This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Paraguay’s government has failed to protect a 10-year-old rape victim who is being denied an abortion, United Nations human rights experts have said.

Pregnant 10-year-old rape victim denied abortion by Paraguayan authorities Read more

In a statement released in Geneva, the four experts said Paraguay has refused to provide treatment to save the life of the girl, who is five months pregnant, “including safe and therapeutic abortion in a timely manner”.

The case has set off a national debate in Paraguay, where abortion is banned in all cases – even rape – except when the mother’s life is in danger.

“The Paraguayan authorities’ decision results in grave violations of the rights to life, to health, and to physical and mental integrity of the girl as well as her right to education, jeopardising her economic and social opportunities,” the experts said.

The World Health Organisation says child pregnancies can be dangerous, potentially leading to complications and death.

The girl’s father-in-law, who is accused of raping her, was arrested over the weekend and placed in isolation to prevent other inmates from attacking him. The girl’s mother is being held at a female prison for neglecting to take care of her daughter.

About 600 girls 14 or under become pregnant each year in this country of 6.8 million people. Studies by the US Centers for Disease Control say thousands of children in the United States also give birth each year.

Amnesty International has asked authorities to allow an abortion to protect the girl.

The health minister, Antonio Barrios, has responded that she is in good health at a Red Cross hospital and that the pregnancy, at five months, is too advanced.

However, a medical panel was created on Monday to assess her mental and physical health, said José Orué, a prosecutor who has jurisdiction over these types of cases in the city of Luque, where the girl lived with her mother and stepfather near the Paraguayan capital.

Experts say the girl is not ready mentally or physically to give birth. “That’s why when her baby arrives, the justice system will have to set a guardian and tutors for both of them,” Orué said.

Franca La Carrubba, a Paraguayan forensic psychologist, said that though the girl is not prepared to be a mother, with medical care she might be able to give birth.

“The aftermath of rape could remain when she becomes a teenager or an adult. It’s the most common disorder in these cases,” she said.

The president of the country’s Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Claudio Giménez, recently decried the possibility of a therapeutic abortion, saying that Paraguay is already split over the case.

“Some want to legalise abortion, the killing of an innocent who still is in a period of gestation,” he said. “And for the other side, those who oppose that idea.”

But Senator Esperanza Martínez, a former health minister, complained that the debate about whether the girl is physically able to bear a child overlooks her wellbeing.

A group staged a protest in Asunción on Monday calling on authorities to intervene under the slogan: “Together we can protect children from abuse.”

“The suspects of child rape should not get alternative measures to prison, but should remain in jail during the investigation,” said Sebastián Martínez, one of the organisers of the march.