THE SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF ADOLESCENTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

More and more women and children are being sexually assaulted in International countries. Every day they are coming up pregnant, having abortions, and needing unobtainable contraceptives. Third world countries have sexually transmitted diseases running rampant. With little medical help and Doctors the young women are being given no options as how to prevent life changing issues resulting from sex. There are too many children having children or getting AIDS without their consent to have sex. International law has got to take action to prevent this from continuing.

Adolescents are growing and developing their sexuality between the ages of 10-19. During this time they are extremely vulnerable to outside influences. Adults are tasked with the responsibility to protect and prevent harm to them. However, not all adults take this job seriously. That’s where organizations like UNFPA are working together to make sure that every pregnancy is wanted and taken care of properly. In International countries and third world countries poverty is a big deal. With the sexual exploitation of adolescents in these countries more and more girls are experiencing pregnancy, child birth, abortion, and even STD’s. There is no reason for this other than lack of laws to regulate sexual exploitation.

Since 1989 the UN-convention on the Right of a Child has been put into effect. It states that all children have basic common rights such as but not limited to thrive, the right to be protected from exploitation, abuse, and the right to participate in family and cultural events. However, this has not stopped the exploitation of adolescents in corrupt countries. In Cambodia and Thailand being a pedophile or exploiting a child can carry a minimum sentence of 20-30 years. Making it a very serious crime.

In Indonesia the laws are much more lax. They consider a male to be less mature than a female and allow for females to have sex at age 16 and they can marry at 15. But if you entice an adolescent or women to have premarital sex, or force them to have sex by threat the male is punishable with 12 years in prison.

Each country has its own laws and regulations that dictate how they handle sexual exploitation of adolescents and women. Many countries are pretty easy on perpetrators that take advantage of underage girls and women. That is why we need an international universal law that every country should abide by. Their needs to be an appropriate age limit and understanding between countries to uphold the law in every country as the same law. This could prevent many more of the young girls from international and third world countries from being abused and given life sentences from diseases from molestation.