UN Headquarters in New York. Europa Press/Contact/Sean Kilpatrick (Europa Press/Contact/Sean Kilpa)
On November 11, 2017, a thirteen-year-old girl broke down in tears upon learning she was thirteen weeks pregnant. Camila, as she is to be known to protect her identity, was born into 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 was supposed to look after her well-being and be one of her first caregivers, had been abusive since she was nine. An ordeal that Camila was able to tell her mother – an illiterate woman with spinal paralysis – at the time.
Camila never wanted to be pregnant, let alone have a child from her father. However, at the Huanipaca Health Center where she was treated, she was not informed of her right to access a therapeutic abortion, which has been legal in Peru since 1924, and instead insisted on continuing prenatal care. Soon after, she was offered a birth plan. In December, near the collapse and in the midst of suicidal thoughts, Camila and her mother requested a legal termination of the pregnancy, but received no response from prosecutors or health officials.
On December 19, Camila was admitted to a hospital in Abancay, the capital of Apurímac. He had severe stomach pains. She miscarried the same day. Instead of standing in solidarity with her, her community honored her. Tortured, Camila dropped out of school when she had just started high school. A few years later, in May 2019, his father was sentenced to life imprisonment. At the same time, however, the public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against him for the crime of inducing an abortion. She went from victim to perpetrator. In August 2018, Camila was convicted of self-abortion. He appealed and in June 2019 the verdict was overturned and the case’s final record ordered, but the damage was already done.
Camila found justice this Tuesday. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has found that the Peruvian state “violated the right 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 granted.” It is important to highlight the role of the Son Niñas No Madres movement – made up of a dozen organizations working for the rights of Latin American girls, including the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (Promsex) among others. .- who filed the lawsuit with this body in 2020.
Camila’s case is not unique. According to the online live birth certificate registration system, an average of 1,100 children under the age of 15 give birth in Peru each year. According to the newspaper El Comercio, 12,165 young people under the age of 15 have become mothers in the Andean country in the last decade. “Today is a historic day that sets a precedent for all girls in Peru and Latin America. The ruling recognizes the importance of ensuring access to reproductive health services, including voluntary abortion in cases of rape and underage pregnancy,” said Susana Chávez, director of Promsex. In fact, it’s a historic decision for the region, as Latin America and the Caribbean has the second highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world (61.18%).
In this way, the United Nations urges the Peruvian state to decriminalize abortion in all cases of child pregnancy, to ensure access to safe abortion services and post-abortion care for pregnant girls, and to change regulations on access to therapeutic abortion , to ensure their specific application to girls, due to the particular risk to health and life that child pregnancy entails, set up an intersectoral mechanism involving the re-traumatization of the child victim of child sexual abuse and, of course, compensation for those suffered by Camila violations prevented.
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“I am appalled at the way national authorities have treated a 13-year-old girl who was the victim of rape and incest. Far from being protected, due to her extreme vulnerability, she was again victimized and harassed by health, police and judicial authorities. “We applaud the courage Camila showed in standing up for her rights and bringing her case to us despite the many obstacles,” said Ann Skelton, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
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