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Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 26c
- Paragraph text
- [Judicial level] According to articles 2 (d) and (f) and 5 (a), all judicial bodies are required to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination or gender-based violence against women and to strictly apply all criminal law provisions punishing such violence, ensuring that all legal procedures in cases involving allegations of gender-based violence against women are impartial, fair and unaffected by gender stereotypes or the discriminatory interpretation of legal provisions, including international law. The application of preconceived and stereotypical notions of what constitutes gender-based violence against women, what women’s responses to such violence should be and the standard of proof required to substantiate its occurrence can affect women’s rights to equality before the law, a fair trial and effective remedy, as established in articles 2 and 15 of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Committee also recommends that States parties take the following measures in the areas of prevention, protection, prosecution and punishment, redress, data collection and monitoring and international cooperation in order to accelerate elimination of gender-based violence against women. All measures should be implemented with an approach centred around the victim/survivor, acknowledging women as right holders and promoting their agency and autonomy, including the evolving capacity of girls, from childhood to adolescence. In addition, the measures should be designed and implemented with the participation of women, taking into account the particular situation of women affected by intersecting forms of discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The Committee recalls article 23 of the Convention, in which it is indicated that any provisions in national legislation or international treaties other than the Convention that are more conducive to the achievement of equality between women and men will prevail over the obligations in the Convention and, accordingly, the recommendations in the present general recommendation. The Committee notes that States parties’ action to address gender-based violence against women is affected by reservations that they maintain to the Convention. It also notes that, as a human rights treaty body, the Committee may assess the permissibility of reservations formulated by States parties, and reiterates its view that reservations, especially to article 2 or article 16, the compliance with which is particularly crucial in efforts to eliminate gender-based violence against women, are incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention and thus impermissible under article 28 (2).
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29e
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Ensure that sexual assault, including rape, is characterized as a crime against the right to personal security and physical, sexual and psychological integrity and that the definition of sexual crimes, including marital and acquaintance or date rape, is based on the lack of freely given consent and takes into account coercive circumstances. Any time limitations, where they exist, should prioritize the interests of the victims/survivors and give consideration to circumstances hindering their capacity to report the violence suffered to the competent services or authorities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Allocate appropriate human and financial resources at the national, regional and local levels to effectively implement laws and policies for the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence against women, provision of protection and support to victims/survivors, investigation of cases, prosecution of perpetrators and provision of reparations to victims/survivors, including support to women’s organizations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 35a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to international cooperation to combat gender-based violence against women:] Seek support, where necessary, from external sources, such as the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, the international community and civil society, in order to meet human rights obligations by designing and implementing all appropriate measures required to eliminate and respond to gender-based violence against women, taking into consideration, in particular, the evolving global contexts and the increasingly transnational nature of such violence, including in technology-mediated settings and other extraterritorial operations of domestic non-State actors. States parties should urge business actors whose conduct they are in a position to influence to assist the States in which they operate in their efforts to fully realize women’s right to freedom from violence;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 35b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to international cooperation to combat gender-based violence against women:] Prioritize the implementation of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 5, to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, and Goal 16, to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and support national plans to implement all the Goals in a gender-responsive manner, in accordance with the agreed conclusions of the sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women on women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development, enabling meaningful participation of civil society and women’s organizations in the implementation of the Goals and the follow-up processes, and enhance international support and cooperation for knowledge-sharing and effective and targeted capacity-building.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The sale of and trafficking in children, although similar, are two distinct but linked human rights violations, and States are legally bound to take measures to prevent both (article 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). States tend to confuse the sale of children with child trafficking. Indeed, most national legislations and available data refer to the crime of trafficking, while the crime of sale is overlooked. Consequently, most of the data and documents that were analysed for the purpose of the present study focus on trafficking, as specific information on the crime of sale of children continues to be scarce.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Threats faced by boys and girls do not end when they leave their home countries. As they travel onward, often paying their way through dangerous routes by using exploitative smuggling and trafficking networks, children are subject to further violence, abuse and exploitation, including at borders owing to pushbacks and interceptions by border control officials. Unaccompanied children and those separated from their families face heightened risks, both along the route and upon arrival in transit countries.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Living in limbo for long periods owing to delays or inefficiencies in or the absence of legal paths to migration may drive children who have depleted their financial resources to seek alternative ways, whether legal or illegal, to earn money either to survive or to continue their journeys. Moreover, when they are out of school for long periods, undernourished and without health care, impoverished and beset by mounting anxieties as uncertainty drags on, children become increasingly vulnerable and desperate.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Children may be compelled to work to sustain themselves or provide for their families’ basic needs, especially where parents cannot work legally or simply cannot find work, legally or illegally. Iraqi and Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, for example, work in textile factories, construction or the food service industry, or as agricultural labour or street vendors in conditions amounting to forced labour. According to UNICEF, in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, shopkeepers, farmers and manufacturers hire Syrian refugee children because they can pay them a lower wage. Children, especially girls, are seen as less likely to be targeted by the police or prosecuted for illegal work than adults, making families more likely to send them to work. These types of child labour, which often mask other forms of exploitation, such as trafficking for forced labour, have dire consequences on children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Finally, the practice of “temporary” child or forced marriages is one of the dangerous coping mechanisms that girls face while in refugee camps in transit countries. Confronted with the economic burdens brought on by protracted displacement and limited or inexistent work opportunities, some refugee and migrant parents, and often children themselves, turn to those measures because they feel that they are the only option for safeguarding a child’s future or supporting a family’s immediate needs. For example, Syrian refugee girls are often forcibly married by their parents, who view such arrangements as a way of securing their daughters’ safety and ensuring the family’s livelihood through the dowry. Once married, those girls are likely to end up in a situation of sexual and domestic exploitation by a spouse whom they have followed abroad. The use of child and forced marriages to traffic girls into prostitution in another country is also common.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Children are also coerced into criminal activities by adults or peers. For example, in refugee camps in Iraq and Lebanon, Syrian refugee children are trafficked for forced begging and selling items on the street. Moreover, trafficked children are often obliged or induced by their exploiters to commit crimes, such as pickpocketing, burglary and drug cultivation and transportation. On the route from the Horn of Africa to North-Eastern Africa, there have also been cases of trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. Although the extent of such crimes is unknown, children on the move travelling along these routes are also vulnerable to them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In many conflict-affected countries, girls become victims of sexual exploitation, including forced marriage, sexual slavery, prostitution and forced pregnancy. The egregious pattern of girls abducted from their homes or schools in conflict-affected settings by extremist groups has also emerged. In Iraq, for example, girls from ethnic and religious minority groups such as the Yazidis continue to be subjected to sexual violence by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). There are also reports of trafficking in and sale of children by ISIL. In Somalia, there is a pattern of forced marriage of girls to militants from groups such as Al-Shabaab and Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama‘a and soldiers of the National Army.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In addition to being a means for advancing their criminal endeavours, the sexual exploitation of children is further used by violent extremist groups to generate revenue, as part of the shadow economy of conflict and terrorism, through trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, sexual slavery and the extortion of ransoms from desperate families. In some circumstances, girls are themselves treated as the “wages of war”, being gifted as a form of in-kind compensation or payment to fighters, who are then entitled to resell or exploit them as they wish. Such strategies are also believed to be a way of recruiting, rewarding and retaining fighters.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In humanitarian crises, the pre-existing vulnerabilities of girls that are rooted in discriminatory traditions and customs persist and lead to negative coping mechanisms. Children seeking to survive are often compelled to exchange sexual services, and girls are even forced to marry for food, shelter, protection or safe passage. According to the Secretary-General, approximately 90 per cent of women and girls affected by conflict in north-east Nigeria do not have access to basic services. As a result, they are forced to exchange sex for food and other essential supplies, and the child or forced marriages of girls to older men are on the rise, as a supposed protection mechanism and source of income for desperate families.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Chaos in the aftermath of a natural disaster can also exacerbate the vulnerability to exploitation of the affected communities by making children more prone to accepting, for example, bogus offers of employment or education from traffickers or criminal networks. In order to support the family’s dire economic situation or meet their own needs, children are sold or trafficked for the purpose of labour exploitation. They may be entrusted by family members to people who promise to find them work either within or outside the country, or they may directly offer their services to employers and middle persons. Once in the hands of traffickers who prey on their eagerness to work and send money to the family, those children are forced into the worst forms of child labour.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Women’s right to a life free from gender-based violence is indivisible from and interdependent on other human rights, including the rights to life, health, liberty and security of the person, equality and equal protection within the family, freedom from torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, and freedom of expression, movement, participation, assembly and association.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence against women may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in certain circumstances, including in cases of rape, domestic violence or harmful practices. In certain cases, some forms of gender-based violence against women may also constitute international crimes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In addition, both international humanitarian law and human rights law have recognized the direct obligations of non-State actors in specific circumstances, including as parties to an armed conflict. Those obligations include the prohibition of torture, which is part of customary international law and has become a peremptory norm (jus cogens).
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Address factors that heighten the risk to women of exposure to serious forms of gender-based violence, such as the ready accessibility and availability of firearms, including their export, a high crime rate and pervasive impunity, which may increase in situations of armed conflict or heightened insecurity. Efforts should be undertaken to control the availability and accessibility of acid and other substances used to attack women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, in transit countries such as Libya, migrant girls are often exposed to sexual violence by parties to the conflict, as well as by smugglers, traffickers and other criminal groups. They face threats and sexual violence when held, sometimes for months, in detention centres and in poor conditions, and are also abducted and sexually abused by groups pledging allegiance to ISIL.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- For the girls involved, these coping mechanisms have dangerous short- and long-term implications that put them at increased risk of physical and emotional abuse. Such mechanisms also reduce the likelihood that a girl will complete schooling, a reality that can have negative repercussions throughout a girl’s life, including earlier childbearing, worse health outcomes and lower income.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Effective procedures for the identification of sold, trafficked or otherwise exploited children or potential victims are needed in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements, and in areas of arrival of large influxes of people fleeing conflict and humanitarian crisis. Too often, cases of missing children, who may be victims of trafficking, go unnoticed owing to a lack of reporting procedures.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 86a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of cooperation and coordination, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Strengthen collaboration, data sharing and the exchange of good practices among Governments, humanitarian agencies and civil society on the identification, referral and assessment of children at risk of sale, trafficking and exploitation;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Children are entitled to adequate accommodation, giving priority to family-based and family-like solutions. Unaccompanied or separated children should be housed in specialized camps or at least in areas separated from adults. However, the availability of specific services to address the needs of children and the general circumstances faced by children largely depend on the facility where they are housed.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- A lack of coordination among services and case management gaps have also been identified, in addition to a limited capacity or lack of protocols to address child sexual abuse in public hospitals located near the camps. The absence of trained female translators and adequate psychological support constitute additional obstacles in the implementation of protection mechanisms and have important consequences in the detection and referral of child trafficking and exploitation cases.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85d
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Identify measures to prevent the sexual and labour exploitation of children, including by establishing accessible, safe and regular channels of migration, respecting the principle of non-refoulement and ensuring that, whenever relevant, migrant and refugee children have regular access to the labour market in the host country;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31a (iv)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to protect and assist women complainants of and witnesses to gender-based violence before, during and after legal proceedings, including by: Providing women in institutions, including residential care homes, asylum centres and places of deprivation of liberty, with protective and support measures in relation to gender-based violence;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30e (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Provide mandatory, recurrent and effective capacity-building, education and training for members of the judiciary, lawyers and law enforcement officers, including forensic medical personnel, legislators and health-care professionals, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health, in particular sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention and treatment services, and all education, social and welfare personnel, including those working with women in institutions, such as residential care homes, asylum centres and prisons, to equip them to adequately prevent and address gender-based violence against women. Such education and training should promote understanding of the following: How gender stereotypes and bias lead to gender-based violence against women and inadequate responses to it;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Encourage, through the use of incentives and corporate responsibility models and other mechanisms, the engagement of the private sector, including businesses and transnational corporations, in efforts to eradicate all forms of gender-based violence against women and in enhancing its responsibility for such violence in the scope of its action, which should entail protocols and procedures addressing all forms of gender-based violence that may occur in the workplace or affect women workers, including effective and accessible internal complaints procedures, the use of which should not exclude recourse to law enforcement authorities, and should also address workplace entitlements for victims/survivors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31a (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to protect and assist women complainants of and witnesses to gender-based violence before, during and after legal proceedings, including by: Ensuring access to financial assistance, gratis or low-cost, high-quality legal aid, medical, psychosocial and counselling services, education, affordable housing, land, childcare, training and employment opportunities for women who are victims/survivors and their family members. Health-care services should be responsive to trauma and include timely and comprehensive mental, sexual and reproductive health services, including emergency contraception and post-exposure prophylaxis against HIV. States should provide specialized women’s support services, such as gratis helplines operating around the clock and sufficient numbers of safe and adequately equipped crisis, support and referral centres and adequate shelters for women, their children and other family members, as required;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Whether induced by armed conflict, natural disasters or protracted humanitarian situations, crises are accompanied by a breakdown in public institutions, violations of human rights, the erosion of essential services, inequalities and impoverishment. Existing vulnerabilities to sale, trafficking and exploitation, from gender-based violence to discrimination and to lack of economic opportunities, are exacerbated during such crises. Furthermore, crises tend to fuel impunity, the breakdown of law and order and the destruction of communities, and foster the conditions in which trafficking and other forms of exploitation flourish, often past the point at which hostilities or the humanitarian crises cease. Other aggravating factors are related to discrimination, whether gender-based, ethnic, racial, religious, social, within a community or at the national level.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- As one of the main destinations for children on the move who are fleeing violence, conflict and humanitarian crisis, Europe is at the heart of the sale of, trafficking in and other forms of exploitation of children. In Europe, child trafficking has increased sharply owing to the migration crisis. High rates of trafficking in and exploitation of children have been documented on the central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy. While in transit from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, young Somalis become victims of frequent and serious violence at the hands of traffickers, criminal gangs and Libyan groups. Those children are frequently detained in Libyan jails until a ransom of about $2,000 is paid.