U.S. Should Use Position On U.N. Human Rights Council To End Sex-Selective Abortion In India, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 16 Oct 2009 - 2:00 PST

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The United States' new membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council came "not a moment too soon for girls in India," where rates of infanticide and sex-selective abortion are "worsening in most areas," according to a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece by Madeline Wheeler, a writer and child abuse prevention advocate. Although a report issued this week indicates that the number of women seeking abortions worldwide has decreased over the last 10 years, "[t]his is not the case in India, where the demographic imbalance of gender ... has reached epic proportions -- due in large part to abortions," Wheeler writes.

According to UNICEF figures, there has been a worldwide decline in mortality among children younger than age five over the last decade. However, the decline is "insufficient to reach the U.N. goal of a two-thirds reduction by 2015," Wheeler writes, adding that the current goals "don't specifically address infanticide in India." According to Wheeler, about 21% of the world's under-five mortality rate occurs in India, "and that doesn't include infanticide" in the country. She notes that there are an estimated 105 female births for every 100 males in most countries, but there are fewer than 93 women for every 100 men in India. Sex-selective abortion is more common among higher-income families in urban areas, such as New Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, Wheeler writes. According to India's 2001 national census, there were only 798 girls per 1,000 boys in some parts of Punjab, while a recent study by ActionAid found that the gender disparity has risen to 300 girls per 1,000 boys, Wheeler reports.

Wheeler continues that India banned sex-selective abortion, as well as amniocentesis and sonography for sex determination, more than 10 years ago, yet the "death toll of female fetuses continues to rise" and the "illegal sex-selective abortion industry makes about $250 million a year in India." The main reason for sex-selective abortion is partly because of "deeply rooted gender norms in India [that] devalue women" and position men as the primary source of income and land rights. "The burden of females, however, requires expensive piercing rituals, a large dowry, and wedding expenses," and for those who "only have daughters, it's believed you will be reincarnated in a lower caste," she writes.

The Indian government has created initiatives to curb the practice, but "it hasn't been enough," and pressure from the international community "is also needed," Wheeler writes. The Convention on the Rights of the Child -- which "upholds a universally agreed-upon set of nonnegotiable basic human rights standards and obligations, including the right to survival and protection" -- will reach its 20th anniversary in October, Wheeler notes. "If the convention recommitted to protecting girls and ending 'son preference', this would send a strident message to the people of India," she says. "The future of India depends on turning this around now, and the U.S. has the power to influence this change," Wheeler writes, concluding, "As a new Human Rights Council member, the U.S. should leap to the forefront of this cause and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child" (Wheeler, Christian Science Monitor, 10/14).

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