Politics
Wednesday March 17, 2004
United Nations Tells Colombia Denying Abortion in Rape Cases is an 'Outrage'
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NEW YORK, March 17, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has overstepped its bounds and demonstrated its pro-abortion activism, says Samantha Singson, a pro-life lobbyist at the United Nations for Campaign Life Coalition.
Singson was reacting to a UNHRC meeting yesterday where the head of the committee told representatives from Colombia that the law against abortion even in cases of rape was an "outrage". "The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which the UNHRC is supposed to monitor does not even mention abortion," explained Singson.
Wrapping up the review of Colombia's compliance report, the UN Committee Chairman Abdelfattah Amor of Tunisia praised the seriousness with which Colombia was dealing with human rights issues in the country. However, he said the UN experts had been "quite perplexed" by gaps between the seeming willingness to uphold the Convention and the reality of actions taken.
"Certain troubling social and cultural attitudes linger," he said. "A major example of that is in the treatment of rape victims seeking abortion. Meting out punishment to women who have been raped -- providing them with no legal medical alternative -- was akin to heaping one outrage upon another." He added, "Abortion for medical reasons does not seem to be handled with much tolerance at all."
During the meeting it was no surprise to see the Canadian member of the UN committee hound the Colombian representatives about their abortion stand. Maxwell Yalden of Canada asked about abortion in cases of rape and particularly about the criminalization of abortion.
However pro-life observers at the United Nations were surprised to see the UN committee member from the United States, Ruth Wedgwood, also inquiring about Colombia's stand on abortion, especially since it does not legitimately fall within the mandate of the committee.
See the UN press release on the Committee proceedings:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/hrct646.doc.htm
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