High Court’s decision brings abortion law challenge closer to trial in Antigua and Barbuda.

Thanks for your careful reporting of Estonia’s role in commenting on Antigua and Barbuda’s abortion law during our period review at UN’s Human Rights Council (Antigua Newsroom November 8).

Antiguan Student News

Unfortunately, one of your readers was displeased with Estonia’s observation: “It’s not Estonia’s place to make judgements such as this about other countries…” The reader was upset at the country’s apparent intrusion into our sovereignty.

When we sign international conventions, we make a pledge to do certain things. Every now and then we are expected to make a report to the treaty body about our actions. In preparing those reports, governments generally consult with civil society. The member countries that receive that report are expected to comment on the report.

That is all that Estonia did. That is normal, proper and expected.

When we ratify an international convention, it does not dimmish our sovereignty; it simply makes explicit our commitment to certain universal values.

If our domestic mechanisms of accountability were strong, we would be proudly reporting our progress on those promises. When we fail to act, our reporting obligation to the international community exposes our flaws.

Where we have ratified conventions, our feeble domestic accountability opens the door for international scrutiny.

Your reader dismisses abortion as a non-issue and a distraction. I assume that s/he is unaware that the Caribbean has the highest abortion rate in the world. That appalling situation, and our incredible denial of it, corrodes our culture by the hour.

Your reader’s focus on housing and hurricane-resistant infrastructure is well-placed, but it elevates concrete above culture. Cruelty in a castle is still abuse.

Sincerely,

ASPIRE

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: LETTER: Estonia and Abortion: Accountability and Avoidance.