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In Central and North America, 100,000 unaccompanied or separated children were identified at the border between Mexico and the United States of America, comprising one third of such children who were registered worldwide in 2015 and 2016. More than half of those children have been fleeing situations of extreme violence, generally related to organized crime, in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador. Those who undertake this perilous journey are exposed to xenophobia, discrimination, abuse, violence and exploitation, and many end up detained at the border, where they risk further ill-treatment, abuse and exploitation. Up to 38 per cent of the children coming from Mexico and apprehended in the United States had been recruited into the smuggling industry, indicating a high proportion of exploitation at the border.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- A durable solution is a long-term, sustainable solution that ensures that all children, including unaccompanied and separated children, can develop into adulthood in an environment that will meet their needs and rights, including recovery and (re)integration. Such solutions may encompass voluntary repatriation, resettlement, local integration and complementary pathways to protection and other durable solutions. However, the common practice has been the return of the child to their family or country of origin as a first option. States should only return or repatriate unaccompanied children as a measure of protection, for example, to ensure family reunification in cases in which it is in the child’s best interest and after due process of law. Unfortunately, in countries where reception networks are overwhelmed by the increasing number of children on the move, individual assessments of the best interests of the child are not taken into account and children are placed in inadequate facilities. These deficiencies in the protection system also increase children’s vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking. Confronted with the States’ failure to provide an adequate response, children see traffickers and smugglers as a preferable source of support. These reasons, together with the gaps identified in child protection systems and the lack of reliable data and coordination among services and across transit and destination countries, contribute to the rising figures of missing children. In addition, children may not wish to be identified in the first European Union country that they enter in order to escape the implications of the Dublin regulation (regulation (EU) No. 604/2013) establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Living in limbo for long periods owing to delays or inefficiencies in or the absence of regular channels for migration may drive children who have depleted their financial resources to seek alternative ways, whether legal or illegal, to earn money either to survive or to continue their journeys. This situation leads them into the arms of criminals who are able to facilitate their passage to other countries. Moreover, the use of detention for children on the move is contrary to their rights, is especially detrimental to their well-being and should not be resorted to. In addition, while it is fundamental to pursue ongoing efforts to investigate and prosecute smugglers and traffickers, more emphasis must be placed on reducing the vulnerabilities of children on the move.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The use of children by migrant smuggling networks also raises concerns about the misidentification of children. Within the northern triangle of Central America, children are frequently recruited by criminal gangs to work as migrant smugglers. The voluntary nature of their decision to take part in the smuggling of migrants across the Mexican border is doubtful. While interviews have exposed that, in some cases, children started voluntarily as human smuggling guides, once part of the cartels that control the smuggling routes, children were unable to leave their exploiters. Indicators of exploitation are often overlooked by State authorities, and children are not identified as child victims of trafficking.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 80b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of identification, all States, particularly those hosting children who are victims of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that such identification procedures take into account the age, gender, cultural background and maturity of the child, as well as the circumstances of his or her journey. This approach should be aimed at establishing a relationship of trust with the children, ensuring that their views are heard and duly taken into account. Child-sensitive age assessment should only be performed in cases of doubt regarding the child’s age. In case of uncertainty, the person should be considered a child. Children should also be informed of the purpose and process of age assessment procedures in a language that they understand;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 80c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of identification, all States, particularly those hosting children who are victims of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Enhance the capacity of all stakeholders, including border and law enforcement officials, front-line workers and volunteers, in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements, and in areas of arrival of large influxes of people fleeing conflict and humanitarian crisis, to ensure the systematic registration of all, including children, and the identification of cases and risks of trafficking and exploitation of children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81d
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure the provision of health and psychosocial services in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements, as well as access to education, religious and cultural practices. Ensure also that practitioners are trained and supported in working with distressed, traumatized children and victims of trafficking and exploitation. Services must be child-friendly and give consideration to the cultural, religious and social norms and values of these children;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Factors contributing to the sexual exploitation of children on the move include their lack of financial resources, the failure of child protection and welfare systems to act as a safety net, the prolonged exposure to inhumane living conditions and a protracted and overly burdensome path to residence status.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- There are also indications that the most common form of sexual exploitation for Afghani boys on the move is rape by their traffickers and their “friends”, which they endure without reporting.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- In view of the States’ legal responsibility to identify, protect and assist children who are victims of sale and trafficking and those vulnerable to other forms of exploitation in all circumstances, including conflict and humanitarian crisis, and ensure accountability for crimes, the Special Rapporteurs offer the following recommendations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Despite those advances, gender-based violence against women, whether committed by States, intergovernmental organizations or non-State actors, including private persons and armed groups, remains pervasive in all countries, with high levels of impunity. It manifests itself on a continuum of multiple, interrelated and recurring forms, in a range of settings, from private to public, including technology-mediated settings and in the contemporary globalized world it transcends national boundaries.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee considers that gender-based violence against women is one of the fundamental social, political and economic means by which the subordinate position of women with respect to men and their stereotyped roles are perpetuated. Throughout its work, the Committee has made clear that such violence is a critical obstacle to the achievement of substantive equality between women and men and to the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, as enshrined in the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Committee endorses the view of other human rights treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders that, in determining when acts of gender-based violence against women amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, a gender-sensitive approach is required to understand the level of pain and suffering experienced by women, and that the purpose and intent requirements for classifying such acts as torture are satisfied when acts or omissions are gender-specific or perpetrated against a person on the basis of sex.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The Committee regards gender-based violence against women as being rooted in gender-related factors, such as the ideology of men’s entitlement and privilege over women, social norms regarding masculinity, and the need to assert male control or power, enforce gender roles or prevent, discourage or punish what is considered to be unacceptable female behaviour. Those factors also contribute to the explicit or implicit social acceptance of gender-based violence against women, often still considered a private matter, and to the widespread impunity in that regard.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85e
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Collect and analyse disaggregated data on the crimes of sale of, trafficking in and other forms of exploitation of children, in order to inform the design and implementation of effective prevention and protection policies to combat those phenomena;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, despite existing guidelines, approaches to the age and filiation determination of children have raised many concerns. Age determination procedures are frequently intrusive, unreliable and often expose unaccompanied children to the same violations as undocumented adults. Inaccurate age assessments and the lack of recognition of a child status have resulted in unaccompanied children facing risks of detention, deportation and violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- To respect and apply the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, States must ensure that protection measures follow the general principles of non-discrimination, best interests, right to life, survival, development and respect for the views of the child. Children also have the right to information, confidentiality and international protection.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Conflict and natural and humanitarian disasters expose children, and more particularly those unaccompanied or separated from their families, to multifaceted vulnerabilities and put them at a higher risk of being trafficked, sold and sexually exploited, coerced into child or forced marriages, and used in the worst forms of child labour. While girls are more likely to fall victims to sexual exploitation, there are nonetheless also cases of boys being abused.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Establish or adapt national referral mechanisms for assistance and protection services, including gender- and child-sensitive measures, for victims and potential victims of sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation, involving national authorities and civil society organizations in decision-making;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81g
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that children have full access to information about their rights and the protection and support services available to them, that this information is accurate, timely and comprehensive and that it is delivered in a manner that takes into consideration their age, language and cultural background.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Prevent the sale of and trafficking in children, especially targeting unaccompanied children, such as orphans, children left behind by parents fleeing conflict and children moving alone to flee conflict and humanitarian crisis areas;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that national legislation prohibits and criminalizes the sale of and trafficking in children as separate crimes, with penalties that reflect the gravity of those crimes;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure easy access to child-sensitive complaint and reporting mechanisms for child sexual abuse and exploitation, through comprehensive and adequately resourced child protection systems;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Acknowledging those developments, and the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and of the human rights treaty bodies and the special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, the Committee has decided to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of general recommendation No. 19 by providing States parties with further guidance aimed at accelerating the elimination of gender-based violence against women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Develop and implement effective measures to make public spaces safe for and accessible to all women and girls, including by promoting and supporting community-based measures adopted with the participation of women’s groups. Measures should include ensuring adequate physical infrastructure, including lighting, in urban and rural settings, in particular in and around schools;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence against women occurs in all spaces and spheres of human interaction, whether public or private, including in the contexts of the family, the community, public spaces, the workplace, leisure, politics, sport, health services and educational settings, and the redefinition of public and private through technology-mediated environments, such as contemporary forms of violence occurring online and in other digital environments. In all those settings, gender-based violence against women can result from acts or omissions of State or non-State actors, acting territorially or extraterritorially, including extraterritorial military actions of States, individually or as members of international or intergovernmental organizations or coalitions, or extraterritorial operations of private corporations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence against women constitutes discrimination against women under article 1 and therefore engages all obligations under the Convention. Article 2 provides that the overarching obligation of States parties is to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women, including gender-based violence against women. That is an obligation of an immediate nature; delays cannot be justified on any grounds, including economic, cultural or religious grounds. In general recommendation No. 19, it is indicated that, with regard to gender-based violence against women, the obligation comprises two aspects of State responsibility for such violence, that which results from the acts or omissions of both the State party or its actors, on the one hand, and non-State actors, on the other.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Under the Convention and general international law, a State party is responsible for acts or omissions of its organs and agents that constitute gender-based violence against women, which include the acts or omissions of officials in its executive, legislative and judicial branches. Article 2 (d) of the Convention provides that States parties, and their organs and agents, are to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of direct or indirect discrimination against women and ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with that obligation. Besides ensuring that laws, policies, programmes and procedures do not discriminate against women, in accordance with articles 2 (c) and (g), States parties must have an effective and accessible legal and legal services framework in place to address all forms of gender-based violence against women committed by State agents, whether on their territory or extraterritorially.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- States parties are responsible for preventing such acts or omissions by their own organs and agents, including through training and the adoption, implementation and monitoring of legal provisions, administrative regulations and codes of conduct, and for investigating, prosecuting and applying appropriate legal or disciplinary sanctions, as well as providing reparation, in all cases of gender-based violence against women, including those constituting international crimes, and in cases of failure, negligence or omission on the part of public authorities. In so doing, the diversity of women and the risks of intersecting forms of discrimination should be taken into consideration.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 24a
- Paragraph text
- [Under general international law, as well as under international treaties, acts or omissions of a private actor may engage the international responsibility of the State in certain cases, which include the following:] [Acts or omissions by non-State actors attributable to the State] The acts or omissions of private actors empowered by the law of that State to exercise elements of governmental authority, including private bodies providing public services, such as health care or education, or operating places of detention, are considered acts attributable to the State itself, as are the acts or omissions of private agents acting on the instruction or under the direction or control of that State, including when operating abroad;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 24b
- Paragraph text
- [Under general international law, as well as under international treaties, acts or omissions of a private actor may engage the international responsibility of the State in certain cases, which include the following:] [Acts or omissions by non-State actors attributable to the State] Article 2 (e) of the Convention explicitly provides that States parties are to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. That obligation, frequently referred to as an obligation of due diligence, underpins the Convention as a whole and accordingly States parties will be held responsible should they fail to take all appropriate measures to prevent, as well as to investigate, prosecute, punish and provide reparations for, acts or omissions by non-State actors that result in gender-based violence against women, including actions taken by corporations operating extraterritorially. In particular, States parties are required to take the steps necessary to prevent human rights violations perpetrated abroad by corporations over which they may exercise influence, whether through regulatory means or the use of incentives, including economic incentives. Under the obligation of due diligence, States parties must adopt and implement diverse measures to tackle gender-based violence against women committed by non-State actors, including having laws, institutions and a system in place to address such violence and ensuring that they function effectively in practice and are supported by all State agents and bodies who diligently enforce the laws. The failure of a State party to take all appropriate measures to prevent acts of gender-based violence against women in cases in which its authorities are aware or should be aware of the risk of such violence, or the failure to investigate, to prosecute and punish perpetrators and to provide reparations to victims/survivors of such acts, provides tacit permission or encouragement to perpetrate acts of gender-based violence against women. Such failures or omissions constitute human rights violations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition, children, especially those who are unaccompanied or live in conflict and humanitarian crisis areas, may be sold or trafficked to serve as combatants in armed conflict. Children are also used as human bombs and human shields. For example, in Iraq, ISIL and other extremist groups traffic boys and young men, including members of the Yazidi minority, into armed conflict, radicalize them to commit terrorist acts, using deception, death threats or the offer of money and women as rewards. In Nigeria, between 2014 and 2016, a total of 90 children (70 girls and 20 boys) were used by Boko Haram in 56 suicide bombings. Children are also compelled to work as porters, cooks, guards and messengers, or are forced to commit crimes, such as looting and physical and sexual violence. In addition, boys and girls in those situations are often sexually abused.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The aftermath of humanitarian disasters is also a fertile ground for the illegal international adoption of children, as it is facilitated by the breakdown of institutions and the lack of border control. For example, following the earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and Nepal in 2015, there were concerns that separated and orphaned children were being trafficked for sexual or labour exploitation, sold or illegally adopted, sometimes by well-meaning families. In addition, the crossover between smuggling and trafficking represents a major risk for children, including those who go missing with the aim of reaching relatives or acquaintances in another country.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court lists, under acts that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, the commission of rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization any other form of sexual violence and enslavement. Also of relevance are the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts of 1949 and the Protocols Additional thereto of 1977, under which certain conduct in the context of international and non-international armed conflict, including slavery, sexual slavery, sexual violence and forced labour, is prohibited.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 82a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of durable solutions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that child victims have the right to receive long-term care and protection, including full access to health care, psychosocial support, social services, education, vocational training and life skills education. In consultation with the child and in coordination with the local child welfare systems, an individual plan should be adopted, and arrangements need to be found that favour family- and community-based solutions;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Building on general recommendation No. 19 and the Committee’s work since its adoption, the Committee urges States parties to strengthen the implementation of their obligations in relation to gender-based violence against women, whether within their territory or extraterritorially. The Committee reiterates its call upon States parties to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention and examine all remaining reservations to the Convention with a view to their withdrawal.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- In its general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, adopted at its eleventh session, the Committee clarified that discrimination against women, as defined in article 1 of the Convention, included gender-based violence, that is “violence which is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”, and that it constituted a violation of their human rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, criminalization of abortion, denial or delay of safe abortion and/or post-abortion care, forced continuation of pregnancy, and abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are forms of gender-based violence that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The rationale of the joint report stems from the fact that addressing emerging forms of vulnerabilities of children has been identified as a priority area by both mandate holders during their respective tenures. The joint report also reflects the commitment of the Special Rapporteurs to ensuring complementarity among those special procedures mandate holders who address cross-cutting issues of concern and to mainstreaming the protection of children’s rights within the special procedures system.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Conflict and humanitarian crises result in children risking being exposed to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation, whether in their homes, communities or society, or in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements in source, transit and destination countries, some of which are discussed below.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The international legal framework on the sale of, trafficking in and other forms of exploitation of children in conflict and humanitarian crises draws on several branches of international law. In some cases, common and overlapping rules operate to ensure that certain protection measures (e.g., against sale, trafficking, slavery, sexual exploitation, child and forced marriage and forced labour) are applicable in all situations, including in situations of armed conflict and humanitarian crisis.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81f
