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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. 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. 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
Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In his first report, the Independent Expert underlined the relationship between sexual orientation and gender identity and other issues, including racism, poverty, migration, disability and other factors. A particular concern to be highlighted here is the plight of children and youth from the perspective of gender diversity. Thus, on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, 17 May 2017, the Independent Expert and a range of United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special procedures, as well as regional mechanisms, issued a joint statement calling for protection of transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents. The following excerpt epitomizes the universal message: We call on States to adopt and implement effective measures prohibiting violence, anti-discrimination laws covering gender identity and expression — real or perceived — as well as sexual orientation as prohibited grounds for discrimination, to develop inclusive curriculums and learning materials, training for and support to teachers and other school staff, education and support programmes for parents, safe and non-discriminatory access to bathrooms, and awareness-raising programmes nurturing respect and understanding for gender diversity. On another front, the mere existence of laws or by-laws criminalizing gender expression including through offences of “cross dressing” or “imitating the opposite sex” and other such discriminatory regulations impact on the liberty and security of these young people, tend to foster a climate where hate speech, violence and discrimination are condoned and perpetrated with impunity. Criminalization and pervasive discrimination in such context lead to the denial of health care, including safe gender affirming procedures, and to the lack of access to information and related services. Pathologizing trans and gender diverse people — branding them as ill based on their gender identity and expression — has historically been, and continues to be, one of the root causes behind the human rights violations against them. We reiterate our call for States to decriminalize and depathologize trans and gender diverse identities and expressions, including for young transgender people, prohibit “conversion therapies” and refrain from adopting new criminalizing laws and pathologizing medical classifications, including in the context of the upcoming review of the International Classification of Diseases. We also call on States to provide equal access to health care and access to gender affirming treatment to those who seek it.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 59i
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that a variety of stakeholders adopt educational and capacity-building measures in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity to nurture empathy towards the diversity inherent to humanity, from a young age. They should also strengthen capacity-building of law enforcers and related personnel, including through integration of sexual orientation and gender identity into their training and educational curriculum, to enhance understanding for sexual and gender diversity.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Diversity in humanity, humanity in diversity 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The work of UNICEF is guided particularly by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Its programming on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues, and its link with children and youth, is part of its equity strategy to enable all children to develop and realize their potential without discrimination. UNICEF is increasingly looking at child protection through the lens of action against violence and discrimination, inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. Interestingly, in Goal 16, the target is to eliminate violence against children totally in the next 15 years; this also implies a relationship with sexual orientation and gender identity, in order to leave no children behind.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Diversity in humanity, humanity in diversity 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The present report endeavours to set the scene for more monitoring and advocacy to protect people from violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is also important to comprehend the multi-layered nature of the violence and discrimination — it starts at home, extends into the educational spectrum, influences the community environment, and continues into the State setting and beyond. It has a longitudinal trajectory, with intergenerational implications. It is also concurrently personal/personalized, family-based, community-influenced and systemic, and at times is linked with institutional violence and discrimination. To overcome these impediments, it is necessary to “start young” with promoting mutual respect and tolerance.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The present section highlights developments in the past few months, particularly in relation to action against violence and discrimination at the international and national levels, the intersectionality between sexual orientation and gender identity and other issues, such as children and youth, and the Independent Expert’s dialogues and support for international and national cooperation. Good practices and gaps are identified in sections V and VI on decriminalization and anti-discrimination, respectively.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Diversity in humanity, humanity in diversity 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Violence and discrimination often appear not as singular events but as part of a prolonged vicious circle. They are multiple and multiplied — inextricably linked emotionally, psychologically, physically and structurally. They intersect in a variety of ways, and most clearly where the victim is not only attacked or discriminated against for having a different sexual orientation and gender identity but also on grounds of race, ethnic origin, age, gender, or membership of a minority or indigenous community. The person might also be a child, a young girl, an intersex person, a refugee, an internally displaced person, a migrant worker, a person with a disability, and more. This intersectionality involves a conglomeration of incidents, actors, perpetrators, and victims — the latter being revictimized an infinite number of times, possibly in different phases of life. The situation becomes aggravated precisely because of the convoluted nature of the phenomenon, where crimes are replicated against the same victims and where impunity prevails subsequently, from the home to the school, to the community, to the nation State and to the international spectrum. In today’s cyber world and social media, incitement to hatred and violence driven by hate speech relating to sexual orientation and gender identity has an exponential reach, spinning the web of violations in real time and into the future.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Embrace diversity and energize humanity 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Independent Expert has also received submissions from various sources concerning the plight of children and youth in relation to violence and discrimination, such as bullying at home and at school. A variety of issues deserving more attention, ranging from discriminatory sexual consent laws to access to information, conversion therapy, rights of transgender children, rights of intersex children, children of same-sex couples and access to justice have also been raised.
- Body
- Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- There is also the myth that intercourse with female persons with albinism can cure infertility, sexually transmitted infections and, in particular, HIV/AIDS. This has led to the rape and forced prostitution of women and girls with albinism, some of whom end up contracting various infections. Cases have been reported of young girls with albinism being prostituted by their family to customers who thereby expect to be cured of HIV/AIDS. It is believed that cases of this sort are underreported owing to various factors, including a pre-existing context of myth-led discrimination against persons with albinism, the stigma of reporting rape and the likelihood of further abuse. Such lack of reporting is bound to aggravate the already oppressed and disenfranchised situation of women and girls with albinism.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- The project illustrated the value of such campaigns and associated post-project evaluation not only for the dissemination of information and changing of attitudes and behaviour but also to gather data, as they revealed instructive patterns in the targeted communities. For example, the belief that body parts of a person with albinism have magical powers was found among respondents adhering to various religious groups: Christians, Muslims and traditional believers. In the context of the survey, the latter group had the highest number of believers in that myth. This type of information is helpful for understanding the character of the problem and grounding solutions such as working with all religious leaders. It also identifies areas where increased public education efforts or more targeted projects might be warranted. The evaluation found that youth and women were more likely to have misconceived notions about albinism than men. This suggests that the project did not reach women and youth to the same extent as it did men and that it is necessary to plan and implement further interventions that target these groups in particular.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- This seems to be a historical trend, as the nineteenth century Scottish missionary David Livingstone described the killing of a young boy with albinism by his mother: "the mother is said to have become tired of living apart from the father, who refused to have her while she retained their son. She took him out one day, and killed him close to the village of Mabotsa, and nothing was done to her by the authorities".
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In some situations, children and youth, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex youth, and women can be vulnerable to violence, requiring access to safe housing and basic services if they are to thrive in the urban context. These groups are often forced into homelessness by sexual and other violence, socioeconomic deprivation, and religious and cultural intolerance within their homes or communities. A sound housing structure does not guarantee safety within housing for these vulnerable groups. When women, children and youth leave their homes, they require both short- and long-term support to secure adequate housing, as they often lack the means to secure housing themselves. In this regard, diverse, culturally appropriate options must be made available.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 23
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities living in poverty in cities commonly live in informal settlements or homeless encampments. The Special Rapporteur has been shocked by the deplorable conditions endured by persons with disabilities in those contexts. Many, including young children and older persons, are left to languish in isolation, sometimes in dark rooms without electricity, hidden from view at the back of the home, without access to community centres, social opportunities or health clinics.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has only started to grapple with communications addressing issues of grossly inadequate housing, lack of support for community living, institutionalization and lack of accessible housing which characterize the housing circumstances of millions of people with disabilities. In its periodic reviews, however, the Committee has emphasized the importance of States' obligations to take positive steps to implement inclusive, effective strategies to realize the right to housing and social protection and to address the particular issues affecting women, migrants and young people with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 76f
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends that the urban rights agenda should:] Focus on eliminating social exclusion, inequality and discrimination as human rights violations and prevent the criminalization and stigmatization of people on the basis of their housing status. Particular housing experiences and needs of all migrants, displaced persons, persons with disabilities and women, children and youth in situations of vulnerability should be addressed;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (v)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Adopt a clear policy framework for the inclusion of all persons with disabilities in all areas of housing policy and design, ensuring that those living in poverty or homelessness, women, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants and both young and older persons are fully included;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Urbanization has created new patterns of discrimination and inequality based on spatial and socioeconomic marginalization. Exclusionary patterns of governance and citizenship have given disproportionate power and influence to property owners and investors while depriving those without land or property of a meaningful say in decisions that will have significant impact on their lives and on their ability to obtain housing. Refugees, migrants, persons with disabilities, children and youth, indigenous peoples, women and minorities are most likely to find themselves homeless or relegated to the most marginal and unsafe places in cities, treated as non-citizens or outsiders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- A human rights approach to effective measurement must involve genuine consultation with stakeholders. For some groups, statistical invisibility or being excluded from a census is experienced as marginalization and likely to lead to neglected needs in programmes and legislation. For other groups, however, such as street-connected young people or irregular migrants, being identified by government authorities may be threatening. Homeless people are best placed to ensure that methods of measurement are accurate and inclusive and at the same time sensitive to their circumstances.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The causes of homelessness vary among particular groups. Street-connected children come from families with a wide range of experiences, including death, dislocation, disease, isolation, poverty, mental illness, domestic violence, child abuse and drug use. Women are forced into homelessness because of violence, unequal access to land and property, unequal wages and other forms of discrimination. Persons with disabilities are made homeless by lack of work, livelihoods and accessible housing. Young people are often denied access to housing and services in cities if they do not have appropriate government-issued documentation or identity cards. Conflict results in massive displacement and migration, as has been evidenced clearly by the waves of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic escaping from conflict, widespread violence and insecurity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness among children and young people has reached critical proportions. Factors that push children into leaving home include parents' unemployment and poverty; family disintegration and parental abuse; parental drug and alcohol addictions; and being orphaned owing to HIV/AIDS, Ebola, armed conflict or natural disaster. Some families, unable to support children because of extreme poverty, abandon or send them to urban areas to work. Children raised in residential institutions often find themselves homeless when they reach the age at which institutional care ceases. Identified "pull" factors include "spatial freedom, financial independence, adventure, city glamour and street-based friendships or gangs".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- While improved statistical data will be important to guide public policy and to hold governments accountable, adjustments will need to be made for the inevitable limitations, omissions and possible distortions in available data. Challenges associated with measuring homelessness should not be allowed to encourage policies that respond only to the visible and more easily measured forms of homelessness. Homelessness among single men living on the streets or using emergency shelters is more easily measured. It is more difficult to measure homelessness among women, children and young people living temporarily with family or friends, or among those most marginalized and precariously housed within informal settlements, who may be altogether left out of census or data collection. It is equally difficult to identify and measure homelessness among indigenous households or communities displaced from ancestral lands. Members of ethnic minorities may not wish to be identified by authorities. In Kenya, for instance, many of the people who become homeless because of ethnic violence did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. Policy responses and assessments of progress in eliminating homelessness must make allowances for less visible dimensions of homelessness that may not have been measured.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness disproportionately affects particular groups, including women, young people, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, the working poor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, each in different ways, but with common structural causes. These include: (a) the retreat by all levels of government from social protection and social housing and the privatization of services, infrastructure, housing and public space; (b) the abandonment of the social function of land and housing; (c) the failure to address growing inequalities in income, wealth and access to land and property; (d) the adoption of fiscal and development policies that support deregulation and real estate speculation and prevent the development of affordable housing options; and (e), in the face of urbanization, the marginalization and mistreatment of those who are most precariously housed in informal settlements, living in temporary overcrowded structures, without access to water, sanitation or other basic services and living under the constant threat of eviction.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Most families of street-connected children have experienced persistent discrimination, poverty and social exclusion. Street-connected children and young people face particular challenges, including the threat of being removed from their parents for neglect and put into orphanages or foster systems. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex young people are overrepresented in homeless populations in some countries and face additional stigmatization and social exclusion from their families and communities, and are more vulnerable to violence and more likely to be turned away from shelters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- LGBTQI+
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In much of the world, urbanization has become synonymous with the emergence and expansion of informal settlements. Around one quarter of the world's urban population, or approximately 828 million people, live in informal settlements. What this means in real terms, in human terms, is the denial of almost every human right and a constant assault on human dignity. Life in an informal settlement at its worst can entail lack of clean, running water, sanitation services and electricity, open defecation, overcrowding, houses overrun by rodents, lack of garbage disposal, living in structurally unstable homes easily destroyed by extreme weather, living in the most undesirable and sometimes dangerous areas and living under constant threat of forced eviction. And if the actual housing conditions are not bad enough, informal settlements often lack nearby services such as health-care facilities and schools, and often offer no employment opportunities or places for children to play. Young people are left to languish and informal settlements can easily become breeding grounds for conflict and violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- A large number of NGOs have taken up the fight against contemporary forms of slavery and engaged other stakeholders to successfully do so. For example, Anti-Slavery International has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ITUC in order to form a Global Trade Union Alliance to Combat Forced Labour and Trafficking. They have agreed to share skills and experience on combating contemporary forms of slavery and integrate their members to reach a common goal. Under this auspice, they have formed a multi-stakeholder group in Europe comprised of unions and NGOs whose goal is to protect women and young people from contemporary forms of slavery. The Brazilian NGOs Repórter Brasil and Ethos have created the National Pact for the Elimination of Slavery, which brings the Government, ILO, NGOs and companies together to combat forced labour. Over 130 companies had signed the pact as of the end of 2010, including large companies such as Wal-Mart Brazil, committing to not buying goods produced with forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Supplementary Convention also alludes to child slavery. The Convention requires the abolition of "any institution or practice whereby a child or young person under the age of 18 years, is delivered by either or both of his natural parents or by his guardian to another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or young person or his labour" (art. 1 (d)). Article 10, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that, "children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal development should be punishable by law." Drawing on this, ILO Convention No. 182 (1999) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour defines and prohibits the worst forms of child labour, including child slavery (arts. 1 and 3).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 103
- Paragraph text
- States should also increase and improve access to reproductive health services and information, in particular for girls and women, including access to family planning. Health information tailored to young mothers about proper nutrition and care for their health and the health of their babies should be made available. Access to reproductive health care for women and girls in urban and rural areas needs to be increased and improved by ensuring that adequate resources and health-care experts are available.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Domestic bonded labour can be linked to gender-discriminatory cultural practices. Among certain ethnic groups in Ghana and neighbouring countries, for instance, girls as young as 6-10 years old are forced into bonded labour, serving as so-called trokosi or vudusi in the household of priests at local fetish shrines. They are given by their parents to the shrine to pay the shrine for erasing a moral failing or curse attached to the parents. In addition to performing domestic chores and ritual duties at the shrine, a trokosi is usually also expected to work long hours on farmland belonging to the shrine. From puberty, she is expected to endure sexual relations with the fetish priest. Although the Government of Ghana has criminalized the practice, it has not yet been eradicated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
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