Resolution 1829: Prenatal Sex Selection

Sex selection is a huge problem in some Asian countries, where the selective abortion of females, together with the killing of female newborns has been practiced for decades. Prenatal sex selection is indicated by a “skewed sex ratio”, meaning a departure from the natural average sex ratio at birth of 105 boys for 100 girls. This tends to increase as the number of children goes up in a family, or when there are legal or economic restrictions to the size of the family. There is strong evidence that prenatal sex selection is not limited to Asia. In recent years, a departure from the natural sex ratio at birth has been observed in a number of Council of Europe member states and has reached worrying proportions in Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan, where the sex ratio at birth is 112 boys for 100 girls and in Georgia where it is 111 boys for 100 girls. The Parliamentary Assembly condemns the practice of prenatal sex selection as a phenomenon which finds its roots in a culture of gender inequality and reinforces a climate of violence against women, contrary to the values upheld by the Council of Europe.