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Appoint trained and independent translators in areas and services that are or could potentially be in contact with vulnerable migrant and refugee children to facilitate effective communication and access to services;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Finally, while, the Special Rapporteurs, in the present report, aim to raise international awareness of the vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation related to the complex situation of conflict and humanitarian crisis, by no means do they deal exhaustively with all such forms of exploitation, and the report only provides an overview of the vulnerabilities of children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Provisions that allow, tolerate or condone forms of gender-based violence against women, including child or forced marriage and other harmful practices, provisions allowing medical procedures to be performed on women with disabilities without their informed consent and provisions that criminalize abortion, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender, women in prostitution and adultery, or any other criminal provisions that affect women disproportionally, including those resulting in the discriminatory application of the death penalty to women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Discriminatory evidentiary rules and procedures, including procedures allowing for the deprivation of women’s liberty to protect them from violence, practices focused on “virginity” and legal defences or mitigating factors based on culture, religion or male privilege, such as the defence of so-called “honour”, traditional apologies, pardons from the families of victims/survivors or the subsequent marriage of the victim/survivor of sexual assault to the perpetrator, procedures that result in the harshest penalties, including stoning, lashing and death, often being reserved for women and judicial practices that disregard a history of gender-based violence to the detriment of women defendants;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: All laws that prevent or deter women from reporting gender-based violence, such as guardianship laws that deprive women of legal capacity or restrict the ability of women with disabilities to testify in court, the practice of so-called “protective custody”, restrictive immigration laws that discourage women, including migrant domestic workers, from reporting such violence, and laws allowing for dual arrests in cases of domestic violence or for the prosecution of women when the perpetrator is acquitted;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Ensure that all legal proceedings, protective and support measures and services concerning victims/survivors respect and strengthen their autonomy. They should be accessible to all women, in particular those affected by intersecting forms of discrimination, take into account any specific needs of their children and other dependants, be available throughout the State party and be provided irrespective of residency status or ability or willingness to cooperate in legal proceedings against the alleged perpetrator. States should also respect the principle of non-refoulement;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 32a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to prosecution and punishment for gender-based violence against women:] Ensure effective access for victims to courts and tribunals and that the authorities adequately respond to all cases of gender-based violence against women, including by applying criminal law and, as appropriate, ex officio prosecution to bring alleged perpetrators to trial in a fair, impartial, timely and expeditious manner and imposing adequate penalties. Fees or court charges should not be imposed on victims/survivors;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30b (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Develop and implement effective measures, with the active participation of all relevant stakeholders, such as representatives of women’s organizations and of marginalized groups of women and girls, to address and eradicate the stereotypes, prejudices, customs and practices set out in article 5 of the Convention, which condone or promote gender-based violence against women and underpin the structural inequality of women with men. Such measures should include the following: Integration of content on gender equality into curricula at all levels of education, both public and private, from early childhood onwards and into education programmes with a human rights approach. The content should target stereotyped gender roles and promote the values of gender equality and non-discrimination, including non-violent masculinities, and ensure age-appropriate, evidence-based and scientifically accurate comprehensive sexuality education for girls and boys;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 33b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to reparations:] Establish specific funds for reparations or include allocations in the budgets of existing funds, including under transitional justice mechanisms, for reparations to victims of gender-based violence against women. States parties should implement administrative reparations schemes without prejudice to the rights of victims/survivors to seek judicial remedies, design transformative reparations programmes that help to address the underlying discrimination or disadvantaged position that caused or significantly contributed to the violation, taking into account the individual, institutional and structural aspects. Priority should be given to the agency, wishes, decisions, safety, dignity and integrity of victims/survivors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The general obligations described above encompass all areas of State action, including in the legislative, executive and judicial branches and at the federal, national, subnational, local and decentralized levels, as well as action under governmental authority by privatized governmental services. They require the formulation of legal norms, including at the constitutional level, and the design of public policies, programmes, institutional frameworks and monitoring mechanisms aimed at eliminating all forms of gender-based violence against women, whether perpetrated by State or non-State actors. They also require, in accordance with articles 2 (f) and 5 (a) of the Convention, the adoption and implementation of measures to eradicate prejudices, stereotypes and practices that are the root causes of gender-based violence against women. In general terms, and without prejudice to the specific recommendations provided in the following section, the obligations include the following:
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The forms of exploitation covered include the sexual exploitation of children, child and forced marriage, the labour exploitation of children and child labour, including in its worst forms, such as the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. The children who are considered in the context of the present report are those who are said to be “on the move”, and may be unaccompanied or separated from their families. This includes refugee children, internally displaced children and child migrants below 18 years of age. The report is based on a literature review of available material on this topic.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation in temporary reception centres and informal settlements. In northern France, some children were transported to Spain, where they were sexually exploited in order to cover the cost of their onward journey to London of around €9,000. In the same area, some children claiming to be adults were sexually exploited for the promise of passage to the United Kingdom or in order to pay for the journey by receiving around €5 a time for sexual services, revealing the level of pressure that they were under to raise the €5,000 to €7,000 charged for their passage.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Various United Nations resolutions also address this issue. For example, the Human Rights Council has addressed child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings in its draft resolution A/HRC/35/L.26, while the Security Council, in its resolution 2225 (2015), requested the Secretary-General to include in the annexes to his reports on children and armed conflict those parties that engage in patterns of abduction of children in situation of armed conflict, and, in its resolution 2331 (2016), focused for the first time on trafficking in persons in the context of armed conflict.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, global initiatives, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, call upon States to eradicate, inter alia, trafficking in and other forms of exploitation of children in its targets 5.3, 8.7 and 16.2. In addition, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (General Assembly resolution 71/1) commits States to protect the human rights of all refugee and migrant children, regardless of their status, in particular those of unaccompanied children or of children separated from their families. The ensuing development of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration and of that on refugees constitutes a potential additional landmark for the protection of children on the move from trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Existing prevention mechanisms and responses to various forms of exploitation of children in the context of conflict and humanitarian crisis are largely ineffective and lead to precariousness. Indeed, the accurate identification of children who are victims of sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation is hindered by the inadequate training, or lack thereof, of frontline workers, challenges in age and filiation determination, and a lack of communication and coordination among various actors. In spite of some promising practices, the interim care of and durable solutions for vulnerable children on the move often do not consider the specific needs of children, especially those separated or unaccompanied who live in mixed spaces with adult migrants or refugees in areas or camps that lack basic amenities. The existence of numerous cases of sexual exploitation of children is an additional indication of the failure of a protection system meant to safeguard them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations should ensure that the sale of and trafficking in children are linked to the six grave violations and abuses against children. When linked to trafficking, such violations are particularly egregious and should be given special consideration as grounds on which to bar countries repeatedly listed as being involved in those violations in the annual reports of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict from contributing troops to United Nations operations. In addition, when such violations constitute international crimes, the international community should ensure that perpetrators are held accountable by, inter alia, referring cases to the International Criminal Court, as a means to combat impunity and ensure that such heinous crimes do not go unpunished.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85f
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Address factors that increase the root causes of vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in the context of conflict and humanitarian crisis by adopting and implementing strategies that tackle, among other factors, inequality, poverty and all forms of discrimination, including in the context of the strategies for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 86b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of cooperation and coordination, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Actively participate in and support international initiatives, such as Alliance 8.7 and the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure that children grow up free from violence and exploitation, and engage in the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration and the global compact on refugees;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 86c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of cooperation and coordination, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Support the work of the independent expert appointed by the Secretary-General to lead the work of a new in-depth global study on the situation of children deprived of liberty by providing him with the necessary means and resources to fulfil his mandate, as an effective means to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the development of alternatives to the detention of children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Ensure that all forms of gender-based violence against women in all spheres, which amount to a violation of their physical, sexual or psychological integrity, are criminalized and introduce, without delay, or strengthen, legal sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the offence, as well as civil remedies;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Recognize the international protection needs, actual and potential, of children and adopt standardized, child-sensitive screening protocols, as well as child-friendly mechanisms to systematically report and respond to instances of missing children, including by reporting to the police;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 82d
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of durable solutions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Grant non-nationals who are victims of trafficking residence status and assistance, not to be made conditional on the initiation of criminal proceedings or their cooperation with law enforcement authorities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83d
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that a legal representative for all children (including families) and a trained guardian for unaccompanied and separated children are appointed as soon as possible upon arrival, free of charge;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Recognize and address the specific vulnerability of boys and girls to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian crisis situations;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- In many States, legislation addressing gender-based violence against women is non-existent, inadequate or poorly implemented. An erosion of the legal and policy frameworks that aim to eliminate gender-based discrimination or violence, often justified in the name of tradition, culture, religion or fundamentalist ideology, and significant reductions in public spending, often as part of so-called “austerity measures” following economic and financial crises, further weaken States responses. In the context of shrinking democratic spaces and the consequent deterioration of the rule of law, all of those factors contribute to the pervasiveness of gender-based violence against women and lead to a culture of impunity.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Ensure that the process of collecting and maintaining data on gender-based violence against women complies with established international standards and safeguards, including legislation on data protection. The collection and use of data and statistics should conform to internationally accepted norms for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and ethical principles;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30d (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to encourage the media to eliminate discrimination against women, including the harmful and stereotypical portrayal of women or specific groups of women, such as women human rights defenders, from their activities, practices and output, including in advertising, online and in other digital environments. Measures should include the following: Encouraging the creation or strengthening of self-regulatory mechanisms by media organizations, including online or social media organizations, aimed at the elimination of gender stereotypes relating to women and men, or to specific groups of women, and addressing gender-based violence against women that takes place through their services and platforms;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Despite international, regional and national efforts to implement an effective humanitarian response to current crises, the increasing number of unaccompanied and separated children poses severe challenges to transit and destination countries and humanitarian agencies with respect to protecting and supporting refugee and migrant children adequately. The absence or inadequacy of child protection systems, the lack of coordination among different child protection services and the limited capacity in camps to host children in specialized and separated facilities exacerbate the risks to exploitation to which they are exposed during their journey. The lengthy processing of family reunification and resettlement solutions or inefficient family reunification procedures, in addition to poor living conditions experienced in camps and the possibility to be placed in detention, are all factors driving migrant children to avoid the child protection system in transit and destination countries. Moreover, a lack of knowledge and awareness among the humanitarian community about the vulnerabilities experienced by boys and girls on the move, together with the children’s lack of information about their own situation, represent further barriers in protecting children’s rights effectively in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis. Other gaps include a lack of timely information, legal options and legal counselling, timely appointment of guardians and firewalls between child protection and migration authorities as effective means to safeguard the children’s interests and protect their rights, including access to justice and remedies.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Among good practices related to adequate child protection mechanisms in crisis responses is the creation of child-friendly spaces within interim care services. Promising examples include efforts by UNICEF and UNHCR to provide psychosocial support and other child protection services through child and family support hubs (also known as “blue dots”), which, among other services, offer children child-sensitive information on their rights, especially regarding international protection and referrals to services where necessary. Another promising example is Plan International’s child-friendly space established in the wake of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal to provide children with psychological support and facilitate their return to school. These child-friendly spaces were integrated into temporary learning centres and based on child participation, allowing children to share their concerns and protection issues.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Once children reach their destinations, they may encounter a different array of obstacles, including detention, lengthy family reunification processes (when they are available at all), discriminatory treatment while in State care, limited access to social services, education and career opportunities, and uncertainty regarding their residence status in the country. In the United States, there have been cases of trafficking in unaccompanied migrant children who, after their cases were processed by agencies of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, have been placed with family members in the country. At times, some of those children have been trafficked for sexual and labour exploitation by criminal networks who posed as family members or forced them into begging or drug smuggling.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- By the time children arrive at their destination, they have acquired debts with exploiters who take away their documents and use threats or violence to subdue them into labour exploitation. For example, Iranian and Afghani children who have crossed the English Channel find themselves pressured to send money to their families, while also repaying substantial debts related to their journeys. This heavy financial burden drives children to accept working conditions that constitute worst forms of child labour, including trafficking. At destination, many are trafficked for forced and exploitative labour in farms and factories and on fishing boats. For example, in France and the United Kingdom, young men are exploited in cannabis farms, while others are allegedly exploited in the agriculture sector in Europe.