TRANSLATED BY JONATHAN LOTT<\/p>\n
This year, more than 70 civil society and state organizations have advocated for the modification of articles 173 and 173 \u201cbis\u201d of Decree 17-73, Penal Code, related to the crimes of rape and sexual assault.<\/p>\n
Initiative 6430 seeks to reform the Law to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse in light of the alarming escalation of sexual violence against children and adolescents in Guatemala. The proposed law promotes to increase the minimum age of sexual consent, as it is currently at 14 years old.<\/p>\n
According to statistics, every day 30,000 births are reported in the National Registry of Persons (Renap) where the mother is a minor; and in 7 out of 10 cases, the girl’s partner is an adult.<\/p>\n
In a publication of the media No Ficci\u00f3n, it has been reported that in 2024, two maternal deaths were reported in girls under 14 years of age, and 15 maternal deaths in adolescents between 15 and 19 years of age. The edition cites data from the National Survey of Maternal and Child Health (Children under five years of age) (ENSMI) 2014-15 and, the baseline of Sesan and the Observatory on sexual and reproductive health OSAR Guatemala, January 2024, revealing a worrying relationship between adolescent pregnancy and child malnutrition.<\/p>\n
Worrying Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n Increased number of children: The earlier the age at first birth, the greater the likelihood that women will have more children.<\/p>\n Prevalent teenage pregnancy: 43% of women in Guatemala have at least one child before age 20. Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to suffer from chronic malnutrition, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and vulnerability.<\/p>\n Another factor influencing the variation of these figures in different regions is the patriarchal system in which girls are objects and property of men. In 90% of family cases, the aggressor is a close person; of these, in 30% of cases the girl’s father is the aggressor. In the customs and traditions of abduction or theft, part of the reparation in some communities, is to give the girl to the rapist to take care of her.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some young mothers, pregnancy and childbirth are planned and desired. However, for many others, they are not. Many factors contribute to this: adolescents may feel pressure to marry and have children early, have few educational or employment opportunities, they don\u2019t know how to avoid pregnancy or access contraceptives, or have difficulty refusing unwanted sex, or face sexual coercion,\u201d according to UNFPA.<\/p>\n Thelma Such\u00ed, member of the Reproductive Health Observatory (Osar) comments that initiative 6430 seeks to reform the Law to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, through which the age of consent would be increased from 14 to 18 years old. It is a step forward to protect young people. However, what is really urgent is a law to teach the topics of sexual and reproductive rights.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is necessary is more training and education for children and adolescents, because when cases of pregnancies in minors are reported, they are forced into de facto unions and forced motherhood. It is important to join forces of state authorities and civil society to avoid more cases of violence,\u201d added Such\u00ed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TRANSLATED BY JONATHAN LOTT This year, more than 70 civil society and state organizations have advocated for the modification of articles 173 and 173 \u201cbis\u201d of Decree 17-73, Penal Code, related to the crimes of rape and sexual assault. Initiative 6430 seeks to reform the Law to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse in light of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[425,453,1],"tags":[4841,4076,4837,519,4840,717,2029,4839,4836,4838],"class_list":["post-12502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-action-en-2","category-frontpage-en","category-uncategorized","tag-child-abuse","tag-chronic-malnutrition","tag-girls-and-adolescents","tag-poverty","tag-reproductive-health","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-sexual-and-reproductive-rights","tag-teenage-motherhood","tag-teenage-pregnancy","tag-vulnerability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/edad1.png?fit=1431%2C1691&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-3fE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9771,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/world\/a-path-towards-reduction-of-adolescent-pregnancies\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":12502,"position":0},"title":"A Path Towards Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancies","author":"EntreMundos","date":"10 mayo, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Eunice Ram\u00edrez Cot\u00f3m Being an adult in this country is difficult because the state offers few guarantees of the essentials in life.\u00a0 And if that were not enough, being a young girl, especially, an indigenous young girl, or from a rural area means childhood will be abruptly yanked away\u2026","rel":"","context":"En \u00abWomen\u00bb","block_context":{"text":"Women","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/category\/women\/?lang=en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/embarazos-en-adolescentes.jpg?fit=745%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/embarazos-en-adolescentes.jpg?fit=745%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/embarazos-en-adolescentes.jpg?fit=745%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/embarazos-en-adolescentes.jpg?fit=745%2C582&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9519,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/health\/the-pressing-need-for-comprehensive-education-regarding-sexual-and-reproductive-rights\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":12502,"position":1},"title":"The Pressing Need for Comprehensive Education Regarding Sexual and Reproductive Rights","author":"EntreMundos","date":"15 febrero, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Maria Fernanda Sandoval Criminal Attorney Specializing in Child Protection \u00a0 Reproductive and sexual rights are human rights which have inherent characteristics that are inalienable and untransferable.\u00a0 They are recognized by United Nations established standards specifically by the UN's Developmental Assistance Framework. 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\nMalnutrition and adolescent childbearing: Nearly 60% of chronically malnourished children are born to adolescent mothers.<\/p>\n