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Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law requires States to provide persons with disabilities access to appropriate support to carry out daily activities and participate in society. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - the highest international standard on promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities - clearly stipulates the obligation of States to ensure access to a wide range of support services to persons with disabilities, and provides a comprehensive framework for its implementation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child also recognizes the obligation of States to ensure the assistance required by children with disabilities for achieving their fullest possible social integration and individual development (art. 23).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The Convention challenges traditional approaches to care and has the potential to redress the legacy of disempowerment and paternalism. Furthermore, the notion of support in the Convention also has the potential to override traditional understandings of care and assistance for other groups, such as older persons and children. The Convention restores the importance of the "human being" in the human rights discourse by emphasizing the individual and social aspects of the human experience. These innovations can and should be incorporated into the implementation of all existing human rights instruments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Children with disabilities and their families require different types of support services, especially in the education and health sectors. They include assistive technology, communication support and individualized education plans, and information and assistance to families of children with disabilities in need. For too long, children and adolescents with disabilities have been mere recipients of "special care", when this is available at all, which resulted in widespread segregation, institutionalization and neglect. Instead, States must organize support services and measures that foster their well-being and enable them to realize their full potential. Families need help to understand disability in a positive way and to know how to help support their children to be autonomous and independent. Limited understanding of care can hinder their right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, in accordance with their age and maturity, and to be provided with disability- and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities and their representative organizations must participate in all decision-making processes related to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of support services and arrangements. Persons with disabilities know best what type of support they require and the barriers they face in accessing it. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities explicitly requires States to consult closely with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, in the development and implementation of legislation and policies concerning issues relating to them (art. 4 (3)). The Special Rapporteur's thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to participate in decision-making (A/HRC/31/62) provides specific guidance in this regard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- International cooperation can play a crucial role in the implementation of support systems. Donor countries and international organizations should consider increasing funding for the design and development of sustainable national support systems and securing the necessary funds to implement development aid inclusive of the support arrangements required by persons with disabilities. For example, when funding national education systems, donors should take into account the obligation to provide support to children and adolescents with disabilities within the general education system to facilitate their effective education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to rights-based support for persons with disabilities 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Some persons with disabilities may need support to overcome barriers that limit their ability to communicate and be understood. While the provision of accessible information and communication can reduce the need for support of persons with disabilities, many of them may still require support with communication. The situation of children with disabilities with limited or no speech capacity is particularly alarming, since their communication needs are usually neglected within the education system and in their communities, despite the existence of low-cost resources and materials. In this regard, States must take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities, whatever their communication skills or type of impairment, can access the communication support they need through different forms of communication, as defined in article 2 of the Convention. This includes professional sign language interpretation, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print and accessible multimedia, as well as written, audio, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including accessible information and communications technology.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, household poverty rates do not consider the allocation of resources within a household. Evidence shows that persons with disabilities often do not get a share of their household's resources. For instance, if resources are tight, parents may pay for the education of their non-disabled children but not for those with a disability. Studies using multidimensional indices of poverty therefore show a greater poverty gap between persons with and without disabilities. All those considerations need to be taken into account to fight poverty among persons with disabilities and to achieve the goal of ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The cost of exclusion is significant not only for persons with disabilities and their families, but also for a country's economy. When persons with disabilities face barriers to participation, they are less likely to be able to work and thus contribute less to the economy. Even when they do work, they tend to earn less than their non-disabled peers because of their more limited access to education (including higher education), good quality jobs and loans to start businesses. A study by the International Labour Organization in 2009 estimated that the cost of excluding persons with disabilities could amount to between 1 and 7 per cent of a country's gross domestic product. Those percentages might actually be understated, as they do not consider the costs of the reduced work time and wages of family members who are responsible for caring for relatives with disabilities, owing to a lack of support or the barrier-free environment that persons with disabilities need to be more independent; nor do they take into account the future lost earnings of children without disabilities who forego some education because of increased responsibilities at home.