Ipas > Assessing sexual violence, working toward solutions in Latin America

Assessing sexual violence, working toward solutions in Latin America

December 5, 2005

FLASOG recommends that sexual-violence survivors should be helped by a “network of care,” a team of health-care professionals, social-service providers and representatives from law enforcement or the judiciary. Photo courtesy of Sean Sprague, Panos Pictures.

Time and time again, research has shown that sexual violence against women is prevalent throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

In November, the World Health Organization released its first multicountry study on domestic violence. In Peru, 46.7 percent of women interviewed in one province and 22.5 percent in an unidentified city said they’d been victims of sexual violence in their lifetimes.
When the 2005 U.N. Development Programme’s Human Development Report was released in September, it compared percentage of populations victimized by crime in 36 major cities worldwide. Of the top five cities for sexual assault against women, three were located in Latin America: Rio de Janiero, Brazil (which led with 7.5 percent); Buenos Aires, Argentina (second with 6.4 percent); and Bogota, Colombia (4.8 percent).
And last year, in Sunita Kishor and Kiersten Johnson’s Profiling Domestic Violence, 16.7 percent of Haitian women, 11 percent of Colombian women and 8.7 percent of Nicaraguan women polled said they’d been physically forced to have sex.

On the front lines of this issue, Latin American obstetrician-gynecologists are making strides to protect the sexual and reproductive rights of all women, especially victims of sexual violence.

In May, the Latin American Federation of Obstetrician-Gynecologists (FLASOG) convened in the Dominican Republic for its triennial meeting. During a pre-workshop, 72 participants from FLASOG member societies drafted and adopted recommendations to reform abortion laws, improve contraceptive access, reduce maternal mortality and address sexual violence.

Dr. Anibal Faundes, then-chair of the International Federation of Obstetrician-Gynecologists’ Sexual and Reproductive Rights Committee, said the recommendations “represent an enormous advancement and an important instrument to move societies and colleagues in the region to widely defend women’s sexual and reproductive rights.”

FLASOG’s recommendations say that health-care professionals must recognize cases of sexual violence as medical emergencies. However, incidents of sexual violence must not be treated by the health sector alone; survivors are best served by a comprehensive “network of care,” a circle of health workers, police, judicial representatives and social-service providers who help survivors cope with the mental, emotional and sometimes legal repercussions of attacks.

The recommendations also make clear that reproductive freedom must be a concern of government and nongovernmental partners on all levels. Member organizations should affirm women’s rights to safely end pregnancies in those countries and situations where it’s permitted by law. In those nations with more restrictive laws, physicians’ groups should collaborate with law schools, government, the media and others to work toward changes that protect the individual’s legal rights and health. Tomorrow’s health-care professionals must study contraceptive methods in their curricula, and policymakers should understand why contraception can save public monies, as well as lives.

Sexual violence, lack of contraceptive access and unsafe abortion are irrevocably linked to the deaths and disability of women throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. As a whole, the FLASOG recommendations recognize that sustained, collaborative efforts on these topics can better the health of the living and prevent endless deaths.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258