By Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - United Nations human rights experts on Monday accused Paraguay of jeopardising the health and life of a pregnant 10-year-old girl allegedly raped by her stepfather by denying her an abortion.
The girl, who is five months pregnant, has sparked intense debate among Paraguayan lawmakers and society about the country's strict law on abortion, which is banned in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger.
"Despite requests made by the girl's mother and medical experts to terminate this pregnancy which puts the girl's life at risk, the state failed to take measures to protect the health... physical and mental integrity and even the life of the 10-year-old girl," four U.N. experts said in a statement.
"No proper interdisciplinary and independent expert assessment with the aim to insure the girl's best interests was done before overturning life-saving treatments, including abortion," said the independent experts, who work on a voluntary basis on a U.N. group on discrimination against women.
They welcomed Friday's decision by Paraguayan authorities to set up a panel of experts to assess the girl's health.
Paraguay's Congress has debated her case in recent days, with opposition leftist parties calling on the government to ease the law to allow abortion under certain circumstances.
Police recently arrested the girl's 42-year-old stepfather, who had been on the run for several weeks. He is accused of raping the child, a charge he denies, according to local media.
The girl's mother has also been arrested, charged with breaching her duty of care.
According to local media, the girl's mother reported last year that her husband was sexually abusing her daughter, but authorities took no action.
The U.N. experts criticised the government's lack of response, saying it had "failed in its responsibility to act with due diligence and protect the child".
Paraguay health minister Antonio Barrios has defended the government's handling of the girl's case, saying she is in good health and that doctors and a psychologist are providing care for her at a hospital in the capital Asuncion.
Health authorities say even if an abortion were granted, they would not go ahead because it could be risky for the girl at such an advanced stage in her pregnancy.
Opposition senator Esperanza Martinez, a former health minister and doctor, said debate in Paraguay had wrongly focussed on whether the girl's uterus is developed enough to sustain the pregnancy, instead of on her mental and physical well-being.
"We must understand this girl has feelings," Martinez said in the senate last week. "She has a right to create a family as she chooses... this today has been derailed because of a pregnancy that was the result of rape."
Two births a day occur among girls aged 10 to 14 in Paraguay, and many are the result of sexual abuse by relatives and stepfathers, according to the government.
The World Health Organization says in Latin America the risk of maternal death is four times higher among teenagers under 16 than women in their early twenties.