Women who have fled to Poland to escape the war should have the right to reproduction that meets international standards, including abortions, a senior UNHCR official said today amid reports of rape and sex. in Ukraine.
Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, and human rights activists have expressed concern about the difficulties Ukrainian rape victims flee to the country if they have to terminate a pregnancy.
“There are specific policies (regarding breeding services in Poland) that we believe do not meet international standards,” Assistant High Commissioner Gillian Triggs told a news conference.
“(Victims of sexual violence) need counseling and help. In some cases an abortion will be needed. We will discuss this … with the government,” he said.
He added that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would work with as many women as possible to select an abortion to make sure it was performed in Poland or elsewhere.
A Polish government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United Nations says UN human rights watchdogs have been trying to verify allegations of sexual harassment by Russian troops. The allegations also include gang rape and rape in front of children, and observers claim that Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias have also committed sexual violence.
Russia denies human rights abuses in what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine. The UN mission in Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on allegations against Ukrainian forces.
Abortion has become an extremely divisive issue in Poland since the nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) came to power in 2015, promising a return to a traditional, pious society.
The Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that terminating a pregnancy with a fetal defect was unconstitutional, eliminating the most commonly used case of legal abortion in the universal country.
Termination of pregnancy is now allowed only in cases of rape and incest and when the life or health of the mother is endangered, but access to abortion is limited as many doctors refuse to perform it for religious reasons and many women seek abortion in abroad.
The number of refugees who have arrived in Poland since the beginning of the Russian invasion has exceeded 3.3 million.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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