Human rights committee blames Guatemala for forcing girl who was raped to carry out her pregnancy
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A panel of independent experts who make up the United Nations Human Rights Committee said Thursday they found that Guatemala violated the rights of a 14-year-old girl who was raped and forced to continue her pregnancy.
A former director of a government-run daycare facility she had attended as a child raped her on multiple occasions beginning in 2009 when she was 13 and no longer attended the center, but she was denied access to abortion, forced to carry out the birth and care for the child, treatment the committee compared to torture.
'No girl should be forced to carry the child of her rapist. Doing so robs her of her dignity, her future, and her most basic rights,' Committee member Hélène Tigroudja said in a statement, adding that 'This is not just a violation of reproductive autonomy — it is a profound act of cruelty.'
The committee monitors countries' adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
When the girl's mother found out about the abuse she reported it to authorities. The man and his wife tried to bribe and threaten the girl's family into withdrawing the report. The case wound on in Guatemala's justice system for nine years, but the man was never punished.
'Guatemala did not properly investigate the rape, nor did it take effective action to prosecute the perpetrator,' the committee said.
'Guatemala is one of the Latin American countries with the highest rates of both forced motherhood and systematic impunity for sexual violence,' the committee's statement said. 'Although the Guatemalan Criminal Code allows abortion in specific situations to avoid a threat to the life of the mother, access to legal abortion is almost impossible in practice.'
The committee called on Guatemala to establish a system to record and monitor such cases. In the case of the girl, it said the state should support her to complete higher education and attain her goals.
Catalina Martínez, vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Center of Reproductive Rights, one of the groups that brought the girl's case forward, said there is agreement in society that the protection of girls is a priority.
'But that promise is broken when we don't provide access to all health services, including abortion, and we obligate them to assume motherhood that they don't want and for which they are not prepared,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
3 dead after plane fighting screwworm spread crashes in southern Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two Guatemalan pilots and a Mexican agronomist engineer died Friday when their plane crashed in southern Mexico near the border with Guatemala as they freed sterile flies meant to stop the spread of screwworm in cattle. Mexico's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that the Guatemalan plane crashed near Tapachula in southern Mexico, but did not give a cause. Mexico had stepped up efforts to control the spread of the pest last month under pressure from the United States government, which suspended cattle imports from Mexico because of fear of the screwworm. President Claudia Sheinbaum had said Friday that she didn't know when the suspension would be lifted, but that specialists from the U.S. were in Mexico studying the country's efforts. The screwworm is a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly that can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters animals' skin, causing severe damage and lesions that can be fatal.
Washington Post
6 hours ago
- Washington Post
Election observers at the OAS voice serious concerns about Mexico's contentious judicial elections
MEXICO CITY — Electoral watchdogs at the Organization of American States expressed concern Friday over the low turnout in Mexico's historic and contentious judicial elections , recommending that countries in the Americas not follow its path. In a report, the electoral mission said the June 1 election was 'extremely complex' and 'polarizing,' and was marked by a 'widespread lack of awareness' among voters about what they were voting for and who the thousands of candidates were. In Sunday's vote, Mexicans elected 881 federal judges and another 1,800 state judges as part of a complete overhaul of the judiciary. The process was carried out following a constitutional reform approved last year by a Congress with a ruling-party majority. The overhaul fueled protests and criticism within Mexico and by the American and Canadian governments, which warned of a potential loss of judicial independence and the politicization of justice in Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her mentor and architect of the overhaul, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed they want to root out corruption in the judiciary, which most Mexicans agree is broken. Mexico's electoral authority said this week that voter turnout was 13%, significantly lower than the 60% turnout in last year's general elections. In the Friday report, the OAS mission — led by former Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela — expressed concern over 'the low level of citizen participation' and noted that 'this is one of the lowest turnout levels in the region.' Observers also pointed to the 'high percentage' of null and unmarked ballots, which exceeded 10%. 'It's necessary to carry out a comprehensive reflection on the nature of the (electoral) process and how it was conducted,' the report concluded. The OAS's 16-member observation mission also raised concerns about the nine candidates elected to join Mexico's Supreme Court who 'were promoted in physical and digital 'cheat sheets.'' While parties were not allowed to advocate for candidates, pamphlets known as 'accordions' guiding voters on which candidates to vote for were widely distributed. Mexican electoral authorities investigated complaints against the ruling Morena party and other opposition groups that distributed the voter guides in communities across the capital and other cities in the weeks leading up to the vote. The agency also ordered that a website featuring a digital cheat sheet with Morena-aligned candidates for the Supreme Court and other top tribunals be taken down. OAS observers also noted that six of the nine candidates elected to the high court had been nominated by the government controlled by Morena, and the remaining three were justices appointed by López Obrador, 'which raises reasonable doubts about the autonomy and independence of the highest court in relation to the Executive.' Given the findings, the mission concluded that 'it does not recommend this model of judge selection be replicated in other countries in the region.' Despite the criticism, Sheinbaum praised the election this week, calling it a success.
Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Election observers at the OAS voice serious concerns about Mexico's contentious judicial elections
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Electoral watchdogs at the Organization of American States expressed concern Friday over the low turnout in Mexico's historic and contentious judicial elections, recommending that countries in the Americas not follow its path. In a report, the electoral mission said the June 1 election was 'extremely complex' and 'polarizing,' and was marked by a 'widespread lack of awareness' among voters about what they were voting for and who the thousands of candidates were. In Sunday's vote, Mexicans elected 881 federal judges and another 1,800 state judges as part of a complete overhaul of the judiciary. The process was carried out following a constitutional reform approved last year by a Congress with a ruling-party majority. The overhaul fueled protests and criticism within Mexico and by the American and Canadian governments, which warned of a potential loss of judicial independence and the politicization of justice in Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her mentor and architect of the overhaul, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed they want to root out corruption in the judiciary, which most Mexicans agree is broken. Mexico's electoral authority said this week that voter turnout was 13%, significantly lower than the 60% turnout in last year's general elections. In the Friday report, the OAS mission — led by former Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela — expressed concern over 'the low level of citizen participation' and noted that 'this is one of the lowest turnout levels in the region.' Observers also pointed to the 'high percentage' of null and unmarked ballots, which exceeded 10%. 'It's necessary to carry out a comprehensive reflection on the nature of the (electoral) process and how it was conducted,' the report concluded. The OAS's 16-member observation mission also raised concerns about the nine candidates elected to join Mexico's Supreme Court who 'were promoted in physical and digital 'cheat sheets.'' While parties were not allowed to advocate for candidates, pamphlets known as 'accordions' guiding voters on which candidates to vote for were widely distributed. Mexican electoral authorities investigated complaints against the ruling Morena party and other opposition groups that distributed the voter guides in communities across the capital and other cities in the weeks leading up to the vote. The agency also ordered that a website featuring a digital cheat sheet with Morena-aligned candidates for the Supreme Court and other top tribunals be taken down. OAS observers also noted that six of the nine candidates elected to the high court had been nominated by the government controlled by Morena, and the remaining three were justices appointed by López Obrador, 'which raises reasonable doubts about the autonomy and independence of the highest court in relation to the Executive.' Given the findings, the mission concluded that 'it does not recommend this model of judge selection be replicated in other countries in the region.' Despite the criticism, Sheinbaum praised the election this week, calling it a success.
