{"id":27095,"date":"2024-09-03T11:30:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T11:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/z6frttwr.ordoiuris.io\/aktualnosc\/uns-cedaw-committee-manipulating-facts-when-saying-polands-abortion-ban-violates-human-rights\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T12:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:54:07","slug":"uns-cedaw-committee-manipulating-facts-when-saying-polands-abortion-ban-violates-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"informacje","link":"https:\/\/ordoiuris.pl\/en\/press-newsdesk\/uns-cedaw-committee-manipulating-facts-when-saying-polands-abortion-ban-violates-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"UN\u2019s CEDAW committee manipulating facts when saying Poland\u2019s abortion ban violates human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00b7 The UN-affiliated Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has assessed that Poland\u2019s abortion laws are too strict and thus violate women\u2019s rights. <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 However, the CEDAW report is not binding on countries, and the committee itself does not represent the position of the United Nations.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 The idea of a \u201cright to abortion\u201d really began to take shape as part of human-rights discourse in the 1990s.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 Since then, there have been attempts to argue that \u201csexual and reproductive rights\u201d (including abortion) are an integral part of human rights. However, there is no rationale for this in international law.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 The final document of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo clearly stated that abortion must not be promoted as a method of family planning, and that countries should take action to restrict abortion.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 The European Court of Human Rights has never limited the scope of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Life at the prenatal stage of development has therefore not been excluded from the Convention, and the Court has indicated in many of its judgments that abortion is not a right associated with the Convention.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 The issue of access to abortion is the exclusive competence of individual countries.<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is banning abortion torture?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to CEDAW<\/a>, Polish women face \u201csevere human rights violations due to restrictive abortion laws, with many forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, seek unsafe clandestine procedures, or travel abroad for legal abortions,\u201d to countries where abortion is legal.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The committee also believes that access to abortion in Poland is \u201cseverely hampered,\u201d due to a \u201ccomplex and victim-unfriendly bureaucratic process.\u201d It is also hindered by \u201cpowerful anti-abortion lobbying groups, threats and denunciations against those assisting women seeking abortion.\u201d CEDAW Vice President Genoveva Tisheva believes the Polish law \u201cmay also constitute torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The international community does not recognize abortion as a human right<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Abortion as a human right does not appear in any binding international treaty, and in recent years, many states have consistently raised objections to it and indicated that it is merely an exception to the fundamental right to life. The final document of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), convened in Cairo in 1994, clearly stated that abortion must not be promoted as a method of family planning, and that states should take measures to reduce the number of abortions (ICPD PoA Paragraph 8.25).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moreover, there is also no binding international legal instrument that refers in any way to \u201csexual and reproductive health and rights.\u201d Attempts to portray these nonexistent \u201csexual rights\u201d as supposedly binding international obligations, and an element of human rights, are baseless. The so-called right to abortion (categorized as \u201creproductive and sexual rights\u201d) thus has no source in universally binding international law. However, various bodies attempt to derive it from a number of other recognized rights, including the right to non-discrimination, the right to privacy, and even the right to life. The use of extensional (or dynamic) interpretation of treaties serves this purpose.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth noting that, recently, dozens of countries (including some belonging to the European Union) directly opposed attempts to view abortion as a human right when they signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An attempt to interfere with the competence of sovereign states<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the context of repeated calls for states to provide access to abortion, it should be strongly emphasized that this issue is the exclusive competence of individual states. Neither the EU nor the UN has the authority to interfere in the health policies of member countries. According to Article 6 and Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the issue of sexual and reproductive health falls within the scope of states\u2019 health policies, for which the EU has only a supporting competence. The EU cannot seek to harmonize this right in member states.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For these reasons, the exertion by international organizations, including the EU and the UN, of any form of pressure on member states in the realm of the protection of life and abortion should be considered illegitimate. This is incompatible with EU treaty law and the indicated provisions of international law.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It should also be emphasized that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has never redefined or limited the scope of Article 2. Life at the prenatal stage of development has therefore never been excluded from the protections of the Convention. On the contrary, in many of its judgments, the ECHR has indicated that abortion is not a right<\/a>. Thus, there is no right to abortion, and a state\u2019s prohibition of abortion is not in itself a violation of the Convention.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Attempts to include abortion in the catalog of human rights (for example, by adding the so-called right to abortion to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union this year) undermine the basic principles of human rights, especially since the Charter supports existing rights, including the right to life (Article 2). It is therefore an action that results in contradictions of the law. Consequently, the CEDAW committee\u2019s opinion that Poland is violating women\u2019s rights with a lack of so-called \u201cabortion on demand\u201d is not only questionable, but completely unfounded.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Julia Ksi\u0105\u017cek \u2013 analyst at the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b7 The UN-affiliated Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has assessed that Poland\u2019s abortion laws are too strict and thus violate women\u2019s rights.   \u00b7 However, the CEDAW report is not binding on countries, and the committee itself does not represent the position of the United Nations.   \u00b7 The idea of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":""},"wyswietlanie":[137],"tagi":[168],"typ-wpisu":[202],"malzenstwo-i-rodzina":[],"suwerenna-i-niepodlegla-rp":[215],"chronmy-dzieci-szkola-i-edukacja":[],"w-obronie-chrzescijan":[],"ochrona-zycia-i-bioetyka":[225],"wolnosc-odpowiedzialnosc":[],"class_list":["post-27095","informacje","type-informacje","status-publish","hentry","wyswietlanie-dzialalnosc-instytutu-aktualnosci-en","tagi-abortion","typ-wpisu-press-newsdesk","suwerenna-i-niepodlegla-rp-united-nations","ochrona-zycia-i-bioetyka-abortion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUN\u2019s CEDAW committee manipulating facts when saying Poland\u2019s abortion ban violates human rights - 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