Myanmar enacts ‘birth spacing’ law
May 29, 2015
In a move widely seen as targeting the nation’s Rohingya Muslim minority, President Thein Sein of Myanmar has signed the Population Control Health Care Act, which gives regional governments the authority to mandate “birth spacing” of at least 36 months.
“Any coercive requirement for birth spacing with the aim to organize family planning would constitute a disproportionate interference in the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and could amount to a violation of women’s human rights,” said Dainius Puras, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on health.
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Further information:
- Rights groups attack Myanmar child birth restrictions (Al Jazeera)
- UN raises alarm over first of Myanmar's four ‘race and religion’ bills (UCA News)
- Myanmar’s New Family-Planning Law Seen as Targeted at Rohingya (The Wall Street Journal)
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