The Guardian: Unprecedented violence targets pregnant women, children worldwide

An investigation conducted by The Guardian, based on data collected by the non-governmental organization Security Insight, highlighted a rising pattern of reproductive violence, now considered a modern facet of warfare. The investigation exposed its direct impact on pregnant women and healthcare workers, as well as its threat to states’ ability to protect populations and ensure the right to safe childbirth.

According to the data, nearly 300 attacks and disruptions targeted maternity and pregnancy care facilities over the past three years, in addition to at least 119 incidents involving direct strikes on hospitals and delivery rooms.

The investigation found that many women were killed, some were denied access to care, and others were forced to give birth under unsafe conditions. The data also recorded the deaths of at least 68 midwives and obstetricians, the abduction of 15, and the detention of 101. These numbers are likely underestimated, as they only include incidents reported in local, national, and international media or electronic databases, with some conflict zones having limited communication and information.

The report highlighted the dire situation faced by pregnant women in Gaza, noting that even after the ceasefire last October, women and children continue to die due to deteriorating healthcare caused by shortages of medicines and equipment. Reports described women giving birth amid rubble and on the sides of roads, as hospitals were hit by direct shells and missiles.

In Ukraine, at least 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been destroyed since early 2022. The investigation noted that psychological stress has significantly increased birth complications. In Kherson in southern Ukraine, a maternity hospital has been damaged five times since the start of the war. In Myanmar, medical facilities have been bombed, and dozens of midwives and patients have been detained.

In Sudan, specifically on October 28, thirty women were taking shelter in the Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al-Fashir when one of the most horrific incidents of the civil war occurred. Reports indicated that more than 460 patients and their companions were killed when the Rapid Support Forces stormed the hospital.

The investigation warned that 676 million women currently live within 50 kilometers of deadly conflict zones, the highest level recorded since the 1990s, amid a lack of guarantees and legal accountability for war crimes targeting maternal care services.

Bayal Shah, a human rights lawyer at the NGO Physicians for Human Rights, stated that the absence of accountability has created “a culture of impunity, and attacks on reproductive health are part of acts of genocide, aimed at preventing births or destroying the survival of certain groups.”

Medical experts say that most maternal deaths are preventable with routine care, but healthcare systems can collapse during war, destroying the conditions that make safe childbirth possible.

A-H 

ANHA