SURINAME-ABORTION-TBs-CEDAW

Concluding Observations on Report 4-6 (2018) (Link)

Health

38. The Committee welcomes the improved health insurance coverage for women in the State party, including for women with disabilities and women from disadvantaged groups. However, it remains concerned about the following:

(a) The inadequate funding of the health sector, resulting in women’s very limited access to basic health-care services, in particular for rural women, Maroon women and indigenous women who must often travel to Paramaribo to seek specialist medical treatment;

(b) The lack of cardiovascular services and cancer screening for women outside Paramaribo, despite the high incidence of cardiovascular diseases and reproductive cancers, including breast, uterine and cervical cancer;

(c) The high incidence of unsafe abortion and the absence of measures to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation to revise legislation criminalizing abortion (CEDAW/C/SUR/CO/3, para. 30);

(d) The lack of comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning services, as well as the persistently low rates of modern contraceptive use, in particular among rural women, Maroon women and indigenous women.

39. Recalling its general recommendation No. 24 (1999) on women and health, the Committee draws attention to Sustainable Development Goals 3.1 and 3.7 and recommends that the State party:

(a) Increase its health expenditure to improve the coverage of and access to high-quality health services for women living in the interior areas of the State party and ensure that they have access to cardiovascular health services and cancer screening;

(b) Conduct a study on the impact of unsafe abortions on maternal mortality and other obstetric complications;

(c) Amend articles 355–357 of the Penal Code, which prohibit abortion, with a view to legalizing it in cases of rape, incest, threats to the life and/or health of the mother or severe foetal impairment, decriminalizing it in all other cases and removing punitive measures for women who undergo abortion;

(d) Provide women with access to quality post-abortion care, especially in cases of complications resulting from unsafe abortions;

(e) Provide access to safe and affordable contraceptives, family planning services and adequate information on sexual and reproductive health.

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Concluding Observations on Report 3 (2007) (Link)

29. The Committee reiterates its concern about the provisions in the Penal Code regarding family planning, including prohibiting the display and offering of contraceptives, and the restriction on abortion, although the provisions are not enforced. The Committee is concerned about the high maternal mortality rates and the prevalence of teenage pregnancy. The Committee also reiterates its concern about the increasing HIV/AIDS infection rates of women and girls, including women in the interior and in rural areas.

30. The Committee reiterates its recommendation that the laws restricting family planning activities and abortion services, which are “dead letter” laws, be repealed. It urges the State party to take concrete measures to enhance and monitor access to health-care services for women, including in the interior and in rural areas, in accordance with article 12 of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation 24 on women and health. It requests the State party to strengthen measures aimed at the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, especially among teenagers. Such measures should include making widely available, without any restriction, a comprehensive range of contraceptives and increasing knowledge and awareness about family planning. The Committee requests the State party to include in its next report detailed and statistical information on women’s health and on the impact of measures it has taken to improve women’s health and access to health-care services, including family planning, and about the impact of those measures on reducing maternal mortality rates and teenage pregnancy rates. The Committee recommends that the State party step up its efforts to prevent and combat HIV/AIDS and improve the dissemination of information about the risks and ways of transmission. It recommends that the State party include a gender perspective in all its policies and programmes on HIV/AIDS. It calls upon the State party to ensure the effective implementation of its HIV/AIDS strategies and to provide detailed and statistical information about women and HIV/AIDS in its next report.

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Concluding Observations on Report 1-2 (2002) (Link)

[no mention]

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