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has determined that the Peruvian State “has violated the rights to health and life of an indigenous and rural girl who was the victim of rape by not providing her with information or access to legal and safe abortion.” It is important to highlight the role of the Son Niñas No Madres Movement —made up of a dozen organizations in favor of the rights of Latin American girls such as the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (Promsex), among others—, which filed the claim before said body in 2020.
Camila’s case is not isolated. According to the Online Live Birth Certificate Registration System, in Peru each year an average of 1,100 children under 15 give birth. according to the newspaper Trade, in the last decade 12,165 adolescents under 15 years of age were mothers in the Andean country. “Today is a historic day that sets a precedent for all girls in Peru and Latin America. The ruling recognizes the importance of guaranteeing access to reproductive health services, including the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in cases of rape and pregnancy in minors”, said Susana Chávez, director of Promsex. Indeed, it is a historic decision for the region, since Latin America and the Caribbean register the second highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in the world (61.18%).
In this way, the United Nations urges the Peruvian State to decriminalize abortion in all cases of child pregnancy, ensure access to safe abortion services and post-abortion care for pregnant girls, modify the regulations governing access to therapeutic abortion to provide its specific application in girls due to the special risk to health and life that child pregnancy entails, establish an intersectoral mechanism that prevents the re-traumatization of the child victim of child sexual abuse and, of course, compensation for the violations suffered by Camila .
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
“I am appalled by the way the national authorities have treated a 13-year-old girl who was the victim of rape and incest. Far from being protected, given her extreme vulnerability, she was revictimized and harassed by the health, police and judicial authorities. We salute the courage that Camila has shown in standing up for her rights and presenting her case to us despite the many obstacles faced”, remarked Ann Skelton, chairwoman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
#United #Nations #condemns #Peru #violating #rights #girl #victim #rape #abortion