YAHOO reports that a 10-year-old girl in Paraguay was reportedly sexually abused by her stepfather for years, with the appeal to the authorities for help being completely ignored. She is now pregnant and being denied the right to abort the fetus, so she is appealing for help from the international community.According to the report every day in Paraguay, two girls between the ages of 10 and 14, give birth to children conceived as a result of rape. The writer contends that the law could give access to abortion in these cases but Paraguayan government officials refuse to allow it. Now the tragic case of this 10-year-old girl has dropped a global media bombshell that is forcing them to reconsider.

Avaaz.org is a 41-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (‘Avaaz’ means ‘voice’ or ‘song’ in many languages.)

Avaaz members live in every nation of the world, with a team spread across 18 countries on 6 continents operating in 17 languages.

The Avaaz community went on a blitz on social media that catalysed a decision by the Paraguayan Congress to review this law and open up discussion to citizens. This is the chance to change everything for this 10-year-old and ensure that no young girl has to fight this battle again.

Article 109 Paraguay’s Penal Code allows for the termination of pregnancy where it puts the life of the mother in danger. The Paraguayan Health Minister has refused to apply this law to children, even though the World Health Organisation clearly categorises child pregnancies as dangerous and potentially life threatening. Girls under 15 are 5 times more likely to die of birth complications than older teens and women.

The UN has chastised Paraguay for its denial of an abortion, which it states, inter alia, “… results in grave violations of the rights to life, to health and to the physical and mental integrity of the girl”.

The 10-year-old child is reportedly so small that even pregnant, she weighs just 34 kg. She had sought help from her stepfather’s abuse, but when she reported it in January of 2014 the authorities did not act and she was forced to continue living with him.

The writer noted, “This girl didn’t have a choice in being attacked by her stepfather. She didn’t have a choice about living day in and out with her rapist. She didn’t have a choice in getting pregnant. But if the government applies the law, she should have a choice over what happens next with her own body. And at this stage, that is the least of what should be done for her.”

The rights of children are violated every millimeter of a second every day throughout the world; and while one can argue there are degrees of suffering it is unconscionable that in a modern world children can still suffer at the hands of perverts and predators of the society, most of whom escape being penalised for their cruelty to the innocent children whose lives they have almost always destroyed with their bestial actions.
UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of the Child is reportedly the most rapidly and widely ratified international human rights treaty in history.
The Convention changed the way children are viewed and treated – i.e., as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity.

The unprecedented acceptance of the Convention clearly shows a wide global commitment to advancing children’s rights.

With its 25th anniversary UNICEF also celebrated the declining infant mortality to rising school enrolment, but the organisation stressed that this historic milestone must also serve as an urgent reminder that much remains to be done. Too many children still do not enjoy their full rights on par with their peers.

Noting that business as usual is not enough to make the vision of the Convention a reality for all children, UNICEF urged world leaders to pursue new ideas and approaches to treat with this global dilemma.

Guyana has experienced its fair share of child abuse – reported and unreported, and there is urgent need for enforcement of the laws governing child rights in the nation.

However, children are vulnerable to many variables in their individual circumstances, not least being fear of the predators and their ability to communicate their distress to a receptive and accommodating authority figure who would be prepared to go that extra mile to extricate the victim from her/his peculiar situation and secure protection and help so that the abuse is discontinued and the perpetrator is prosecuted.

Unless and until there is a holistic approach, including community involvement, to treating with this scourge in society, our children would always be a risk of every kind of abuse, often at the hands of those who should be their foremost protector.