According to the United Nations Population Fund, the lead U.N. agency addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian settings, there are "horrific" accounts of rape and sexual assault against Rohingya women and girls fleeing Myanmar. And the agency says those stories could be "just the tip of the iceberg." Clearly, these women and girls have acute reproductive health needs. They need safe abortion — referred to as menstrual regulation, which is legal in Bangladesh — and postabortion care, because many of them have suffered serious injuries after desperately trying to end a pregnancy with harmful methods.

But the fact is, every woman and girl in these camps has reproductive health needs, yet those services are often minimal or nonexistent in crisis settings.

The Rohingya women and girls who have suffered sexual torture and humiliation and have now fled their homes most certainly deserve whatever care may alleviate some of their suffering. By not providing comprehensive reproductive health care, including contraception and safe abortion services, humanitarian agencies have taken a side, the side that opposes women’s human rights, the side that opposes science and common sense, the side that flies against established international agreements. Doing nothing speaks volumes.

Read the full article on reproductive health care by at Devex International Development