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Finally, the detention of children on the move may occur in both transit and destination countries, in general for identification or security purposes. Regardless of the context, detained children are profoundly and negatively affected by such detention. Children in immigration detention have been subjected to abuse, torture, and ill-treatment or have witnessed such acts. In destination countries, detained children are housed in inadequate facilities, which leads them to fall victim to sexual abuse and exploitation. Although underreported, such violence has occurred in asylum accommodations in Belgium, Germany, Sweden and Turkey.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteurs recommend to call upon States that have not yet done so to ratify and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court and the relevant International Labour Organization instruments.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Instruments of the international labour law provide additional protection to children escaping from conflict and humanitarian crises. Indeed, the International Labour Organization Conventions concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour of 1999 (No. 182) and Forced or Compulsory Labour of 1930 (No. 29) call for the prohibition and elimination of, inter alia, trafficking in and other forms of exploitation of children. The Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers of 2011 (No. 189) is also very relevant, as exploited children on the move regularly end up in such employment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Several treaties are also directly relevant at the regional level. In Europe, the Council of Europe Conventions on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, as well as the European Union directives on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (directive 2011/36/EU) and on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography (directive 2011/92/EU), are vital instruments. Protection is also provided in other regions by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution, and the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The Committee acknowledges that civil society groups, especially women’s non-governmental organizations, have prioritized the elimination of gender-based violence against women; their activities have had a profound social and political impact, contributing to the recognition of gender-based violence against women as a human rights violation and to the adoption of laws and policies to address it.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Ensure that all legal systems, including plural legal systems, protect victims/survivors of gender-based violence against women and ensure that they have access to justice and to an effective remedy, in line with the guidance provided in general recommendation No. 33;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- For more than 25 years, in their practice, States parties have endorsed the Committee’s interpretation. The opinio juris and State practice suggest that the prohibition of gender-based violence against women has evolved into a principle of customary international law. General recommendation No. 19 has been a key catalyst for that process.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption, are also relevant to trafficking and other forms of exploitation in all contexts.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31a (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to protect and assist women complainants of and witnesses to gender-based violence before, during and after legal proceedings, including by: Protecting their privacy and safety, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including through gender-sensitive court procedures and measures, bearing in mind the due process rights of victims/survivors, witnesses and defendants;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31a (v)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to protect and assist women complainants of and witnesses to gender-based violence before, during and after legal proceedings, including by: Establishing and implementing appropriate multisectoral referral mechanisms to ensure effective access to comprehensive services for survivors of such violence, ensuring the full participation of and cooperation with non-governmental women’s organizations;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81e
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Create safe child-friendly spaces in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements that host children and offer them space for recreation, study and rest, separated from other facilities, and ensure that those areas are family-based and family-like, whenever possible;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 82b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of durable solutions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that, in the child’s best interests, sufficient resources are allocated to the family reunification procedures to ensure the operational capacity to carry out evaluations in a reasonable time and reduce the overall length of the process; and adopt a broad interpretation of family, taking into consideration cultural differences and the best interests of the child;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Given the vulnerabilities of children to numerous forms of exploitation, including sale and trafficking, in the context of conflict and humanitarian crisis, a comprehensive and child rights-based response is needed. The following steps identify the required measures and highlight existing good practices as well as gaps.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Other tools that fight trafficking and other forms of exploitation of children in the context of conflict and humanitarian crises include the recommended principles and guidelines on human rights and human trafficking of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (E/2002/68/Add.1); the UNHCR guidelines on victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked; the UNICEF guidelines on the protection of child victims of trafficking of 2006; and the minimum standards for child protection in humanitarian action elaborated by the Global Protection Cluster. Other standards, such as the UNICEF core commitments for children in humanitarian action, the professional standards for protection work and the guiding principles on unaccompanied and separated children of the International Committee of the Red Cross further complete the international legal protection framework against trafficking and other forms of child exploitation. The guidelines on justice in matters involving child victims and witnesses of crime of the Economic and Social Council also provide further protection to child victims and guarantee their best interests.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention, it is indicated that the obligations of States are to respect, protect and fulfil women’s rights to non-discrimination and the enjoyment of de jure and de facto equality. The scope of those obligations in relation to gender-based violence against women occurring in particular contexts is addressed in general recommendation No. 28 and other general recommendations, including general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers; general recommendation No. 27 (2010) on older women and the protection of their human rights; general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations; joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices; general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women; general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice; and general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women. Further details on the relevant elements of the general recommendations referred to herein may be found in those recommendations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30e (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Provide mandatory, recurrent and effective capacity-building, education and training for members of the judiciary, lawyers and law enforcement officers, including forensic medical personnel, legislators and health-care professionals, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health, in particular sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention and treatment services, and all education, social and welfare personnel, including those working with women in institutions, such as residential care homes, asylum centres and prisons, to equip them to adequately prevent and address gender-based violence against women. Such education and training should promote understanding of the following: National legal provisions and national institutions on gender-based violence against women, the legal rights of victims/survivors, international standards and associated mechanisms and their responsibilities in that context, which should include due coordination and referrals among diverse bodies and the adequate documentation of such violence, giving due respect for women’s privacy and right to confidentiality and with the free and informed consent of the victims/survivors;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence affects women throughout their life cycle and, accordingly, references to women in the present document include girls. Such violence takes multiple forms, including acts or omissions intended or likely to cause or result in death or physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, threats of such acts, harassment, coercion and arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Gender-based violence against women is affected and often exacerbated by cultural, economic, ideological, technological, political, religious, social and environmental factors, as evidenced, among other things, in the contexts of displacement, migration, the increased globalization of economic activities, including global supply chains, the extractive and offshoring industry, militarization, foreign occupation, armed conflict, violent extremism and terrorism. Gender-based violence against women is also affected by political, economic and social crises, civil unrest, humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and the destruction or degradation of natural resources. Harmful practices and crimes against women human rights defenders, politicians, activists or journalists are also forms of gender-based violence against women affected by such cultural, ideological and political factors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 26a
- Paragraph text
- [Legislative level] According to articles 2 (b), (c), (e), (f) and (g) and 5 (a), States are required to adopt legislation prohibiting all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls, harmonizing national law with the Convention. In the legislation, women who are victims/survivors of such violence should be considered to be right holders. It should contain age-sensitive and gender-sensitive provisions and effective legal protection, including sanctions on perpetrators and reparations to victims/survivors. The Convention provides that any existing norms of religious, customary, indigenous and community justice systems are to be harmonized with its standards and that all laws that constitute discrimination against women, including those which cause, promote or justify gender-based violence or perpetuate impunity for such acts, are to be repealed. Such norms may be part of statutory, customary, religious, indigenous or common law, constitutional, civil, family, criminal or administrative law or evidentiary and procedural law, such as provisions based on discriminatory or stereotypical attitudes or practices that allow for gender-based violence against women or mitigate sentences in that context;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 26b
- Paragraph text
- [Executive level] Articles 2 (c), (d) and (f) and 5 (a) provide that States parties are to adopt and adequately provide budgetary resources for diverse institutional measures, in coordination with the relevant State branches. Such measures include the design of focused public policies, the development and implementation of monitoring mechanisms and the establishment and/or funding of competent national tribunals. States parties should provide accessible, affordable and adequate services to protect women from gender-based violence, prevent its reoccurrence and provide or ensure funding for reparations to all victims/survivors. States parties must also eliminate the institutional practices and individual conduct and behaviour of public officials that constitute gender-based violence against women, or tolerate such violence, and that provide a context for lack of a response or for a negligent response. This includes adequate investigation of and sanctions for inefficiency, complicity and negligence by public authorities responsible for the registration, prevention or investigation of such violence or for providing services to victims/survivors. Appropriate measures to modify or eradicate customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women, including those that justify or promote gender-based violence against women, must also be taken at the executive level;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- At the regional and national levels, children on the move are also vulnerable to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation. There are also reports of missing children, some of whom fall into the hands of criminals to continue their journey to reach relatives or acquaintances in another country. In Africa, nearly 3 million children were refugees by the end of 2015. As of mid-2016, 390,000 Nigerian children had been displaced to the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and the Niger, and a further 1.1 million children had been internally displaced owing to the conflict in the Lake Chad basin. Children have been subjected to abhorrent abuses, mainly at the hands of Boko Haram, which has reportedly recruited and used more than 8,000 children since 2009, abducted at least 4,000 girls, boys and young women, and inflicted sexual violence on more than 7,000 girls and women, often leading to pregnancies. Since the beginning of the conflict in South Sudan, in 2013, children have constituted 66 per cent of the 1.3 million refugees, and the majority of the 1.9 million internally displaced persons. A direct consequence of the war has been the recruitment and use of more than 17,000 children, with a further 3,090 children abducted and 1,130 children sexually assaulted by armed forces and armed groups, among others.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83b
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that legislation, policies, measures and practices guarantee child-sensitive due processes in all migration-related administrative and judicial proceedings affecting the rights of children or of their parents. All children, including those accompanied by parents or other legal guardians, must be treated as individual rights-holders, not criminals, their child-specific needs must be considered equally and individually and their views must be duly heard. They must have access to administrative and judicial remedies against decisions on their own situation or that of their parents that affect them in order to guarantee that all decisions are taken in their best interests. Children should be able to bring complaints beyond legal or court procedures at lower levels that should be easily accessible to them, such as those of child protection and youth institutions, schools or the ombudsperson, and they should be able to receive advice from professionals in a child-sensitive manner when their rights have been violated;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The increase in conflict and humanitarian crises has led to a record level of displacement, with 24.2 million new displacements worldwide in 2016, mostly caused by weather-related disasters. Children are disproportionately affected by conflict and humanitarian crises. According to the Secretary-General, children suffered from human rights violations in situation of conflict in 14 countries in 2015, namely in Afghanistan, Colombia, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. By the end of 2015, 28 million children had been forcibly displaced by violence and conflict, of whom 17 million had been internally displaced, 1 million were asylum-seekers and 10 million were refugees. Children are overrepresented in the number of refugees worldwide, accounting for 51 per cent of the 22.5 million refugees in 2016, while they only represent a third of the world’s population.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In Asia, children constituted 48 per cent of the 14.8 million refugees by the end of 2015. The ongoing conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, which had created 2.4 million child refugees in 2015 and more than 2 million internally displaced children by 2016, has led to situations of extreme vulnerability. Indeed, United Nations assessments have revealed cases of child recruitment in 90 per cent of the locations surveyed in that country and cases of child marriage in 85 per cent of them. Similarly, the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan has created 1.3 million child refugees and, by 2016, had displaced more than half a million persons, 56 per cent of whom were children. Those children are at a particularly high risk of being abused and exploited, with a very elevated level of child or forced marriage and domestic abuse. Likewise, the reported rise in the number of child brides among Rohingya children who have fled Myanmar and live in neighbouring countries perpetuates the cycle of violence and poverty experienced by those girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Another aspect of States’ failure to protect children in the context of humanitarian responses is the alarming practice of child detention owing to their irregular migration status. The Committee on the Rights of the Child and other human rights mechanisms have underscored that immigration-related detention of children can never be in their best interests and that, no matter whether they are unaccompanied or with their families, their detention constitutes a violation of their rights that, at times, may amount to “torture and ill-treatment”. The reasons invoked by States to resort to immigration-related detention of children include health and security screening, identity verification, protection and the facilitation of removal from the country. Alternatives to child detention should be sought. Children should be allowed to reside in a community-based context while their immigration status is being resolved. Good practices of such alternatives include the child-sensitive community assessment and placement model.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30b (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Develop and implement effective measures, with the active participation of all relevant stakeholders, such as representatives of women’s organizations and of marginalized groups of women and girls, to address and eradicate the stereotypes, prejudices, customs and practices set out in article 5 of the Convention, which condone or promote gender-based violence against women and underpin the structural inequality of women with men. Such measures should include the following: Awareness-raising programmes that promote an understanding of gender-based violence against women as unacceptable and harmful, provide information about available legal recourses against it and encourage the reporting of such violence and the intervention of bystanders; address the stigma experienced by victims/survivors of such violence; and dismantle the commonly held victim-blaming beliefs under which women are responsible for their own safety and for the violence that they suffer. The programmes should target women and men at all levels of society; education, health, social services and law enforcement personnel and other professionals and agencies, including at the local level, involved in prevention and protection responses; traditional and religious leaders; and perpetrators of any form of gender-based violence, so as to prevent repeat offending;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30e (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Provide mandatory, recurrent and effective capacity-building, education and training for members of the judiciary, lawyers and law enforcement officers, including forensic medical personnel, legislators and health-care professionals, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health, in particular sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention and treatment services, and all education, social and welfare personnel, including those working with women in institutions, such as residential care homes, asylum centres and prisons, to equip them to adequately prevent and address gender-based violence against women. Such education and training should promote understanding of the following: Trauma and its effects, the power dynamics that characterize intimate partner violence and the varying situations of women experiencing diverse forms of gender-based violence, which should include the intersecting forms of discrimination affecting specific groups of women and adequate ways of interacting with women in the context of their work and eliminating factors that lead to their revictimization and weaken their confidence in State institutions and agents;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 and general recommendation No. 33, the Committee confirmed that discrimination against women was inextricably linked to other factors that affected their lives. The Committee, in its jurisprudence, has highlighted the fact that such factors include women’s ethnicity/race, indigenous or minority status, colour, socioeconomic status and/or caste, language, religion or belief, political opinion, national origin, marital status, maternity, parental status, age, urban or rural location, health status, disability, property ownership, being lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, illiteracy, seeking asylum, being a refugee, internally displaced or stateless, widowhood, migration status, heading households, living with HIV/AIDS, being deprived of liberty, and being in prostitution, as well as trafficking in women, situations of armed conflict, geographical remoteness and the stigmatization of women who fight for their rights, including human rights defenders. Accordingly, because women experience varying and intersecting forms of discrimination, which have an aggravating negative impact, the Committee acknowledges that gender-based violence may affect some women to different degrees, or in different ways, meaning that appropriate legal and policy responses are needed.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31a (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to protect and assist women complainants of and witnesses to gender-based violence before, during and after legal proceedings, including by: Providing appropriate and accessible protective mechanisms to prevent further or potential violence, without the precondition that victims/survivors initiate legal action, including through removal of communication barriers for victims with disabilities. Mechanisms should include immediate risk assessment and protection comprising a wide range of effective measures and, where appropriate, the issuance and monitoring of eviction, protection, restraining or emergency barring orders against alleged perpetrators, including adequate sanctions for non-compliance. Protective measures should avoid imposing an undue financial, bureaucratic or personal burden on women who are victims/survivors. The rights or claims of perpetrators or alleged perpetrators during and after judicial proceedings, including with respect to property, privacy, child custody, access, contact and visitation, should be determined in the light of women’s and children’s human rights to life and physical, sexual and psychological integrity and guided by the principle of the best interests of the child;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Establish a system to regularly collect, analyse and publish statistical data on the number of complaints about all forms of gender-based violence against women, including technology-mediated violence, the number and type of orders of protection issued, the rates of dismissal and withdrawal of complaints, prosecution and conviction and the amount of time taken for the disposal of cases. The system should include information on the sentences imposed on perpetrators and the reparations, including compensation, provided to victims/survivors. All data should be disaggregated by type of violence, relationship between the victim/survivor and the perpetrator, and in relation to intersecting forms of discrimination against women and other relevant sociodemographic characteristics, including the age of the victim/survivor. The analysis of the data should enable the identification of failures in protection and serve to improve and further develop preventive measures, which should, if necessary, include the establishment or designation of observatories for the collection of administrative data on the gender-based killings of women, also referred to as “femicide” or “feminicide”, and attempted killings of women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In addition, despite their role in supporting the maintenance of peace and security and providing humanitarian assistance, the deployment of peacekeeping forces and international humanitarian personnel, generally in the context of conflict and humanitarian crises, has also proven to be a risk factor for children. In 2016, 138 cases of children allegedly victims of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by such forces and personnel had been reported by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- States have the primary responsibility to protect children within their territory or subject to their jurisdiction, regardless of their status. In certain cases, when States are unable or unwilling to protect and respect children’s human rights, the international community may assist.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In addition, States’ capacities and approach to implementing durable solutions for children vary. While some prioritize child protection, others look at it as a matter of security, do not consider such situations as their responsibility or do not have the capacity to provide child protection in conflict- and disaster-affected areas. Concerns have been raised about the policy adopted by some States to discourage unaccompanied children in transit to apply for asylum or any other form of protection. In Europe, in particular, States’ responses are very fragmented. In places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps or informal settlements, unaccompanied children are viewed as young people in transit for whom local integration is not a suitable option. While family reunification applies in such cases, it is rarely implemented in practice, owing to, among other reasons, the restricted concept of family (limited to close relatives only) which does not take into account the diversity in type and composition of families across regions. In addition, the process for family reunification is often lengthy and complex.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The present joint study by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children and the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children addresses the vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking, and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The present general recommendation complements and updates the guidance to States parties set out in general recommendation No. 19 and should be read in conjunction with it.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Responses to current humanitarian crises are increasingly dependent on voluntary work and, as a result, frontline workers are not always appropriately trained or able to detect such complex situations as trafficking in persons or other forms of child exploitation. A lack of confidentiality or child-friendly spaces and complaint mechanisms in places where migrants or refugees reside, including reception centres, refugee camps and informal settlements, also hampers the establishment of a bond of trust with the children that would enable them to share their concerns and the risks that they face. In addition, children’s lack of confidence in the protection system and the assistance available to them drives them to hide their exploitation from humanitarian workers. Finally, children’s experience of abuse and exploitation as well as their own statements regarding their age are met with disbelief by public services, undermining the identification process further.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The concept of “violence against women”, as defined in general recommendation No. 19 and other international instruments and documents, has places an emphasis on the fact that such violence is gender-based. Accordingly, in the present recommendation, the term “gender-based violence against women” is used as a more precise term that makes explicit the gendered causes and impacts of the violence. The term further strengthens the understanding of the violence as a social rather than an individual problem, requiring comprehensive responses, beyond those to specific events, individual perpetrators and victims/survivors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34e
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Set up a mechanism or body, or mandate an existing mechanism or body, to regularly coordinate, monitor and assess the national, regional and local implementation and effectiveness of the measures, including those recommended in the present recommendation and other relevant regional and international standards and guidelines, to prevent and eliminate all forms of gender-based violence against women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 32b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to prosecution and punishment for gender-based violence against women:] Ensure that gender-based violence against women is not mandatorily referred to alternative dispute resolution procedures, including mediation and conciliation. The use of those procedures should be strictly regulated and allowed only when a previous evaluation by a specialized team ensures the free and informed consent of victims/survivors and that there are no indicators of further risks to the victims/survivors or their family members. Procedures should empower the victims/survivors and be provided by professionals specially trained to understand and adequately intervene in cases of gender-based violence against women, ensuring adequate protection of the rights of women and children and that interventions are conducted with no stereotyping or revictimization of women. Alternative dispute resolution procedures should not constitute an obstacle to women’s access to formal justice.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 33a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to reparations:] Provide effective reparations to victims/survivors of gender-based violence against women. Reparations should include different measures, such as monetary compensation, the provision of legal, social and health services, including sexual, reproductive and mental health services for a complete recovery, and satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition, in line with general recommendation No. 28, general recommendation No. 30 and general recommendation No. 33. Such reparations should be adequate, promptly attributed, holistic and proportionate to the gravity of the harm suffered;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Develop and evaluate all legislation, policies and programmes in consultation with civil society organizations, in particular women’s organizations, including those that represent women affected by intersecting forms of discrimination. States parties should encourage cooperation among all levels and branches of the justice system and the organizations that work to protect and support victims/survivors of gender-based violence against women, taking into account their views and expertise. States parties should encourage the work of human rights organizations and women’s non-governmental organizations;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 34c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following measures with regard to coordination and monitoring and the collection of data regarding gender-based violence against women:] Undertake or support surveys, research programmes and studies on gender-based violence against women in order to, among other things, assess the prevalence of gender-based violence against women and the social or cultural beliefs exacerbating such violence and shaping gender relations. Studies and surveys should take into account intersecting forms of discrimination, on the basis of the principle of self-identification;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30d (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to encourage the media to eliminate discrimination against women, including the harmful and stereotypical portrayal of women or specific groups of women, such as women human rights defenders, from their activities, practices and output, including in advertising, online and in other digital environments. Measures should include the following: Guidelines for the appropriate coverage by the media of cases of gender-based violence against women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30d (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Adopt and implement effective measures to encourage the media to eliminate discrimination against women, including the harmful and stereotypical portrayal of women or specific groups of women, such as women human rights defenders, from their activities, practices and output, including in advertising, online and in other digital environments. Measures should include the following: Establishing or strengthening the capacity of national human rights institutions to monitor or consider complaints regarding any media that portray gender-discriminatory images or content that objectify or demean women or promote violent masculinities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 82c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of durable solutions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Fully respect non-refoulement obligations deriving from international human rights, humanitarian, refugee and customary international law, in particular the obligations codified in article 33 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and article 3 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The repatriation of any child can only be decided when it is evidenced on a case-by-case basis that it is in his or her best interests and after ensuring, by means of a procedure with proper safeguards, that the child, upon return, will be safe and provided with proper care and custody;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83e
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ban the administrative detention of children, in particular, but not only, for violations of immigration laws and regulations; ensure that children who are victims of or vulnerable to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation are not detained, prosecuted or punished for violations of immigration laws or for unlawful activities that they are involved in as a direct consequence of their situation as victims of exploitation. When the child’s best interests require keeping the family together, the imperative requirement not to deprive the child of liberty should extend to the child’s parents and requires that the authorities choose alternatives to detention for the entire family;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 83f
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of access to justice, prosecution and sanctions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure the accountability of military and peacekeeping troops and of international humanitarian personnel in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation by implementing zero tolerance for such crimes, setting up prompt and effective investigations and prosecutions, implementing commensurate penalties for those guilty of such crimes, taking such measures as repatriation and the termination of deployment, withholding funds and providing reparation for victims. Care, recovery and reintegration measures should also be provided to child victims as part of their right to a remedy.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Regardless of the context, children who are victims of trafficking and other forms of exploitation are entitled to the right to be identified, to protection, to assistance and support, to safe return and protection from re-trafficking and persecution, and to access remedies. They also have specific rights and requirements in respect to care, recovery and reintegration. They require holistic care provided on an individual assessment basis, while being consulted, and with their best interests at the heart of every measure taken. States must also proactively fight impunity and bring perpetrators of trafficking and other forms of exploitation to justice by implementing international instruments fully and effectively (see section D below), addressing the specific obstacles that children may encounter as a result of their migratory status and improving cooperation across countries.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- In response to the sexual exploitation and abuse of children by peacekeeping forces and international humanitarian personnel, the Secretary-General has appointed a Special Coordinator on Improving the United Nations Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and set up a high-level task force to develop a new strategy for preventing and responding to such abhorrent crimes. The Secretary-General has specifically called upon Member States to implement extraterritorial jurisdiction, repatriate culpable personnel, discipline repatriated personnel and hold accountable responsible officers in the chain of command.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- International law prohibits and ensures the protection of children from sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis. This includes the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of children in armed conflict, under which States parties are required to prevent, prohibit and criminalize the exploitation and abuse of children. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also provides for the protection of children from economic and social exploitation. Furthermore, the latter treaty, along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, enshrines the need for marriage to be based on free and full consent.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the absolute prohibition of slavery, which is a jus cogens norm under international law, is also relevant in this context. Indeed, the worst forms of child labour, child trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices can cover similar realities, even though they have their own specificities under international law. Moreover, forced marriage is explicitly prohibited under the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, which provides that child and forced marriage can be considered as a form of slavery.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 81a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of protection and assistance, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Adopt proactive protection measures based on the best interests of the child and in line with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee laws, as well as general comment No. 14 (2013) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration when indications of sale, trafficking or other forms of exploitation are found; and take all the necessary measures to prevent the illegal adoption and sale of children in the context of conflict and humanitarian crises;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- In its concluding observations on the periodic reports of States parties under the Convention and the related follow-up procedures, general recommendations, statements, and views and recommendations issued in response to communications and inquiries under the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the Committee condemns gender-based violence against women, in all its forms, wherever it occurs. Through those mechanisms, the Committee has also clarified standards for eliminating such violence and the obligations of States parties in that regard.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 31d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following protective measures:] Develop and disseminate accessible information, through diverse and accessible media and community dialogue, aimed at women, in particular those affected by intersecting forms of discrimination, such as those with disabilities, those who are illiterate or those who have no or limited knowledge of the official languages of a country, on the legal and social resources available to victims/survivors, including reparations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and its Protocol of 1967 provide additional fundamental rights to refugee children. A core provision is that of non-refoulement, and basic standards are also set in respect to welfare. At the regional level, the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, the Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and the European Union asylum acquis are also important.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 80a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of identification, all States, particularly those hosting children who are victims of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that unaccompanied and separated children are promptly identified, registered and referred to the child protection system;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 85c
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of prevention and the promotion of rights, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Prevent sexual exploitation by the military, extremist groups or family members, as well as child or forced marriages, whether in refugee or internally displaced persons camps or in the host country;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 30a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following preventive measures:] Adopt and implement effective legislative and other appropriate preventive measures to address the underlying causes of gender-based violence against women, including patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes, inequality in the family and the neglect or denial of women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and to promote the empowerment, agency and voices of women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In the absence of safe and regular migration channels, as well as permanent and accessible mechanisms for children and their families to access long-term regular migration status or residence permits, children are forced to search for precarious alternatives that increase their exposure to risks of sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In Greece, children in or outside refugee camps are sexually exploited, generally through deception about the amount they would need to earn in order to pursue their journey. Unable to collect enough money to cover their onward journey, many get discouraged and get involved in drugs, shattering any hope of continuing their journey.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Examine gender-neutral laws and policies to ensure that they do not create or perpetuate existing inequalities and repeal or modify them if they do so;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- While some refugee and internally displaced persons camps have separate facilities for unaccompanied or separated children, they often lack family-based solutions and have very limited capacity to face the increasing number of unaccompanied or separated children. As a consequence, children share their living space with adults or are held in prolonged detention. In addition, even when children are offered a separated living area, those are often easily accessible to everyone, especially during night-time. Moreover, certain camps fail to provide basic amenities, such as appropriate health-care services or gender-differentiated sanitation. The lack of adequate lightning, the layout of some camps and a shortage of security personnel further increase the vulnerability of children to abuse. Finally, the reluctance of many European countries to provide refugee children with a safe and permanent home continues to aggravate the situation by prolonging the stay of children in the facilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- States parties should regulate the activities of domestic non-State actors within their jurisdiction, including when they operate extraterritorially. General recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 reaffirms the requirement under article 2 (e) to eliminate discrimination by any public or private actor, which extends to acts of national corporations operating extraterritorially. States parties should uphold extraterritorial obligations with respect to rural women by, inter alia: not interfering, directly or indirectly, with the enjoyment of their rights; taking regulatory measures to prevent any actor under their jurisdiction, including private individuals, companies and public entities, from infringing or abusing the rights of rural women outside their territory; and ensuring that international cooperation and development assistance, whether bilateral or multilateral, advance the rights of rural women outside their territory. Appropriate and effective remedies should be available to affected rural women when a State party has violated its extraterritorial obligations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 17a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should promote inclusive and sustainable economic development that enables rural women to enjoy their rights and:] Recognize their crucial contributions to local and national economies and to food production, as well as to the well-being of their families and communities, including through unpaid care work and work on family farms, in line with general recommendation No. 17 (1991) on the measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition in the gross national product;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- States parties should harmonize personal status and family laws with article 16, in line with general recommendations No. 21 (1994) on equality in marriage and family relations and No. 29 (2013) on the economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution, guarantee that rural women have equal rights in marriage, including to marital property upon divorce or death of their spouse and to maintenance or alimony, and raise awareness of women's rights within marriage in rural areas.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39f
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] That health-care information is widely disseminated in local languages and dialects through various media, including in writing, through illustrations and orally, and that it includes information on, inter alia: hygiene; preventing communicable, non-communicable and sexually transmitted diseases; healthy lifestyles and nutrition; family planning and the benefits of delayed childbearing; health during pregnancy; breastfeeding and its impact on child and maternal health; and the need to eliminate violence against women, including sexual and domestic violence and harmful practices;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- [Right to participate in and benefit from rural development (art. 14, para. 2 (a))] Rural women must be regarded as drivers of sustainable development. Notwithstanding the vital role of rural women in agriculture and rural development, policies and initiatives are often not gender-responsive and rural women often do not benefit from enabling frameworks. The rights of rural women are also often not taken into consideration in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts in conflict and post-conflict environments.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Worldwide, rural women and girls have lower levels of literacy and are disadvantaged when it comes to access to education and training. Rural girls may be victims of child and/or forced marriage and experience sexual harassment and violence in and out of educational settings, which may force them to drop out of school. Their school attendance is also often curtailed by chores, such as domestic and care work, including cooking, childcare, farm work and fetching water and firewood, the long distances to travel to school and the lack of adequate water, toilet facilities and sanitation in schools, which fail to meet the needs of menstruating girls. In some regions, students and teachers in girls' schools face threats and attacks from opponents of girls' education.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 25e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against rural women and girls, and, in line with general recommendations No. 19 and No. 33:] Implement measures to prevent and address threats and attacks against rural women human rights defenders, with particular attention to those engaged on issues relating to land and natural resources, women's health, including sexual and reproductive rights, the elimination of discriminatory customs and practices, and gender-based violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- States parties should address housing as part of overall rural development and ensure that measures are developed in consultation with rural women. States parties should improve the quality of rural housing through the design and implementation of targeted policies and programmes that take into account the specific needs of rural women. Such efforts should be made in line with international housing rights standards, including the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement (A/HRC/4/18, annex I), and should contain strong measures to protect rural women effectively from forced eviction by State and non-State actors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Rural women and girls are among those most affected by water scarcity; a situation that is aggravated by unequal access to natural resources and the lack of infrastructure and services. Rural women and girls are frequently obliged to walk long distances to fetch water, sometimes exposing them to a heightened risk of sexual violence and attacks. Owing to poor rural infrastructure and services in many regions, rural women often spend four to five hours per day (or more) collecting water from sometimes poor-quality sources, carrying heavy containers and suffering acute physical problems, as well as facing illnesses caused by the use of unsafe water. Various forms of low-cost and effective technology exist that could ease the burden, including well-drilling technology, water extraction systems, wastewater reuse technology, labour-saving irrigation technology, rain-harvesting and household water treatment and purification systems.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Rural women's access to electricity and other forms of energy is often limited. The responsibility for biomass collection and use for energy production, and the associated health and safety risks, falls primarily on women and girls. They are traditionally responsible for meeting household energy requirements and, as the principal consumers of energy at the household level, are also likely to be more directly affected by cost increases or resource scarcity. While a specific reference to electricity is made in article 14, paragraph 2 (h), it is important to recognize that rural women may also have other energy needs, for example for cooking, heating, cooling and transportation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Transport and road access pose significant challenges for rural women and have an impact on their enjoyment of various rights, including access to education, livelihood opportunities and health care. Geographical distance, inhospitable terrain, a lack of infrastructure and access to public transportation can all limit day-to-day mobility. Even when transportation alternatives are available in rural areas, the associated costs of travel or risks of sexual harassment and violence can serve as strong disincentives for rural women to use them. Consequently, they often spend long hours travelling by foot, creating other problems for them in terms of increased time poverty and risks to health and safety.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Article 16 provides for equality for women in marriage and family relations, which is something that many rural women do not enjoy owing to discriminatory social norms, practices and laws, plural justice systems where they exist, or the lack of enforcement of relevant laws. Girls from rural communities are at special risk of child and/or forced marriage and early pregnancy. Rural women are also disproportionately affected by polygamy, which severely undermines equality in marriage and family relations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] That rural health-care facilities have adequate water and sanitation services;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39h
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] The gender-responsive and culturally responsive training of community health workers and traditional birth attendants, the provision of mobile clinics providing affordable health services in remote rural areas, and enhanced health education for rural communities, including education on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of both women and men;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 41b
- Paragraph text
- [To eliminate discrimination against rural women in economic and social life, States parties should:] Adopt gender-responsive social protection floors to ensure that all rural women have access to essential health care, childcare facilities and income security, in line with article 14, paragraphs 2 (b) and (h), and Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) of the International Labour Organization.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 54b
- Paragraph text
- [To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically:] Ensure that rural women and their organizations can influence policy formulation, implementation and monitoring at all levels and in all areas that affect them, including through participation in political parties and in local and self-governing bodies, such as community and village councils. States parties should design and implement tools to monitor rural women's participation in all public entities in order to eradicate discrimination;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 54a
- Paragraph text
- [To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically:] Establish quotas and targets for rural women's representation in decision-making positions, specifically in parliaments and governance bodies at all levels, including in land, forestry, fishery and water governance bodies, as well as natural resource management. In this regard, clear objectives and time frames should be in place to reach substantive equality of women and men;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 54d
- Paragraph text
- [To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically:] Ensure the participation of rural women in the development and implementation of all agricultural and rural development strategies, and that they are able to participate effectively in planning and decision-making relating to rural infrastructure and services, including water, sanitation, transportation and energy, as well as in agricultural cooperatives, farmers' producer organizations, rural workers' organizations, self-help groups and agro processing entities. Rural women and their representatives should be able to participate directly in the assessment, analysis, planning, design, budgeting, financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all agricultural and rural development strategies;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In line with general recommendation No. 31 (2014) on harmful practices, States parties should eliminate harmful practices, including child and/or forced marriage, female genital mutilation and the inheritance of ancestral debt, which negatively affect the health, well-being and dignity of rural women and girls. They should eliminate discriminatory stereotypes, including those that compromise the equal rights of rural women to land, water and other natural resources. In this regard, States parties should adopt a range of measures, including outreach and support programmes, awareness-raising and media campaigns, in collaboration with traditional leaders and civil society, to eliminate harmful practices and stereotypes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure that labour-saving and environmentally sound technology, including agricultural, irrigation and water-harvesting technology, and technology to reduce the burden of unpaid domestic and productive work are available and accessible to rural women and create enabling environments that improve their access to technology, including ICT, in rural areas. Rural women should be consulted in the development of such technology and their access to such innovative technological solutions should be promoted.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- ICT (including radio, television, mobile phones, computers and the Internet) plays an important role in empowering rural women and girls by connecting them to the broader world and providing easy access to information and education. Various forms of technology can meet a diversity of needs, from joining online communities to taking advantage of distance learning. However, rural women and girls are disproportionately affected by gender gaps in access to ICT, which is an important dimension of the digital divide. For rural women and girls, poverty, geographic isolation, language barriers, a lack of computer literacy and discriminatory gender stereotypes can all hamper access to ICT.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 78a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should give priority to rural women's equal rights to land when undertaking land and agrarian reforms and consider it a specific and central objective of land reform. They should:] Ensure that land and agrarian reform programmes integrate gender specific goals, targets and measures, and advance both formal and substantive equality, for example through joint titling, and require the wife's consent for the sale or mortgage of jointly owned land or for engaging in financial transactions linked to the land;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 78d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should give priority to rural women's equal rights to land when undertaking land and agrarian reforms and consider it a specific and central objective of land reform. They should:] Develop and implement measures, including temporary special measures, to enable rural women to benefit from the public distribution, lease or use of land, water bodies, fisheries and forests, and from agrarian reform policies, rural investments and the management of natural resources in rural areas. Landless rural women should be given priority in the allocation of public lands, fisheries and forests.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing is of particular concern in rural areas, where basic infrastructure and services are often inaccessible or of poor quality. Many of the measures that protect rural women's rights to land (for example, the recognition of women's legal capacity, the recognition of the security of tenure and the elimination of discrimination against women in registration and titling) can be applied to protect their right to adequate housing (see A/HRC/19/53). However, additional measures can also be taken to improve the conditions of rural housing from a gender-responsive perspective.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Rural women in developed and developing countries often face similar challenges in terms of poverty and exclusion and may have similar needs in terms of accessible services, social protection and economic empowerment. As in many developing countries, rural economies in developed countries tend to favour men, and rural development policies in developed countries may also at times pay scant attention to women's needs and rights. Rural women in developed countries (and in developing countries) continue to need targeted policies and programmes that promote and guarantee the enjoyment of their rights. Many of the recommendations made in the preceding sections will be relevant to the situation of rural women living in developed countries. Nonetheless, there are unique issues that merit special attention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- States parties should collect, analyse, use and disseminate data on the situation of rural women, disaggregated by sex, age, geographical location, disability and socioeconomic, minority or other status. Such data, including for Sustainable Development Goal indicators, should be used to inform and design measures, including temporary special measures, aimed at achieving substantive equality for rural women in all spheres of life. Those data should also include information on the situation of rural women, including on specific groups of rural women who face intersecting forms of discrimination and specific barriers in gaining access to their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- The Committee encourages States parties to translate the present general recommendation into national and local languages, including indigenous and minority languages, and to disseminate it widely to all branches of government, civil society, the media, academic institutions and women's organizations, including rural women's organizations. The Committee recommends that, when preparing their periodic reports, especially as regards article 14, States parties consult rural women's groups, including women farmers' organizations, producer collectives and rural cooperatives.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- States parties should strengthen local rural economies, including through the promotion of social and solidarity economies, and create local employment opportunities and livelihoods for rural women in the context of sustainable development. They should review relevant laws, regulations and policies that limit rural women's access to decent employment and eliminate practices that discriminate against women in rural labour markets, such as not hiring women for certain jobs.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] The systematic and regular monitoring of the health and nutritional status of pregnant women and new mothers, especially adolescent mothers, and their infants. In case of malnutrition or lack of access to clean water, extra food rations and drinking water should be provided systematically throughout pregnancy and lactation;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 17b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should promote inclusive and sustainable economic development that enables rural women to enjoy their rights and:] Promote their empowerment and ensure their economic and social independence, in particular by creating enabling environments in line with general recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, including through programmes and policies targeted at improving the economic conditions of rural women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Rural women are overrepresented among agricultural workers in many regions, exposing them to increased health risks linked to the improper and extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides by various actors, resulting in illnesses, early deaths, pregnancy complications, fetal disorders and physical and developmental disorders in infants and children. Those risks are compounded by their underrepresentation in agricultural cooperatives, farmers' and producers' organizations, land administration and rural workers' organizations, and their limited access to extension services.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Protecting the occupational health and safety of rural women by taking legislative and other measures to protect them against exposure to harmful chemicals. They should receive information about the health and environmental effects of the use of and exposure to chemicals, in particular hazardous chemicals, pesticides and other products used in agriculture and in extractive and other industries. States parties should develop and implement public awareness programmes on those effects and on alternatives and ensure that no use, storage or disposal of hazardous materials or substances takes place without the explicit consent of rural women and their communities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Rural women have a right to participate in decision-making at all levels and in community-level discussions with high authorities, yet they are inadequately represented as elected officials, as civil servants, in rural extension and water, forestry or fishery services, in cooperatives and in community or elders' councils. Their limited participation may be due to a lack of education, language and literacy constraints, limited mobility and transport, conflict and security concerns, discriminatory gender norms and stereotypes and a lack of time owing to childcare, the task of fetching water and other responsibilities. Limited knowledge of relevant legal, political and institutional procedures may also limit their effective participation in decision-making processes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 54c
- Paragraph text
- [To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically:] Address unequal power relations between women and men, including in decision-making and political processes at the community level, and remove barriers to rural women's participation in community life through the establishment of effective and gender-responsive rural decision-making structures. States parties should develop action plans that address practical barriers to rural women's participation in community life and implement campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of their participation in community decision-making;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 25c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against rural women and girls, and, in line with general recommendations No. 19 and No. 33:] Ensure that victims living in rural areas have effective access to justice, including legal aid, as well as compensation and other forms of redress or reparation, and that authorities at all levels in rural areas, including the judiciary, judicial administrators and civil servants, have the resources needed and the political will to respond to violence against rural women and girls and protect them against retaliation when reporting abuses;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Discriminatory or otherwise inadequate legal frameworks, complex legal systems, conflict and post-conflict settings, a lack of information and sociocultural constraints can combine to make justice inaccessible to rural women. Factors that contribute to discriminatory stereotypes and practices, especially in rural areas, include the parallel existence of often overlapping and conflicting statutory, customary and religious laws and authorities. Many rural women and girls live in communities in which informal justice mechanisms are used to resolve disputes. While informal justice may be more accessible to them, rules and mechanisms that are not in conformity with the Convention must be brought into line with it and with general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women's access to justice.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Maternal mortality and morbidity are disproportionately high in many rural areas. Child marriage exposes rural girls to early pregnancy and significantly contributes to maternal mortality, in particular in developing countries. Globally, the presence of skilled birth attendants and medical personnel is lower in rural than urban areas and leads to poor prenatal, perinatal and postnatal care. There is a greater unmet need for family planning services and contraception owing to poverty, the lack of information and the limited availability and accessibility of services. Rural women are more likely to resort to unsafe abortion than their urban counterparts, a situation that puts their lives at risk and compromises their health. Even in countries in which abortion is legal, restrictive conditions, including unreasonable waiting periods, often impede access for rural women. When abortion is illegal, the health impact is even greater.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 59c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legislation guarantees rural women's rights to land, water and other natural resources on an equal basis with men, irrespective of their civil and marital status or of a male guardian or guarantor, and that they have full legal capacity. They should ensure that indigenous women in rural areas have equal access with indigenous men to ownership and possession of and control over land, water, forests, fisheries, aquaculture and other resources that they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, including by protecting them against discrimination and dispossession. In addition, States parties should:] Strengthen customary and statutory institutions and mechanisms for defending or protecting women's rights to land, water and other natural resources, including community paralegal services.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Global food, energy, financial and environmental crises have led to the increased sale and leasing of land owned by the State or other actors to local, national and foreign investors. Such agreements, often accompanied by expropriations, have put rural women at risk of forced eviction and increased poverty and have further diminished their access to and control over land, territories and natural resources, such as water, fuelwood and medicinal plants. Displacement negatively affects rural women in multiple ways, and they often suffer gender-based violence in that context.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 62c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should implement agricultural policies that support rural women farmers, recognize and protect the natural commons, promote organic farming and protect rural women from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They should ensure that rural women have effective access to agricultural resources, including high-quality seeds, tools, knowledge and information, as well as equipment and resources for organic farming. In addition, States parties should:] Ensure that land acquisitions, including land lease contracts, do not violate the rights of rural women or result in forced eviction, and protect rural women from the negative impacts of the acquisition of land by national and transnational companies, development projects, extractive industries and megaprojects;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Access to financial services on fair terms is crucial for the development of rural women's enterprises and for their income-generating and livelihood strategies as producers and entrepreneurs. Constraints on women's access to financial services include: legal and policy barriers, which may not allow women to apply for credit in their own right; discriminatory attitudes that prevent women from holding bank accounts or entering into contracts without the consent of a male relative; and requests for collaterals that rural women may lack.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Article 14, paragraph 2 (c), provides that States parties shall ensure that rural women benefit directly from social security programmes. However, a majority of rural women have limited opportunities in the formal labour market and are more likely to be engaged in activities not regulated by labour codes and social security legislation linked with formal employment. They are therefore exposed to increased risks and need measures of social protection that take their situation into account.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 25d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against rural women and girls, and, in line with general recommendations No. 19 and No. 33:] Ensure that integrated services for victims, including emergency shelters and comprehensive health services, are accessible to women and girls in rural areas. Such services should avoid stigmatization and protect the victims' privacy and dignity;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Facilitating the transition of rural women from the informal to the formal economy, including in the agricultural sector, through the implementation of Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204) of the International Labour Organization, ensuring opportunities for income security and improved livelihoods;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9h
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Providing training to the judiciary, lawyers, law enforcement officials, paralegals, traditional leaders and other relevant authorities and officials in rural areas on the rights of rural women and the negative impact of discrimination against them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The consequences of industrial agriculture have often been detrimental to rural women farmers and have included soil degradation and erosion, water depletion and the use of cash crops to the detriment of local food crops. The controversial use of genetically modified organisms and the patenting of genetically altered crops are also linked to increased agricultural industrialization. Rural women, however, are more often engaged in organic and sustainable farming practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- States parties should improve the design and delivery of high-quality agricultural extension and rural advisory services, recognizing women as farmers and clients. Such services should ensure that male and female extension and rural advisory service staff have expertise in gender-responsive programme design and delivery and are regularly trained on women's rights, gender equality, gender analysis and gender-responsive programming. States parties should adopt, implement and regularly monitor and evaluate gender responsive agricultural extension and rural advisory policies and programmes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- States parties should eliminate all forms of discrimination against disadvantaged and marginalized groups of rural women. For example, States parties should ensure that disadvantaged and marginalized groups of rural women, including those belonging to indigenous, Afro-descendent, ethnic and religious minorities, heads of household, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, landless women, migrants and conflict-affected rural women, are protected from intersecting forms of discrimination and have access to education, employment, water and sanitation and health care, among others. States parties should develop policies and programmes ensuring the equal enjoyment of rights by rural women with disabilities, including by ensuring the accessibility of infrastructures and services. States parties should similarly ensure that older rural women have access to social services and adequate social protection, as well as economic resources and the empowerment to live life with dignity, including through access to financial services and social security.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women acknowledges the vital contributions of rural women and the urgent need to improve the recognition and protection of their human rights. Through its previous concluding observations and general recommendations, the Committee has identified various ways in which rural women continue to face discrimination. In the present general recommendation, the Committee clarifies States parties' obligations to ensure the rights of rural women, with a focus on article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which recognizes the unique situation of rural women and highlights specific obligations of States parties in recognizing, promoting and protecting their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Currently, rural women represent a quarter of the world's population. They play a crucial role in maintaining and improving rural livelihoods and strengthening rural communities. In recent years, the Committee has developed a significant body of jurisprudence on the rights of rural women and the challenges that they face, in particular through concluding observations. Several United Nations conferences have recognized the role of rural women in agriculture, rural development, food and nutrition, and poverty reduction. Hence, there is a need for further specific attention to rural women, as recognized in the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Globally, and with few exceptions, on every gender and development indicator for which data are available, rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women and men, and rural women disproportionately experience poverty and exclusion. They face systemic discrimination in access to land and natural resources. They carry most of the unpaid work burden owing to stereotyped gender roles, inequality within the household and the lack of infrastructure and services, including with respect to food production and care work. Even when formally employed, they are more often engaged in work that is insecure, hazardous, poorly paid and not covered by social protection. They are less likely to be educated and are at higher risk of being trafficked and forced into labour, as well as into child and/or forced marriage and other harmful practices (see CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18). They are more likely to become ill, suffer from malnutrition or die from preventable causes, and are particularly disadvantaged with respect to access to health care.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The definition of discrimination contained in article 1 of the Convention applies to all women and concerns all forms of discrimination, making its application to rural women self-evident. Article 2 provides that States parties shall condemn discrimination against women in all its forms and is inextricably linked with all other substantive provisions of the Convention, including article 14. To comply with article 2 in relation to rural women, States parties must refrain from acts of commission and omission that discriminate against them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] High-quality education is accessible to and affordable for all rural women and girls, including those with disabilities, by improving educational infrastructures in rural areas, increasing the number of qualified teachers, including women, and ensuring that primary education is compulsory and provided free of charge and that education is provided in local languages and in a culturally appropriate manner;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against rural women cannot be fully understood without taking into account the macroeconomic roots of gender inequality. States often fail to acknowledge the role of rural women and girls in unpaid work, their contribution to the gross domestic product and, therefore, to sustainable development. Bilateral and multilateral agreements on trade, tax and other economic and fiscal policies can have a significant negative impact on the lives of rural women. Environmental issues, including climate change and natural disasters, often provoked by the unsustainable use of natural resources, as well as poor waste management practices, also have detrimental impacts on the well-being of rural women. Gender-neutral policies, reforms and laws may uphold and strengthen existing inequalities related to all of the above.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure that macroeconomic policies, including trade, fiscal and investment policies, as well bilateral and multilateral agreements, are responsive to the needs of rural women and strengthen the productive and investing capacities of small-scale women producers. They should address the negative and differential impacts of economic policies, including agricultural and general trade liberalization, privatization and the commodification of land, water and natural resources, on the lives of rural women and the fulfilment of their rights. Similarly, development partners should also ensure that their development assistance policies focus on the specific needs of rural women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 62a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should implement agricultural policies that support rural women farmers, recognize and protect the natural commons, promote organic farming and protect rural women from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They should ensure that rural women have effective access to agricultural resources, including high-quality seeds, tools, knowledge and information, as well as equipment and resources for organic farming. In addition, States parties should:] Respect and protect rural women's traditional and eco-friendly agricultural knowledge, in particular the right of women to preserve, use and exchange traditional and native seeds;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- A fundamental challenge to the implementation of article 14 is a general lack of disaggregated data about the situation of rural women, which prevents the adequate monitoring and enforcement of their rights under the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The Committee recognizes that rural women continue to face systematic and persistent barriers to the full enjoyment of their human rights and that, in many cases, conditions have deteriorated. In many States, rural women's rights and needs remain insufficiently addressed or ignored in laws, national and local policies, budgets and investment strategies at all levels. Even when they exist, laws and policies that consider rural women's situation and foresee special measures to address it are often not implemented.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure the implementation of general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers, paying special attention to rural women working as seasonal migrant farmworkers. They should in this regard ensure legal protection for the rights of rural women migrant workers and access to remedies, protecting both documented and undocumented rural women migrant workers from discrimination or sex-based exploitation and abuse.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- States parties should address specific threats posed to rural women by climate change, natural disasters, land and soil degradation, water pollution, droughts, floods, desertification, pesticides and agrochemicals, extractive industries, monocultures, biopiracy and the loss of biodiversity, in particular agro-biodiversity. They should alleviate and mitigate those threats and ensure that rural women enjoy a safe, clean and healthy environment. They should effectively address the impact of such risks on rural women in the planning and implementation of all policies concerning the environment, climate change, disaster risk reduction, preparedness and management and ensure the full participation of rural women in designing, planning and implementing such policies. States parties should also ensure the protection and security of rural women and girls in all phases of disasters and other crises, ranging from early warning to relief, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- States parties should address the root causes of the traffic in women by economically empowering rural women and raising awareness in rural areas of the risks of being lured by traffickers and the ways in which traffickers operate. States parties should ensure that anti-trafficking legislation addresses the social and economic challenges faced by rural women and girls and provide gender-responsive training on prevention measures, protection and assistance for victims to the judiciary, the police, border guards, other law enforcement officials and social workers, especially in rural areas and indigenous communities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 provides that States parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. Rural women and their children may be deprived of their rights if not recognized as citizens of their countries. Their statelessness is often the consequences of discriminatory legislation whereby women cannot pass on their nationality to their children and foreign spouse or may risk losing their nationality through marriage with a foreigner or as a consequence of divorce. In addition, identity documents may be more difficult to acquire in rural areas, owing in particular to the lack of birth registration or of marriage, divorce or death certificates.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- In line with general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, States parties should ensure that rural women may acquire, change, retain or renounce their nationality, or transfer it to their children and foreign spouse under the same conditions as men, and that they are aware of their rights in this regard. States parties should also provide rural women with access to personal identification documents (such as identity cards, passports and social security numbers) and ensure that civil registration procedures, including for birth, marriage, divorce and death, are accessible in rural areas.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Article 3 provides that States parties shall take all appropriate measures, in all fields, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Article 5 (a) addresses the elimination of discriminatory stereotypes and practices, which are often more prevalent in rural areas. Rural women and girls are often disadvantaged by harmful practices (see CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18, para. 9), such as child and/or forced marriage, polygamy and female genital mutilation, which endanger their health and well-being and may push them to migrate in order to escape such practices, potentially exposing them to other risks. They are also disadvantaged by practices such as the inheritance of ancestral debt, which perpetuates cycles of poverty, and by discriminatory stereotypes and related practices that prevent them from enjoying rights over land, water and natural resources, such as male primogeniture and property grabbing from widows.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, it is stated that rural women are at risk of violence because of traditional attitudes regarding the subordinate role of women that persist in many rural communities. Girls from rural communities are at special risk of violence, sexual exploitation and harassment when they leave the rural community to seek employment in towns. Rural women human rights defenders are often at risk of violence when working, for example, to protect victims, transform local customs or secure natural resource rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- For rural women farmers and producers to sell their goods and produce successfully, they must have access to markets and marketing facilities and develop effective marketing skills. However, public and private discrimination, as well as limitations on mobility and time, may serve to exclude rural women from the use of marketing facilities and supply chains. Rural women also tend to be underrepresented on market committees and often have little input into the design, creation, use and upgrading of local marketing facilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Systematic training is provided for teaching personnel at all levels of the education system on the rights of rural girls and women and on the need to combat discriminatory sex-based and gender-based, ethnic and other stereotypes that limit the educational opportunities of rural women and girls. Curricula should be reviewed to eliminate discriminatory stereotypes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 62b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should implement agricultural policies that support rural women farmers, recognize and protect the natural commons, promote organic farming and protect rural women from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They should ensure that rural women have effective access to agricultural resources, including high-quality seeds, tools, knowledge and information, as well as equipment and resources for organic farming. In addition, States parties should:] Protect and conserve native and endemic plant species and varieties that are a source of food and medicine, and prevent patenting by national and transnational companies to the extent that it threatens the rights of rural women. States parties should prohibit contractual requirements on the mandatory purchase of seeds producing plants whose seeds are sterile ("terminator seeds"), which prevent rural women from saving fertile seeds;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 59a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legislation guarantees rural women's rights to land, water and other natural resources on an equal basis with men, irrespective of their civil and marital status or of a male guardian or guarantor, and that they have full legal capacity. They should ensure that indigenous women in rural areas have equal access with indigenous men to ownership and possession of and control over land, water, forests, fisheries, aquaculture and other resources that they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, including by protecting them against discrimination and dispossession. In addition, States parties should:] Promote rural women's access to and meaningful participation in agricultural cooperatives, in which women may be members or the sole members;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 59b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legislation guarantees rural women's rights to land, water and other natural resources on an equal basis with men, irrespective of their civil and marital status or of a male guardian or guarantor, and that they have full legal capacity. They should ensure that indigenous women in rural areas have equal access with indigenous men to ownership and possession of and control over land, water, forests, fisheries, aquaculture and other resources that they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, including by protecting them against discrimination and dispossession. In addition, States parties should:] Enhance rural women's role in fisheries and aquaculture, as well as their knowledge of the sustainable use of fishery resources, and promote their access to forests and sustainable forest resources, including safe access to fuelwood and non-wood forest resources;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 62d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should implement agricultural policies that support rural women farmers, recognize and protect the natural commons, promote organic farming and protect rural women from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They should ensure that rural women have effective access to agricultural resources, including high-quality seeds, tools, knowledge and information, as well as equipment and resources for organic farming. In addition, States parties should:] Obtain the free and informed consent of rural women before the approval of any acquisitions or project affecting rural lands or territories and resources, including those relating to the lease and sale of land, land expropriation and resettlement. When such land acquisitions do occur, they should be in line with international standards, and rural women should be adequately compensated;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 62e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should implement agricultural policies that support rural women farmers, recognize and protect the natural commons, promote organic farming and protect rural women from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They should ensure that rural women have effective access to agricultural resources, including high-quality seeds, tools, knowledge and information, as well as equipment and resources for organic farming. In addition, States parties should:] Adopt and effectively implement laws and policies that limit the quantity and quality of rural land offered for sale or lease to third States or companies.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 68a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should promote the transition to formal financial services and ensure rural women's access to credit, loans, matrimonial savings, insurance and domestic payment services, on the basis of equality with rural men, and promote their economic, financial and business skills. States parties should ensure that rural women have equal access to:] Community-managed and mobile financial services, which should address rural women's needs, for example by lending to women who may lack collaterals, employ simplified, low-cost banking practices and facilitate rural women's access to formal financial service providers;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure that financial services, including credit and loans, include gender-responsive mechanisms and are not withheld from rural women because they lack a male guarantor. Registration procedures should be adapted to the time and mobility challenges faced by many rural women. Agricultural credit and loans should allow for the untenured nature of the smallholdings held by many women farmers, so that rural women who may lack formal tenure rights are still able to gain access to them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Rural women often have only limited rights over land and natural resources. In many regions, they suffer from discrimination in relation to land rights, including with respect to communal lands, which are controlled largely by men.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 54f
