US succeeds in diluting UN resolution on sexual violence against women

Pressure from the Trump administration has removed references to sexual health from a United Nations Security Council resolution against sexual violence during conflict.

The original resolution, proposed by Germany, said that women who had been raped needed access to safe abortions, as well as reproductive and sexual healthcare.

But the resolution approved by the Security Council by a vote of 13-0 on 23 April, with Russia and China abstaining, had any language relating to “sexual and reproductive health” removed.

The US news station CNN reported that the original draft had contained an appeal to the United Nations and donors to provide comprehensive health services, including sexual and reproductive healthcare, to victims of sexual violence.1

Speakers at the …