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Article 5 (3) of the Convention requires States to take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities, whenever that is needed in a particular case. That means providing all the necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments to accommodate a person's individual characteristics or differences, so as to ensure that persons with disabilities can enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including in accessing infrastructures, programmes and services, on an equal basis with others. According to article 2 of the Convention, that duty extends to persons who are associated with a person with disabilities (for example, agreeing to a flexible working hours schedule for a person who cares for a child with disabilities) and should not impose a disproportionate or undue burden on the duty-bearer, be it the State or a private entity. States must clearly establish in their legal and policy frameworks that the denial of reasonable accommodation constitutes discriminat ion on the basis of disability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- States need to pay attention to the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by persons with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the significance of such forms of discrimination, particularly in relation to women and children with disabilities, since they are at a higher risk of discrimination and exclusion (see subparagraph (p) of the preamble and articles 6 and 7). In the design and implementation of public policies and programmes, States must acknowledge the situation of the most marginalized groups among persons with disabilities, such as women, youth, older persons, indigenous persons, persons with psychosocial disabilities, persons with intellectual disabilities, autistic persons and deaf-blind persons (see, for example, CRPD/C/SVK/CO/1 and CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1). To be inclusive, policies and programmes must respond to the needs of those heterogeneous groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Assistive devices and technologies have the primary purpose of allowing individuals to perform an activity they would otherwise be unable to do, or increase the ease and safety with which those activities are performed. In the case of children with disabilities, they have a significant impact on their early childhood development and educational outcome, reducing the need for other types of support. Common examples of assistive devices include wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, prostheses, orthoses, adapted cutlery, extendable reaching devices and adaptive switches for persons with physical impairments; hearing aids, assistive hearing technology, alarm devices, amplified telephones, deaf-blind communicators; spectacles, magnifiers, white canes, voice recognition software, Braille displays and screen readers for persons with visual impairments; communication boards and speech synthesizers for persons with communication needs; and computers and visual and talking timers for persons with intellectual impairments. Assistive devices and technologies range from low-cost solutions to high-tech gadgets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- According to articles 20, 26 (3) and 28 (2) (a) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, States have an obligation to promote the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies for persons with disabilities. Article 20 (b) requires States to take effective measures to facilitate the access of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, to mobility aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries. Those measures must include making them available at no or an affordable cost. Moreover, as part of their general obligations, States should undertake or promote research and development of, and promote the availability and use of, devices and assistive technologies suitable for persons with disabilities, giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost (article 4 (1) (g)). They should also provide accessible information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, including new technologies, as well as other forms of assistance, support services and facilities (article 4 (1) (h)). Despite those obligations, in many developing countries only 5 to 15 per cent of those in need of assistive devices and technologies are able to obtain them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- States should consider integrating as many assistance and support services as possible into their existing policies and programmes. In fact, to access the majority of public education, employment, justice or health programmes and services, many persons with disabilities need some kind of support or assistance. Children with disabilities may need additional support in schools, a person with psychosocial disabilities may require support in applying for disability benefits, a person with intellectual disabilities may need a job coach to access employment. States should budget and plan for such services when designing their policies and programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities know best which barriers they face in their own contexts and how they impact on their lives. Article 4 (3) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations in the development and implementation of legislation and policies concerning issues relating to them. That includes any policy and programme, whether disability-specific or mainstream, that might have a direct or indirect impact on their lives. It is therefore imperative to include them fully in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies and programmes. The Special Rapporteur has developed a thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to participate in decision-making that provides specific guidance on how to ensure that obligation is met ( A/HRC/31/62).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Disability-inclusive policies 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The short set of six questions on disability formulated by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics provides a well-tested method for identifying persons with disabilities in national surveys and censuses in an internationally comparable manner. Adding the questions to national surveys (for example, household income and expenditure surveys, labour force surveys and demographic and health surveys) will enable the disaggregation of data needed to monitor most public policies, as well as the indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals. Together with the Washington Group, the United Nations Children's Fund has developed a specific set of questions for children with disabilities and the International Labour Organization is developing a module on employment and disability for labour force surveys. Other relevant instruments available for in-depth data collection on disability include the WHO model disability survey. All those tools are important for supporting the efforts of States to collect data disaggregated by disability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Mandate, working methods, work plan for the mandate 2015, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- In parallel to these disability-specific developments, and guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations human rights framework continued to grow with the adoption in 1966 of two international covenants - one on civil and political rights, the other on economic, social and cultural rights - and subsequent thematic human rights treaties throughout the following decades. In this context, persons with disabilities were viewed mainly from an anti-discrimination perspective, first implicitly under "any other status". In 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the first binding treaty to explicitly mention disability as a ground of discrimination. Although persons with disabilities were in theory equally protected under the core human rights treaties, however, they would remain at the margins of human rights discourse until the new millennium.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Mandate, working methods, work plan for the mandate 2015, para. 19b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur will be guided by the following overarching considerations in all aspects of her work:] Inclusiveness. The Special Rapporteur will work in an inclusive manner, aiming to ensure that the needs and concerns of persons with all different kinds of impairment are taken into equal consideration and that her work is age-sensitive, paying special attention to children, adolescents and older persons with disabilities. She will be attentive to the specific situation of persons with disabilities who may be subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status, and the multiple layers of barriers that these intersections may create. She will also work across social and economic groups and layers and do her utmost to ensure that no one is left behind in her deliberations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Mandate, working methods, work plan for the mandate 2015, para. 23a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recognizes that a very important part of the mandate is to support States in the development of their national efforts to advance the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities. To accomplish this, the Special Rapporteur will put particular emphasis on the following activities:] Supporting law reform processes. Most legal systems in the world still contain provisions that discriminate against persons with disabilities and violate their human rights, from the denial of legal capacity or the right to vote to education laws that exclude children with disabilities from the general education system. Although efforts have been made to harmonize national legislation with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, much remains to be done. The Special Rapporteur aims to contribute to these processes by providing technical advice and exchanging good practices with a view to supporting and promoting legal reform that is inclusive of the rights of persons with disabilities, and by promoting the effective involvement of and consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in legislative reform.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Mandate, working methods, work plan for the mandate 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur looks forward to working closely together with other special procedures mandate holders and aims, as an initial step, to contact all mandate holders with a call to harmonize efforts and build upon each other's work. Attention will be paid to the mandate's call to address multiple and aggravated forms of discrimination by working in close collaboration with other mandates focusing on groups, such as the mandate holders on the rights of indigenous peoples, violence against women, the sale of children, the human rights of migrants, minority issues and internally displaced persons, older persons and discrimination against women in law and in pPractice. She also sees important connections between her mandate and those focusing on specific economic and social rights, such as the special procedures on the rights to health, education, extreme poverty, adequate housing, water and sanitation, and to food, as well as those focusing on civil and political rights, such as the Special Rapporteur on torture, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Disability is more prevalent among women than men. Women with disabilities account for almost one fifth of the world’s female population. There are no reliable and representative global data on children with disabilities. Estimates suggest that there are between 93 and 150 million children with disabilities worldwide, but numbers could be higher. Furthermore, there are very few statistics available on girls with disabilities at national and international levels, as generally data are not disaggregated by gender, age and disability. That scarcity of data has contributed to making the pressing human rights issues that affect children with disabilities, and girls in particular, invisible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities represented a major milestone towards the full and effective enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights by girls and young women with disabilities. Embracing the basic principles of human rights, the Convention moves away from medical and paternalistic approaches towards a human rights-based approach to the sexual and reproductive health and rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention challenges all forms of substituted decision-making in the exercise of sexual and reproductive health and rights (see arts. 12 and 25); prohibits harmful and discriminatory practices against persons with disabilities in all matters related to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, including the right to retain their fertility and to decide on the number and spacing of their children (see art. 23); calls to end all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, including their gender-based aspects (see art. 16); and promotes access to quality sexual and affordable reproductive health care and programmes (see art. 25).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The Convention addresses the rights of girls and women with disabilities in a cross-cutting manner, adopting a twin-track approach. On one hand, it includes specific articles on women and children with disabilities (see arts. 6 and 7); on the other, it refers to them in the general principles and other substantive articles (see arts. 3, 4, 8, 13, 16, 18, 23, 25 and 30). Article 6 recognizes that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discriminations and requires States to adopt measures to ensure their full and equal enjoyment of rights, as well as their full development, advancement and empowerment. States must systematically mainstream the interests and rights of girls with disabilities in and across all national action plans, strategies and policies concerning women, childhood and disability, as well as in their sectoral plans. They must also target and monitor action aimed specifically at girls with disabilities, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Article 7 of the Convention provides that States must take measures to ensure the full enjoyment of rights by children with disabilities, consider the principle of best interests and respect their evolving capacities. The Convention requires States to ensure that boys and girls with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right (see art. 7, para. 3). The Convention thus reinforces the obligations of States to recognize and respect the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and to provide support to strengthen their capacities to enable independent decision-making. As stressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the young age or the disability of a child does not deprive her or him of the right to express her or his views, nor reduces the weight given to the child’s views in determining her or his best interests.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among youth with disabilities, including girls and young women with disabilities, is of concern. Evidence shows that children and youth with disabilities have a similar or increased risk for contracting sexually transmitted infections compared with other youth, while girls with disabilities experience higher rates than boys with disabilities. However, youth with disabilities, including girls, are less likely to receive information about the prevention of HIV/AIDS or to be given condoms or other methods to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Evidence suggests, for example, that HIV testing is lower among youth with disabilities (men and women) than among the general population. Generally, girls and young women with disabilities are not the target of prevention campaigns on sexually transmitted infections and cancers. The issue is particularly serious for those who are deaf or deaf-blind, who are traditionally excluded from all mainstream information.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Other medical procedures or interventions that are often performed without the free and informed consent of girls and young women with disabilities include forced contraception and forced abortion. Contraception is often used to control menstruation at the request of health professionals or parents. Moreover, while the contraceptive needs of girls and young women with disabilities are the same as those without disabilities, they receive contraception more often by way of injection or through intrauterine devices rather than orally, as it is less burdensome for families and service providers. In addition, girls and young women with disabilities are frequently pressured to end their pregnancies owing to negative stereotypes about their parenting skills and eugenics-based concerns about giving birth to a child with disabilities. During official country visits, the Special Rapporteur has received information about compulsory regular gynaecological checks and the use of forced abortion in institutions as a way to contain the institution’s population.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- There is a worrisome and growing number of cases of surgical procedures and hormonal treatments intended to inhibit the growth of girls and young women with severe impairments. Hysterectomy, for example, is regarded as an effective way to avoid menstruation management,42 and it is justified on the discriminatory presumption that girls and young women with disabilities cannot handle the pain, discomfort and trauma of menstruation — an argument not applicable to girls and women without disabilities. Oestrogen treatment is also being increasingly administered for “growth-attenuation therapy”, aiming to inhibit girls’ entry into puberty and reduce their final height and weight in order to facilitate care. Those practices constitute gross human rights violations that go well beyond patronizing and infantilizing; they prioritize the interests of caregivers to the detriment and denial of a person’s dignity and integrity. As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has emphasized, the interpretation of a child’s best interests cannot be used to justify practices that conflict with the child’s human dignity and right to physical integrity. Stunting a girl’s growth does not represent, by any means, an appropriate response to the lack of support that families may encounter in providing assistance to their girls with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are also likely to be proposed for marriage in regions and communities where child marriage occurs. Indeed, families are more prone to force girls with disabilities into marriage because they see it as a way to ensure long-term security and protection for their children. In addition, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has strongly condemned the practice of female genital mutilation affecting girls and women with disabilities in a number of countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Evidence on sexual and gender-based violence against girls and young women with disabilities is robust. Studies from across the globe show that they are at increased risk of violence, abuse and exploitation compared with those without disabilities, and with boys and young men with disabilities. Overall, children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to experience violence than children without disabilities. However, the risk is consistently higher in the case of deaf, blind and autistic girls, girls with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities and girls with multiple impairments. Belonging to a racial, religious or sexual minority, or being poor, also increases the risk factor for sexual abuse for girls and young women with disabilities. Humanitarian crises and conflict and post-conflict settings generate additional risks of sexual violence and trafficking that affect girls with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The rights of and needs of girls and young women with disabilities must be mainstreamed and addressed by States in all policies and programmes on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Many States have a range of policies and strategies that specifically address both the rights of persons with disabilities and sexual and reproductive health and rights, but those are usually disconnected and do not include a child, youth or gender perspective. Moreover, where policies and strategies identify persons with disabilities as key vulnerable groups, there is generally little focus on the specific challenges faced by girls and young women with disabilities. States must ensure that their health-care systems and services meet the specific sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- States must provide information and assistance to families of girls and young women with disabilities in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Families may need assistance in understanding their child’s sexuality, ways to support their sexual and reproductive health needs and ways to avoid, recognize and report instances of sexual exploitation, violence and abuse. Studies have shown that training can change the attitudes of parents towards the sexuality of their children with disabilities and improve their confidence in talking to them about sexuality. Parents and family members need guidance on understanding the importance of sexuality education and respecting their children’s right to express their views freely, which will help them overcome fears about the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse of girls and young women with disabilities. Families should be involved not just as recipients of training but as participants of awareness-raising initiatives to modify their own attitudes and practices in relation to their children with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph