19th June 2023
On June 13, 2023, the CRC held the State of Peru responsible for violating Camila’s rights to health and life by failing to provide her with information and access to safe and legal abortion. The CRC has cited the amicus submitted by Red Jurídica in its decision, and the Committee has taken much of the amicus argumentation into account.
This argumentation focuses on recognizing the rights of girls and adolescents to have access to a safe, legal termination of pregnancy, given the serious risk to their physical and mental health, taking into consideration the international human rights standards on abortion. The document focuses on two aspects related to the State’s obligations under international human rights law in relation to real and effective access to voluntary termination of pregnancy: (1) the impact of the biomedical approach on the rights of girls forced into childbearing as a result of rape; and (2) the impact of the absence of mechanisms to prevent pregnancy in children and adolescents.
This decision of the Committee is a significant milestone and represents a breakthrough in the protection of the rights of girls not only for the region but also at the global level.