GENEVA, Switzerland — The
US Supreme Court
decision ending abortion rights will disproportionately impact minorities, UN
experts warned Tuesday, urging action to address disparities and ensure women
who end pregnancies are not criminalized.
اضافة اعلان
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination (CERD) said it was “deeply concerned” by the Supreme
Court ruling in June that shredded five decades of constitutional protections
and prompted several right-leaning states to impose immediate abortion bans.
The committee of
18 independent experts, which evaluates how countries adhere to an
international convention on eliminating racial discrimination, warned of “the
consequent profound disparate impact on the sexual and reproductive health and
rights of racial and ethnic minorities”.
“That decision is very unfortunate,” said Faith
Dikeledi Pansy Tlakula, a CERD committee member from South Africa and its lead
expert on the US situation.
She called for
US authorities “to address the
disparate impact of the court decision on racial minorities, indigenous women
and those with low income”.
Washington must also “take measures to mitigate the
risk of criminal prosecution” of women seeking abortions and their service
providers, she added.
Following the first regular review of the US record
since 2014, the experts issued a report listing concerns on a raft of issues,
including racial profiling, excessive police violence, and unequal access to
education, housing and to a healthy environment.
They asked US authorities to respond on most issues
before the next review expected in 2026, but for some matters, including the
threat to reproductive health rights, they requested a more urgent response.
During the review of the US record, held in Geneva
earlier this month, the CERD committee for the first time also addressed the
thorny issue of reparations.
Rights advocates argue that the legacy of slavery
and subsequent periods marked by exploitation, segregation and violence,
continue to be seen in economic, health, education, law enforcement, and
housing policies and practices.
In its report Tuesday, the committee said it was
“concerned that the lingering legacies of colonialism and slavery continue to
fuel racism and racial discrimination”.
The experts urged Washington to create a “commission
to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans”.
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