Letter to Ambassador Power on the Life and Health Risks of Female Peacekeepers
Dear Ambassador Power,
I am writing with regard to your much needed call at the Security Council on October 9, 2014 for increased protection of UN peacekeepers. I urge you to support changes in a US policy that heightens the life and health risks of female peacekeepers.
Female peacekeepers serving in areas where the use of rape as a weapon of war is endemic face a heightened danger of rape. Should such a female peacekeeper be raped in the course of serving on a UN mission, or as a prisoner of war (POW), due to US policy, she would not receive access to non-discriminatory medical care, including access to safe abortion services, as required under international humanitarian law. The US attaches a ban on abortion speech and services to all US funding of UN peacekeeping missions, including their medical operations. The US contributes nearly 29 percent of the UN peacekeeping budget and is by far the largest country donor. The US abortion prohibition, therefore, makes access to abortion impossible for female peacekeepers who may be impregnated in the course of duty.