bad mother,
hussy… Manuela is one of 181 cases identified in El Salvador[1]
of women who suffered obstetric emergencies and were prosecuted with harsh prison sentences. In Manuela s case, the court found -without any evidence- that she had thrown her child into a latrine to cover up an alleged infidelity and thereby avoid public criticism. She was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for first-degree murder.
A significant number[2]
of countries in the world, including in Central and South America, are moving towards the -in most cases partial- decriminalisation of abortion, as seen recently in Chile, Argentina and Haiti. However, on the short but shameful list of countries that continue to criminalise abortion in all circumstances, in flagrant contravention of international human rights law, remain El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic (although this situation could soon be reversed in the Dominican Republic where the Criminal Code (
El Salvador s parliament removes checks and balances on President Bukele s powers globalvoices.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from globalvoices.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
So far in 2021 there have been 159 femicides and 20,000 complaints filed in a country where the judicial system seems incapable of providing an effective response to these crimes
âThis is the street, criminals abusing girls of every age. This is the street. Girls are raped and thereâs nothing that can stop it, however much theyâre protected thereâs always someone shooting,â goes a song by Guatemalan rapper Mai de Rimas. They are lyrics that accurately describe the harsh reality of daily life for women and girls in the Central American country, where they are victims of femicide, rape â 18 per day in 2021, according to the Public Prosecutorsâ Office â sexual harassment, mistreatment and disappearances. So far in 2021, the Womenâs Observatory has reported 159 femicides and violent deaths among women, a number that reached 457 in 2020. The Guatemala National Institute of Forensic Science (Inacif) revealed that the majority of these deaths in 2021 have been caused by firearms (80). Last year, the police officially recorded the murders of 358 women, while Inacif carried out 504 autopsies connected to deaths from crimina