Human rights court condemns Poland’s treatment of rape victim

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Poland for the inhumane and degrading treatment of a 14-year-old rape victim whom the authorities tried to stop having an abortion.

The girl’s right to a private and family life had been flouted in 2008, the court ruled yesterday, saying she had been detain­ed arbitrarily after being briefly placed in a home to separate her from her mother, who favoured an abortion.

“The court was particularly struck that the authorities started criminal proceedings for
illicit sexual relations against the adolescent who, according to the prosecutor and medical reports, should have been considered the victim of sexual abuse,” the Strasbourg judges said in their verdict.

It said Poland had violated
article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights –
 “the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment”.

A staunchly Catholic country, Poland’s legislation on abortion is among the strictest in Europe and the Strasbourg court has
already twice condemned it for failing to ensure the law on the subject is respected.

The hospitals in the south-eastern city of Lublin did everything to dissuade the girl from having an abortion, sending her to see a priest before refusing to carry out the operation.

Officials alerted media to the story, prompting harassment
of the girl by anti-abortion
campaigners.

The abortion was carried out by a hospital in the northern port city of Gdansk, 300 miles from the girl’s home.

Although the case against the girl for illegal sexual relations was dropped, so was the one against her alleged rapist.

The court awarded the girl €30,000 in damages and her mother €15,000.