- Paragraph text
- [To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically:] In the case of States parties in conflict or post-conflict situations, ensure the participation of rural women as decision makers in peacebuilding efforts and processes, in line with general recommendation No. 30.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Programmes are in place, both inside and outside the school system, to reduce the engagement of rural girls in unpaid care work, which constitutes a barrier to school attendance, and to protect rural girls from labour exploitation, child and/or forced marriage and gender-based violence, including sexual violence and abuse;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43f
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Rural girls and women are encouraged to choose non-traditional fields of study and careers, such as mathematics, informatics, natural and agricultural sciences and technology, including through career guidance and academic counselling programmes that may also be applied to home-based or community-based micro-entrepreneurial activities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 68b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should promote the transition to formal financial services and ensure rural women's access to credit, loans, matrimonial savings, insurance and domestic payment services, on the basis of equality with rural men, and promote their economic, financial and business skills. States parties should ensure that rural women have equal access to:] Information on financial services and facilities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Increasing rural women's awareness and legal literacy by providing them with information on their legal rights and on the existence of plural legal systems (where relevant);
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Article 15 provides for equality of women and men before the law and identical legal capacity in civil matters, so that, for example, rural women have the same legal capacity as men to conclude contracts and administer property independent of their husband or any male guardian.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39g
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] The effective regulation of the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and the implementation and monitoring of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9f
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Dismantling barriers to rural women's access to justice by ensuring that formal and informal justice mechanisms and dispute resolution alternatives are available to them;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39i
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] Investment in community and microhealth insurance schemes to support rural women, including caregivers, in meeting their health needs.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Where girls and teachers face attacks from opponents of girls' education, the protection of educational institutions is a priority for security forces;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The Committee considers rural women's rights to land, natural resources, including water, seeds and forests, and fisheries as fundamental human rights. Barriers that prevent them from enjoying these rights often include discriminatory laws, the lack of harmonization of laws and their ineffective implementation at the national and local levels, and discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- States parties should improve the living situation of rural women, in particular indigenous ones, who reside in peripheral regions, which tend to be poorer, more isolated and less connected to social services. They should accord priority to the development of those rural communities, engaging local women in the design and implementation of rural development plans.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- Reservations to any article of the Convention, and in particular articles 2 (f), 5 (a), 7, 9 and 14 to 16, may have a disproportionate impact on rural women. Examples include reservations limiting or otherwise adversely affecting their ability to enjoy rights to housing, land and property, such as those relating to succession and inheritance, as well as reservations limiting their right to political participation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- States parties should adopt effective laws, policies, regulations, programmes, administrative procedures and institutional structures to ensure the full development and advancement of rural women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Article 4, paragraph 1, provides for the adoption of temporary special measures by States parties to accelerate substantive equality. Such measures may include redistributing decision-making roles and resources. General recommendation No. 25 emphasizes that, where necessary, those measures should be directed at women subjected to multiple discrimination, including rural women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- States parties should develop and implement temporary special measures to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality for rural women in all areas in which they are underrepresented or disadvantaged, including in political and public life, education, health and employment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Rural women are critical to achieving food security, reducing poverty, malnutrition and hunger and promoting rural development, yet their contribution is often unpaid, unacknowledged and poorly supported. Rural women are among those most affected by food insecurity, exposed to food price volatility, malnutrition and hunger, and likely to suffer when food prices escalate (see A/HRC/22/50).
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- In the absence of toilets or latrines, rural women and girls must also walk long distances in search of privacy. The lack of adequate sanitation also increases their risk of ill health. To remedy this situation, rural women and girls must have physical and economic access to sanitation that is safe, hygienic, secure and socially and culturally acceptable.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- States parties should pay particular attention to the nutritional needs of rural women, in particular pregnant and lactating women, putting in place effective policies ensuring that rural women have access to adequate food and nutrition, taking into account the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In addition to training and education, article 14, paragraph 2 (d), also provides that rural women shall be able to benefit from community and extension services, which play an important role in education for farmers, farm productivity and women's economic empowerment. Those services often do not respond effectively to rural women's priorities, capacities and needs, and insufficiently promote their access to technical knowledge.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 on the suppression of the traffic in women and of the exploitation of prostitution has special relevance for rural women and girls, including indigenous women and girls, who face specific risks because they live in remote areas. The economic hardships of rural life, alongside the lack of information on trafficking and how traffickers operate, can make them especially vulnerable, in particular in conflict-affected regions.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Ensuring free or affordable access to legal services and legal aid;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52g
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Promoting rural women's active and effective engagement as producers, entrepreneurs, suppliers, workers and consumers in local and global value chains and markets, including by promoting capacity development on quality assurance and standards and public procurement;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52h
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Providing childcare and other care services in rural areas, including through solidarity and community-based care services, in order to alleviate rural women's burden of unpaid care work, facilitating their engagement in paid work, and allowing them to breastfeed during working hours;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Under article 14, paragraph 1, States parties are required to take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and the significant roles that they play in the economic survival of families, including their work in the non-monetized sectors of the economy. Inclusive and sustainable development must uphold the rights of rural women, underscoring their role as key actors and fully acknowledging the economic value of their paid and unpaid work.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 17c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should promote inclusive and sustainable economic development that enables rural women to enjoy their rights and:] Ensure that they are able to benefit effectively and directly from economic and social programmes by involving them in the design and development of all relevant plans and strategies, such as those relating to health, education, employment and social security.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 85a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that rural women have access to essential services and public goods, including:] Sufficient, safe, acceptable and physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses and irrigation;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 78c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should give priority to rural women's equal rights to land when undertaking land and agrarian reforms and consider it a specific and central objective of land reform. They should:] Formally recognize and review indigenous women's laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, with the aim of eliminating discriminatory provisions;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- States parties should facilitate and support alternative and gender responsive agricultural development programmes that enable small scale women producers to participate in and benefit from agriculture and rural development. Such programmes should support women-led farms and women as farmers and promote women's traditional farming practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43i
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Adult literacy programmes are provided for women in rural areas;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- States parties should specifically promote rural women's access to technical knowledge on food harvesting techniques, preservation, storage, processing, packaging, marketing and entrepreneurship.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Rural women have limited paid employment opportunities and tend to work extremely long hours in low-skilled, part-time, seasonal, low-paid or unpaid jobs, home-based activities and subsistence farming. They are disproportionately represented in the informal sector, uncovered by social protection. Unequal access to income diversification opportunities often results in rural women being poorer than rural men.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- States parties should fully incorporate the right to decent conditions of work and the principle of equal pay for work of equal value into their legal and policy frameworks, paying special attention to the situation and labour force representation of rural women, in line with general recommendations No. 13 (1989) on equal remuneration for work of equal value and No. 23.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Improving rural working conditions, including by providing paid maternity leave; setting living wages, with urgent attention to the informal sector, and taking steps to prevent sexual harassment, exploitation and other forms of abuse in the workplace;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9e
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Promoting rural women's legal empowerment, including through gender-responsive quasi-judicial and judicial procedures;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9g
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Ensuring physical access to courts and other justice mechanisms, for example through the provision of mobile courts that are accessible to rural women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43g
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Pregnant girls in rural schools are not expelled during pregnancy and allowed to return to school following childbirth, and childcare facilities and breastfeeding rooms, as well as counselling on childcare and breastfeeding, are made available;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 9b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to rural women, in line with general recommendation No. 33, including by:] Enacting legislation to regulate the relationship between different mechanisms within plural legal systems in order to reduce conflicts of law and ensure that rural women may claim their rights;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- States parties should take all measures, including temporary special measures, necessary to achieve the substantive equality of rural women in relation to land and natural resources, and design and implement a comprehensive strategy to address discriminatory stereotypes, attitudes and practices that impede their rights to land and natural resources.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure the realization of the right to food and nutrition of rural women within the framework of food sovereignty and ensure that they have the authority to manage and control their natural resources.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Land and agrarian reform often exclude rural women and are not implemented in a gender-responsive manner. Land reform policies sometimes have a male bias, such as registering land only in men's names, making compensation payments mostly in their name or compensating for land use restrictions (resulting in the loss of land, the loss of use and the loss of land value) based only on men's activities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 85b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that rural women have access to essential services and public goods, including:] Adequate sanitation and hygiene, enabling women and girls to manage their menstrual hygiene and have access to sanitary pads;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 85c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should ensure that rural women have access to essential services and public goods, including:] Sustainable and renewable sources of energy, extending on-grid services to rural areas and developing solar energy and other sustainable energy sources with low-cost technology.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- States parties should analyse the sex-differentiated demands for transport services in rural areas, ensure that transportation sector policies and programmes reflect the mobility needs of rural women and provide them with safe, affordable and accessible means of transport.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Article 14 is the only provision in an international human rights treaty that specifically pertains to rural women. However, all rights under the Convention apply to rural women, and article 14 must be interpreted in the context of the Convention as a whole. When reporting, States parties should address all articles that have bearing on the enjoyment of rights by rural women and girls. Accordingly, the present general recommendation explores the links between article 14 and other Convention provisions. As many of the Sustainable Development Goals address the situation of rural women and provide an important opportunity to advance both process and outcome indicators, the specific intent of the present general recommendation is to provide guidance to States parties on the implementation of their obligations with respect to rural women. While general recommendation No. 34 focuses on rural women in developing countries, some of its components also pertain to the situation of rural women in developed countries. It is recognized that rural women, even in developed countries, suffer discrimination and challenges in various areas, including economic empowerment, participation in political and public life, access to services and the labour exploitation of rural migrant women workers.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 36a
- Paragraph text
- [Right to participate in and benefit from rural development (art. 14, para. 2 (a))] [States parties should establish enabling institutional, legal and policy frameworks to ensure that rural development, agricultural and water policies, including with respect to forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, are gender-responsive and have adequate budgets. States parties should ensure:] The integration and mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, plans (including operational plans) and programmes, enabling rural women to act and be visible as stakeholders, decision makers and beneficiaries, in line with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on political and public life and the Sustainable Development Goals. States parties should ensure that those policies, strategies, plans and programmes have evidence-based monitoring and clear evaluation frameworks;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Expanding opportunities for rural women to run businesses and other enterprises, including through microcredit facilities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Protecting the rights of rural women workers to bargain collectively to ensure decent working conditions;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52f
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Providing social security to rural women, including in cases of sickness or invalidity;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43h
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Schools in rural areas have adequate water facilities and separate, safe, sheltered latrines for girls and offer hygiene education and resources for menstrual hygiene, with special focus on girls with disabilities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- States parties should ensure that rural women are equal before the law and have the same legal capacity as men in civil matters, including to conclude contracts and administer property independent of their husband or any male guardian.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] The adequate financing of health-care systems in rural areas, in particular with regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] That laws and regulations that place obstacles to rural women's access to health care, including to sexual and reproductive health services, are repealed, in particular laws that criminalize or require waiting periods or third-party consent for abortion;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52i
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Designing and implementing targeted measures to promote the employment of rural women in their localities, in particular through the creation of income-generating activities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Rural women are also more likely to be excluded from leadership and decision-making positions at all levels. They are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence and lack access to justice and effective legal remedies. Clearly, the importance of rural women's empowerment, self-determination and position in decision-making and governance must not be ignored. When it is, States jeopardize their own progress.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- States parties should adopt laws, policies and measures to promote and protect the diverse local agricultural methods and products of rural women and their access to markets. They should ensure the diversity of crops and medicinal resources to improve rural women's food security and health, as well as access to livestock.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- States should also develop specific support and agricultural extension programmes and advisory services to promote the economic and entrepreneurial skills of rural women and to improve their capacity to gain access to markets and value chains.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph