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Implementation of article 2 by States parties 2008, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- State reports frequently lack specific and sufficient information on the implementation of the Convention with respect to women. The Committee emphasizes that gender is a key factor. Being female intersects with other identifying characteristics or status of the person such as race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, age, immigrant status etc. to determine the ways that women and girls are subject to or at risk of torture or ill-treatment and the consequences thereof. The contexts in which females are at risk include deprivation of liberty, medical treatment, particularly involving reproductive decisions, and violence by private actors in communities and homes. Men are also subject to certain gendered violations of the Convention such as rape or sexual violence and abuse. Both men and women and boys and girls may be subject to violations of the Convention on the basis of their actual or perceived non-conformity with socially determined gender roles. States parties are requested to identify these situations and the measures taken to punish and prevent them in their reports.
- Body
- Committee against Torture
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2008
Paragraph
Implementation of article 14 by States parties 2012, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- With regard to the obligations in article 14, States parties shall ensure both de jure and de facto access to timely and effective redress mechanisms for members of groups marginalized and/or made vulnerable, avoid measures that impede the ability of members of such groups to seek and obtain redress, and address formal or informal obstacles that they may face in obtaining redress. These may include, for example, inadequate judicial or other procedures for quantifying damages which may have a negative disparate impact on such individuals in accessing or keeping money. As the Committee has emphasized in its general comment No. 2, "gender is a key factor. Being female intersects with other identifying characteristics or status of the person…to determine the ways that women and girls are subject to or at risk of torture or ill-treatment". States parties shall ensure due attention to gender in providing all the elements cited above in the process of ensuring that everybody, in particular members of groups made vulnerable, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, must be treated fairly and equally and obtain fair and adequate compensation, rehabilitation and other reparative measures which respond to their specific needs.
- Body
- Committee against Torture
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Implementation of article 14 by States parties 2012, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Judicial and non-judicial proceedings shall apply gender-sensitive procedures which avoid re-victimization and stigmatization of victims of torture or ill-treatment. With respect to sexual or gender-based violence and access to due process and an impartial judiciary, the Committee emphasizes that in any proceedings, civil or criminal, to determine the victim's right to redress, including compensation, rules of evidence and procedure in relation to gender-based violence must afford equal weight to the testimony of women and girls, as should be the case for all other victims, and prevent the introduction of discriminatory evidence and harassment of victims and witnesses. The Committee considers that complaints mechanisms and investigations require specific positive measures which take into account gender aspects in order to ensure that victims of abuses such as sexual violence and abuse, rape, marital rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and trafficking are able to come forward and seek and obtain redress.
- Body
- Committee against Torture
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Migrant domestic workers 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Labour law. In many countries, domestic workers are not legally recognized as "workers" entitled to labour protection. A number of premises and special definitions are used to exclude domestic workers from the protection of labour laws, including the consideration that they work for private persons, who are not considered to be "employers". Equally, traditional perceptions of domestic work as tasks associated with unpaid work in the home performed by women and girls as well as traditional perceptions of domestic workers as either being "family helpers" often militate against the extension of national labour law to effectively cover domestic work. Because of their de facto and/or de jure, "unrecognized" status as "workers", domestic workers are unable to exercise the rights and freedoms granted by labour law to other workers.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of c ... 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, States should take the following actions to ensure the full and effective protection of migrant children from all forms of violence and abuse: - Take effective measures to ensure that they are protected from any form of slavery and commercial sexual exploitation and from being used for illicit activities or from any work that would jeopardize their health, safety or morals, including by becoming party to relevant conventions of the International Labour Organization - Take effective measures to protect them from all forms of violence and abuse, regardless of their migration status - Recognize and address the gender-specific vulnerable situations of girls and boys and children with disabilities as potential victims of trafficking for sexual, labour and all other forms of exploitation - Ensure comprehensive protection, support services and access to effective redress mechanisms, including psychosocial assistance and information about those remedies, for migrant children and their families reporting cases of violence, abuse or exploitation to police or other relevant authorities, regardless of their migration status; children and parents must be able to safely report to police or other authorities as victims or witnesses without any risk of immigration enforcement as a result - Recognize the important role that can be played by community services and civil society organizations in regard to the protection of migrant children - Develop comprehensive policies aimed at addressing the root causes of all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse against migrant children, including adequate resources for their proper implementation
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the general principles regarding the human rights ... 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- States parties should conduct a robust gender analysis of the specific impacts of migration policies and programmes on children of all genders. States parties should review and amend any gender-discriminatory restrictions on migration in law or practice that limit opportunities for girls or that do not recognize their capacity and autonomy to make their own decisions.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Migrant domestic workers 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- As noted by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the position of female migrants is different from that of male migrants with regard to, inter alia, the migration channels used, the sectors of the labour market where they are employed, the forms of abuse they suffer and the consequences and impact thereof. Recognizing that most domestic workers are women and girls and taking into consideration traditional roles, the gendered labour market, the universal prevalence of gender-based violence and the worldwide feminization of poverty and labour migration, States should incorporate a gender perspective in efforts to understand their specific problems and develop remedies to the gender-based discrimination that they face throughout the migration process.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Migrant domestic workers 2011, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- While transiting through foreign countries, women and girls are particularly at risk of being subjected to physical and sexual abuse by agents and intermediaries.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the general principles regarding the human rights ... 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- States parties should adopt measures directed at facilitating the participation of all children in the context of international migration in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies that could directly or indirectly affect them, as individuals or a group, including in the fields of social policies and social services. Initiatives should be taken to prepare girls and transgender children to participate actively, effectively and equally with boys at all levels of social, economic, political and cultural leadership. In countries of origin, the participation of children is paramount in developing policies on and in processes aimed at addressing drivers of the migration of children and/or their parents and developing policies in that regard. In addition, States should adopt measures aimed at empowering children affected by international migration to participate on different levels, through consultations, collaborations and child-led initiatives, and at ensuring that civil society organizations, including children associations and child-led organizations, can participate effectively in policy dialogues and processes on children in the context of international migration, at the local, national, regional and international levels. Any limitations on children’s freedom of association, including through legally establishing associations, should be removed.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of c ... 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- It is essential that States take all necessary measures to prevent and combat the illicit transfer and non-return of children as well as the worst forms of child labour, including all forms of slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, the use of children for illicit activities, including begging, and hazardous work, and protect them from violence and economic exploitation. The Committees recognize that children face gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities which should be identified and specifically addressed. In many contexts, girls may be even more vulnerable to trafficking, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation. Additional measures should be taken to address the particular vulnerability of girls and boys, including those who might have a disability, as well as children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex persons, to trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of c ... 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- States should strengthen measures to grant nationality to children born in their territory in situations where they would otherwise be stateless. When the law of a mother’s country of nationality does not recognize a woman’s right to confer nationality on her children and/or spouse, children may face the risk of statelessness. Likewise, where nationality laws do not guarantee women’s autonomous right to acquire, change or retain their nationality in marriage, girls in the situation of international migration who married under the age of 18 years may face the risk of being stateless, or be confined in abusive marriages out of fear of being stateless. States should take immediate steps to reform nationality laws that discriminate against women by granting equal rights to men and women to confer nationality on their children and spouses and regarding the acquisition, change or retention of their nationality.
- Body
- Committee on Migrant Workers
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (Art. 2, para. 2) 2009, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination is frequently encountered in families, workplaces, and other sectors of society. For example, actors in the private housing sector (e.g. private landlords, credit providers and public housing providers) may directly or indirectly deny access to housing or mortgages on the basis of ethnicity, marital status, disability or sexual orientation while some families may refuse to send girl children to school. States parties must therefore adopt measures, which should include legislation, to ensure that individuals and entities in the private sphere do not discriminate on prohibited grounds.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2009
Paragraph
The right to education (Art. 13) 1999, para. 16e
- Paragraph text
- [An introduction to technology and to the world of work should not be confined to specific TVE programmes but should be understood as a component of general education. According to the UNESCO Convention on Technical and Vocational Education (1989), TVE consists of "all forms and levels of the educational process involving, in addition to general knowledge, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, know-how, attitudes and understanding relating to occupations in the various sectors of economic and social life" (art. 1 (a)). This view is also reflected in certain ILO Conventions. Understood in this way, the right to TVE includes the following aspects:] It consists, in the context of the Covenant's non discrimination and equality provisions, of programmes which promote the TVE of women, girls, out of school youth, unemployed youth, the children of migrant workers, refugees, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights 2005, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Article 13, paragraph 1, of the Covenant requires States parties to recognize the right of everyone to education and in paragraph 2 (a) stipulates that primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all. Implementing article 3, in relation to article 13, requires, inter alia, the adoption of legislation and policies to ensure the same admission criteria for boys and girls at all levels of education. States parties should ensure, in particular through information and awareness-raising campaigns, that families desist from giving preferential treatment to boys when sending their children to school, and that curricula promote equality and non discrimination. States parties must create favourable conditions to ensure the safety of children, in particular girls, on their way to and from school.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2005
Paragraph
The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights 2005, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- [The obligation to fulfil requires States parties to take steps to ensure that in practice, men and women enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights on a basis of equality. Such steps should include:] To develop monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the implementation of laws and policies aimed at promoting the equal enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by men and women do not have unintended adverse effects on disadvantaged or marginalized individuals or groups, particularly women and girls;
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2005
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Individuals belonging to particular groups may be disproportionately affected by intersectional discrimination in the context of sexual and reproductive health. As identified by the Committee, groups such as, but not limited to, poor women, persons with disabilities, migrants, indigenous or other ethnic minorities, adolescents, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, and people living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to experience multiple discrimination. Trafficked and sexually exploited women, girls and boys are subject to violence, coercion and discrimination in their everyday lives, with their sexual and reproductive health at great risk. Also, women and girls living in conflict situations are disproportionately exposed to a high risk of violation of their rights, including through systematic rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and forced sterilization. Measures to guarantee non-discrimination and substantive equality should be cognizant of and seek to overcome the often exacerbated impact that intersectional discrimination has on the realization of the right to sexual and reproductive health.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights 2005, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- [The obligation to fulfil requires States parties to take steps to ensure that in practice, men and women enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights on a basis of equality. Such steps should include:] To integrate, in formal and non-formal education, the principle of the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, and to promote equal participation of men and women, boys and girls, in schools and other education programmes;
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2005
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Due to numerous legal, procedural, practical and social barriers, access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health facilities, services, goods and information is seriously restricted. In fact, the full enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health remains a distant goal for millions of people, especially for women and girls, throughout the world. Certain individuals and population groups that experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that exacerbate exclusion in both law and practice, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons and persons with disabilities, the full enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health is further restricted.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- States must also take affirmative measures to eradicate social barriers in terms of norms or beliefs that inhibit individuals of different ages and genders, women, girls and adolescents from autonomously exercising their right to sexual and reproductive health. Social misconceptions, prejudices and taboos about menstruation, pregnancy, delivery, masturbation, wet dreams, vasectomy and fertility should be modified so that these do not obstruct an individual's enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to education (Art. 13) 1999, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In relation to article 13 (2), States have obligations to respect, protect and fulfil each of the "essential features" (availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability) of the right to education. By way of illustration, a State must respect the availability of education by not closing private schools; protect the accessibility of education by ensuring that third parties, including parents and employers, do not stop girls from going to school; fulfil (facilitate) the acceptability of education by taking positive measures to ensure that education is culturally appropriate for minorities and indigenous peoples, and of good quality for all; fulfil (provide) the adaptability of education by designing and providing resources for curricula which reflect the contemporary needs of students in a changing world; and fulfil (provide) the availability of education by actively developing a system of schools, including building classrooms, delivering programmes, providing teaching materials, training teachers and paying them domestically competitive salaries.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
The right to education (Art. 13) 1999, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- States parties have an obligation to ensure that communities and families are not dependent on child labour. The Committee especially affirms the importance of education in eliminating child labour and the obligations set out in article 7 (2) of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (Convention No. 182). Additionally, given article 2 (2), States parties are obliged to remove gender and other stereotyping which impedes the educational access of girls, women and other disadvantaged groups.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights (Art. 2, para. 2) 2009, para. 8b
- Paragraph text
- [In order for States parties to "guarantee" that the Covenant rights will be exercised without discrimination of any kind, discrimination must be eliminated both formally and substantively:] Substantive discrimination: Merely addressing formal discrimination will not ensure substantive equality as envisaged and defined by article 2, paragraph 2. The effective enjoyment of Covenant rights is often influenced by whether a person is a member of a group characterized by the prohibited grounds of discrimination. Eliminating discrimination in practice requires paying sufficient attention to groups of individuals which suffer historical or persistent prejudice instead of merely comparing the formal treatment of individuals in similar situations. States parties must therefore immediately adopt the necessary measures to prevent, diminish and eliminate the conditions and attitudes which cause or perpetuate substantive or de facto discrimination. For example, ensuring that all individuals have equal access to adequate housing, water and sanitation will help to overcome discrimination against women and girl children and persons living in informal settlements and rural areas.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2009
Paragraph
State obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The increased role and impact of private actors in traditionally public sectors, such as the health or education sector, pose new challenges for States parties in complying with their obligations under the Covenant. Privatization is not per se prohibited by the Covenant, even in areas such as the provision of water or electricity, education or health care where the role of the public sector has traditionally been strong. Private providers should, however, be subject to strict regulations that impose on them so-called “public service obligations”: in the provision of water or electricity, this may include requirements concerning universality of coverage and continuity of service, pricing policies, quality requirements, and user participation. Similarly, private health-care providers should be prohibited from denying access to affordable and adequate services, treatments or information. For instance, where health practitioners are allowed to invoke conscientious objection to refuse to provide certain sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion, they should refer the women or girls seeking such services to another practitioner within reasonable geographical reach who is willing to provide such services.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12) 2000, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Article 12.2 (a) outlines the need to take measures to reduce infant mortality and promote the healthy development of infants and children. Subsequent international human rights instruments recognize that children and adolescents have the right to the enjoyment of the highest standard of health and access to facilities for the treatment of illness. The Convention on the Rights of the Child directs States to ensure access to essential health services for the child and his or her family, including pre- and post-natal care for mothers. The Convention links these goals with ensuring access to child-friendly information about preventive and health-promoting behaviour and support to families and communities in implementing these practices. Implementation of the principle of non-discrimination requires that girls, as well as boys, have equal access to adequate nutrition, safe environments, and physical as well as mental health services. There is a need to adopt effective and appropriate measures to abolish harmful traditional practices affecting the health of children, particularly girls, including early marriage, female genital mutilation, preferential feeding and care of male children. Children with disabilities should be given the opportunity to enjoy a fulfilling and decent life and to participate within their community.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
State obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities 2017, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Certain segments of the population face a greater risk of suffering intersectional and multiple discrimination. For instance, investment-linked evictions and displacements often result in physical and sexual violence against, and inadequate compensation and additional burdens related to resettlement for, women and girls. In the course of such investment-linked evictions and displacements, indigenous women and girls face discrimination both due to their gender and because they identify as indigenous people. In addition, women are overrepresented in the informal economy and are less likely to enjoy labour-related and social security protections. Furthermore, despite some improvement, women continue to be underrepresented in corporate decision-making processes worldwide. The Committee therefore recommends that States parties address the specific impacts of business activities on women and girls, including indigenous women and girls, and incorporate a gender perspective into all measures to regulate business activities that may adversely affect economic, social and cultural rights, including by consulting the Guidance on National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights. States parties should also take appropriate steps, including through temporary special measures, to improve women’s representation in the labour market, including at the upper echelons of the corporate hierarchy.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Plans of action for primary education (Art. 14) 1999, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- In line with its clear and unequivocal obligation under article 14, every State party is under a duty to present to the Committee a plan of action drawn up along the lines specified in paragraph 8 below. This obligation needs to be scrupulously observed in view of the fact that in developing countries, 130 million children of school age are currently estimated to be without access to primary education, of whom about two thirds are girls. 1 The Committee is fully aware that many diverse factors have made it difficult for States parties to fulfil their obligation to provide a plan of action. For example, the structural adjustment programmes that began in the 1970s, the debt crises that followed in the 1980s and the financial crises of the late 1990s, as well as other factors, have greatly exacerbated the extent to which the right to primary education is being denied. These difficulties, however, cannot relieve States parties of their obligation to adopt and submit a plan of action to the Committee, as provided for in article 14 of the Covenant.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Plans of action for primary education (Art. 14) 1999, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Plans of action prepared by States parties to the Covenant in accordance with article 14 are especially important as the work of the Committee has shown that the lack of educational opportunities for children often reinforces their subjection to various other human rights violations. For instance these children, who may live in abject poverty and not lead healthy lives, are particularly vulnerable to forced labour and other forms of exploitation. Moreover, there is a direct correlation between, for example, primary school enrolment levels for girls and major reductions in child marriages.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The realization of the rights of women and gender equality, both in law and in practice, requires repealing or reforming discriminatory laws, policies and practices in the area of sexual and reproductive health. Removal of all barriers interfering with access by women to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, goods, education and information is required. To lower rates of maternal mortality and morbidity requires emergency obstetric care and skilled birth attendance, including in rural and remote areas, and prevention of unsafe abortions. Preventing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions requires States to adopt legal and policy measures to guarantee all individuals access to affordable, safe and effective contraceptives and comprehensive sexuality education, including for adolescents; to liberalize restrictive abortion laws; to guarantee women and girls access to safe abortion services and quality post-abortion care, including by training health care providers; and to respect the right of women to make autonomous decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights 2005, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Article 10, paragraph 1, of the Covenant requires that States parties recognize that the widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the family, and that marriage must be entered into with the free consent of the intending spouses. Implementing article 3, in relation to article 10, requires States parties, inter alia, to provide victims of domestic violence, who are primarily female, with access to safe housing, remedies and redress for physical, mental and emotional damage; to ensure that men and women have an equal right to choose if, whom and when to marry - in particular, the legal age of marriage for men and women should be the same, and boys and girls should be protected equally from practices that promote child marriage, marriage by proxy, or coercion; and to ensure that women have equal rights to marital property and inheritance upon their husband's death. Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that inhibits the ability to enjoy rights and freedoms, including economic, social and cultural rights, on a basis of equality. States parties must take appropriate measures to eliminate violence against men and women and act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, mediate, punish and redress acts of violence against them by private actors.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2005
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Some countries provide for different ages for marriage for men and women. As such provisions assume incorrectly that women have a different rate of intellectual development from men, or that their stage of physical and intellectual development at marriage is immaterial, these provisions should be abolished. In other countries, the betrothal of girls or undertakings by family members on their behalf is permitted. Such measures contravene not only the Convention, but also a woman's right freely to choose her partner.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Under the Convention, States parties' obligations to prevent, investigate and punish trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence are reinforced by international criminal law, including jurisprudence of the international and mixed criminal tribunals and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, pursuant to which enslavement in the course of trafficking in women and girls, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity may constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity or an act of torture, or constitute an act of genocide. International criminal law, including the definitions of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence, must also be interpreted consistently with the Convention and other internationally recognized human rights instruments without adverse distinction as to gender.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The Committee has previously noted that the Convention applies at every stage of the displacement cycle and that situations of forced displacement and statelessness often affect women differently from men and include gender-based discrimination and violence. Internal and external displacement have specific gender dimensions that occur at all stages in the displacement cycle; during flight, settlement and return within conflict-affected areas, women and girls are especially vulnerable to forced displacement. In addition, they are often subjected to gross human rights violations during flight and in the displacement phase, as well as within and outside camp settings, including risks relating to sexual violence, trafficking and the recruitment of girls into armed forces and rebel groups.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 57b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Address the specific risks and particular needs of different groups of internally displaced and refugee women who are subjected to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including women with disabilities, older women, girls, widows, women who head households, pregnant women, women living with HIV/AIDS, rural women, indigenous women, women belonging to ethnic, national, sexual or religious minorities, and women human rights defenders;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 57d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Provide protection and assistance for internally displaced and refugee women and girls, including by safeguarding them from gender-based violence, including forced and child marriage; ensure their equal access to services and health care and full participation in the distribution of supplies, as well as in the development and implementation of assistance programmes that take into account their specific needs; provide protection against the displacement of indigenous, rural and minority women with special dependency on land; and ensure education and income-generation and skills training activities are available;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The total breakdown of State public and service provision infrastructure is one of the major and direct consequences of armed conflict, resulting in the lack of delivery of essential services to the population. In such situations, women and girls are at the front line of suffering, bearing the brunt of the socioeconomic dimensions of the conflict. In conflict-affected areas, schools are closed owing to insecurity, occupied by State and non-State armed groups or destroyed, all of which impede girls' access to school. Other factors preventing girls' access to education include targeted attacks and threats against them and their teachers by non-State actors, in addition to the additional caregiving and household responsibilities that they are obliged to assume.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 55f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions adopt or amend legislation with a view to effectively addressing and eliminating harmful practices. In doing so, they should ensure:] That a minimum legal age of marriage for girls and boys, with or without parental consent, is established at 18 years. When a marriage at an earlier age is allowed in exceptional circumstances, the absolute minimum age must not be below 16 years, the grounds for obtaining permission must be legitimate and strictly defined by law and the marriage must be permitted only by a court of law upon the full, free and informed consent of the child or both children, who must appear in person before the court;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
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. 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. 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. 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
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. 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. 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. 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. 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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 69e
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes specifically target female combatants and women and girls associated with armed groups as beneficiaries and that barriers to their equitable participation are addressed; and ensure that psychosocial and other support services are provided to them;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
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
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 57i
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that all situations of massive influxes of refugee and displaced populations, including women and girls, are adequately addressed and that protection and assistance needs are not impeded by a lack of clarity in the mandates of international agencies or resource constraints.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 52a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Develop programmes for conflict-affected girls who leave school early so that they can be reintegrated into schools or universities as soon as possible; engage in the prompt repair and reconstruction of school infrastructure; take measures to prevent the occurrence of attacks and threats against girls and their teachers; and ensure that perpetrators of such acts of violence are promptly investigated, prosecuted and punished;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 50c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should institute gender-sensitive procedural safeguards in asylum procedures to ensure that women asylum seekers are able to present their cases on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. States parties should ensure:] That women asylum seekers have access to competent legal representation in advance of the initial asylum interview. Where necessary, they should be afforded legal assistance free of charge. Unaccompanied and separated girls must in all cases be assigned a qualified legal representative and a guardian to assist them through the asylum procedure and ensure respect for their best interests;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 63m
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the foregoing, the Committee recommends that States parties that have not already done so:] Take measures to achieve the timely registration of all births and, in this regard, take measures to raise awareness, especially in rural and remote areas of their respective territories, of the importance of registering births to ensure that all children are registered and that girls benefit from the same rights as boys.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The right to access to justice for women is essential to the realization of all the rights protected under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It is a fundamental element of the rule of law and good governance, together with the independence, impartiality, integrity and credibility of the judiciary, the fight against impunity and corruption, and the equal participation of women in the judiciary and other law implementation mechanisms. The right to access to justice is multidimensional. It encompasses justiciability, availability, accessibility, good quality, the provision of remedies for victims and the accountability of justice systems. For the purposes of the present general recommendation, all references to "women" should be understood to include women and girls, unless otherwise specifically noted.
- 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
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Women and girls are enabled to build their economic assets through training in livelihood and entrepreneurship skills and benefit from programmes that offer an economic incentive to postpone marriage until 18 years of age, such as scholarships, microcredit programmes or savings schemes (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, arts. 11 and 13; Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 28). Complementary awareness-raising programmes are essential to communicating the right of women to work outside the home and challenging taboos about women and work.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Another means of encouraging the empowerment of women and girls is by building their social assets. This can be facilitated through the creation of safe spaces where girls and women can connect with peers, mentors, teachers and community leaders and express themselves, speak out, articulate their aspirations and concerns and participate in decisions affecting their lives. This can help them to develop self-esteem and self-efficacy, communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills and awareness of their rights and can be particularly important for migrant girls. Given that men have traditionally held positions of power and influence at all levels, their engagement is crucial to ensuring that children and women have the support and committed engagement of their families, communities, civil society and policymakers.
- 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
- Girls
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 63l
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the foregoing, the Committee recommends that States parties that have not already done so:] Implement effective measures to ensure that women and girls have equal access to identity documentation, including proof of nationality;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Without status as nationals or citizens, stateless women and girls are often marginalized, deprived of the right to vote or stand for public office and may be denied access to public benefits, a choice of residence and free movement, in addition to access to various rights and benefits flowing from status as a national, including rights to education, health care, property or employment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Contrary to their obligations under both Conventions, many States parties maintain legal provisions that justify, allow or lead to harmful practices, such as legislation that allows for child marriage, provides the defence of so-called honour as an exculpatory or mitigating factor for crimes committed against girls and women or enables a perpetrator of rape and/or other sexual crimes to avoid sanctions by marrying the victim.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 81b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Ensure that awareness-raising programmes provide accurate information and clear and unified messages from trusted sources about the negative impact of harmful practices on women, children, in particular girls, their families and society at large. Such programmes should include social media, the Internet and community communication and dissemination tools;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 25c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Take measures to avoid the marginalization of girls owing to conflicts and disempowerment within their families and the resulting lack of support for their rights, and abolish rules and practices that require parental or spousal authorization for access to services such as education and health, including sexual and reproductive health, as well as to legal services and justice systems;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 57a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Take the preventive measures necessary to ensure protection against forced displacement, in addition to the protection of the human rights of displaced women and girls, including access to basic services, during flight, displacement and in the context of durable solutions;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 61a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that measures to prevent statelessness are applied to all women and girls and address populations that are particularly susceptible to being rendered stateless by conflict, such as female internally displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers and trafficked persons;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 61d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure individual documentation, including in post-conflict migration flows, of internally displaced women, refugee and asylum-seeking women and separated and unaccompanied girls, and ensure the timely and equal registration of all births, marriages and divorces.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions ensure that any efforts undertaken to tackle harmful practices and to challenge and change underlying social norms are holistic, community based and founded on a rights-based approach that includes the active participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
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
Women and health 1999, para. 12b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should report on their understanding of how policies and measures on health care address the health rights of women from the perspective of women's needs and interests and how it addresses distinctive features and factors that differ for women in comparison to men, such as:] Socio-economic factors that vary for women in general and some groups of women in particular. For example, unequal power relationships between women and men in the home and workplace may negatively affect women's nutrition and health. They may also be exposed to different forms of violence which can affect their health. Girl children and adolescent girls are often vulnerable to sexual abuse by older men and family members, placing them at risk of physical and psychological harm and unwanted and early pregnancy. Some cultural or traditional practices such as female genital mutilation also carry a high risk of death and disability;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- While biological differences between women and men may lead to differences in health status, there are societal factors that are determinative of the health status of women and men and can vary among women themselves. For that reason, special attention should be given to the health needs and rights of women belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as migrant women, refugee and internally displaced women, the girl child and older women, women in prostitution, indigenous women and women with physical or mental disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 38c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure women's and girls' access to justice; adopt gender-sensitive investigative procedures to address gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence; conduct gender-sensitive training and adopt codes of conduct and protocols for the police and military, including peacekeepers; and build the capacity of the judiciary, including in the context of transitional justice mechanisms, to ensure its independence, impartiality and integrity;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- During and after conflict, specific groups of women and girls are at particular risk of violence, especially sexual violence, such as internally displaced and refugee women; women's human rights defenders; women of diverse caste, ethnic, national or religious identities, or other minorities, who are often attacked as symbolic representatives of their community; widows; and women with disabilities. Female combatants and women in the military are also vulnerable to sexual assault and harassment by State and non-State armed groups and resistance movements.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- In addition to the heightened risks faced by internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers, conflict can also be both a cause and a consequence of statelessness, rendering women and girls particularly vulnerable to various forms of abuse in both the private and public domains. Statelessness can arise when a woman's experience of conflict intersects with discrimination with regard to nationality rights, such as laws that require women to change nationality upon marriage or its dissolution or that deny them the ability to pass on their nationality.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Stateless women and girls face heightened risks of abuse in times of conflict because they do not enjoy the protection that flows from citizenship, including consular assistance, and also because many are undocumented and/or belong to ethnic, religious or linguistic minority populations. Statelessness also results in the widespread denial of fundamental human rights and freedoms in post-conflict periods. For example, women may be denied access to health care, employment and other socioeconomic and cultural rights as Governments restrict services to nationals in times of increased resource constraints. Women deprived of a nationality are also often excluded from political processes and from participating in the new government and governance of their country, in violation of articles 7 and 8 of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 61c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Guarantee conflict-affected women and girls equal rights to obtain documents necessary for the exercise of their legal rights and the right to have such documentation issued in their own names, and ensure the prompt issuance or replacement of documents without imposing unreasonable conditions, such as requiring displaced women and girls to return to their area of original residence to obtain documents;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Inequalities in marriage and family relations affect women's experiences in conflict and post-conflict situations. In such situations, women and girls may be forced into marriage to placate armed groups or because their post-conflict poverty forces them to marry for financial security, affecting their rights to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage, as guaranteed by article 16 (1)(a) and 16 (1)(b). During conflict, girls are particularly susceptible to forced marriage, a harmful practice that is increasingly used by armed groups. Families also force girls into marriage as a result of poverty and a misconception that it may protect them against rape.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The best interests of the child and the protection of the rights of girls and women should always be taken into consideration and the necessary conditions must be in place to enable them to express their point of view and ensure that their opinions are given due weight. Careful consideration should also be given to the potential short-term and long-term impact on children or women of the dissolution of child and/or forced marriages and the return of dowry payments and bride prices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The most effective efforts are inclusive and engage relevant stakeholders at all levels, especially girls and women from affected communities and boys and men. Moreover, those efforts require the active participation and support of local leaders, including through the allocation of adequate resources. Establishing or strengthening existing partnerships with relevant stakeholders, institutions, organizations and social networks (religious and traditional leaders, practitioners and civil society) can help to build bridges between constituencies.
- 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
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 41b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Adopt a policy of zero tolerance based on international human rights standards on trafficking and sexual exploitation and abuse, which addresses such groups as national troops, peacekeeping forces, border police, immigration officials and humanitarian actors, and provide those groups with gender-sensitive training on how to identify and protect vulnerable women and girls;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
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
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
Women and health 1999, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The issues of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are central to the rights of women and adolescent girls to sexual health. Adolescent girls and women in many countries lack adequate access to information and services necessary to ensure sexual health. As a consequence of unequal power relations based on gender, women and adolescent girls are often unable to refuse sex or insist on safe and responsible sex practices. Harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, polygamy, as well as marital rape, may also expose girls and women to the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Women in prostitution are also particularly vulnerable to these diseases. States parties should ensure, without prejudice or discrimination, the right to sexual health information, education and services for all women and girls, including those who have been trafficked, even if they are not legally resident in the country. In particular, States parties should ensure the rights of female and male adolescents to sexual and reproductive health education by properly trained personnel in specially designed programmes that respect their right to privacy and confidentiality.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Article 12 reads as follows: 1. States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health-care services, including those related to family planning. 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, States parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation." States parties are encouraged to address the issue of women's health throughout the woman's lifespan. For the purposes of the present general recommendation, therefore, "women" includes girls and adolescents. The general recommendation will set out the Committee's analysis of the key elements of article 12.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 57g
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Provide internally displaced and refugee women and girl victims of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, with free and immediate access to medical services, legal assistance and a safe environment; provide access to female health-care providers and services, such as reproductive health care and appropriate counselling; and ensure that military and civilian authorities present in displacement contexts have received appropriate training on protection challenges, human rights and the needs of displaced women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Harm perpetrated against women and girls is often at the hands of non-State actors, including family members, neighbours or society more generally. In such cases, article 2 (e) of the Convention requires that States parties assume their due diligence obligation and ensure that women are effectively protected from harm that may be inflicted by non-State actors. It does not suffice to strive for vertical gender equality of the individual woman vis-à-vis public authorities; States must also work to secure non-discrimination at the horizontal level, even within the family. Harm perpetrated by non-State actors is persecution where the State is unable or unwilling to prevent such harm or protect the claimant because of discriminatory governmental policies or practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- States parties to the Conventions have a duty to comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women and children. They also have a due-diligence obligation to prevent acts that impair the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of rights by women and children and ensure that private actors do not engage in discrimination against women and girls, including gender-based violence, in relation to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or any form of violence against children, in relation to the Convention on the Rights 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
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- States parties should recognize that trafficking is part and parcel of gender- related persecution, with the result that women and girls who are victims of trafficking or who fear becoming victims should be informed of and effectively enjoy the right of access to asylum procedures without discrimination or any preconditions. States parties are encouraged to classify victims of trafficking under the "social group" ground in the refugee definition in line with the UNHCR "Guidelines on international protection: the application of article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked" and are recommended to take measures so that women and girls are not returned to places where they risk being retrafficked.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage, also referred to as early marriage, is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age. The overwhelming majority of child marriages, both formal and informal, involve girls, although at times their spouses are also under 18 years of age. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent. As a matter of respecting the child's evolving capacities and autonomy in making decisions that affect her or his life, a marriage of a mature, capable child below 18 years of age may be allowed in exceptional circumstances, provided that the child is at least 16 years of age and that such decisions are made by a judge based on legitimate exceptional grounds defined by law and on the evidence of maturity, without deference to culture and tradition.
- 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
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- When a woman or a girl who was subjected to or refused to undergo a practice leaves her family or community to seek refuge, her decision to return must be supported by adequate national protection mechanisms. In assisting her in making this free and informed choice, the mechanisms are required to ensure her safe return and reintegration based on the principle of her best interest, including avoiding revictimization. Such situations require close follow-up and monitoring to ensure that victims are protected and enjoy their rights in the short term and the long term.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 73d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Conduct specialized awareness and training programmes for health-care providers working with immigrant communities to address the unique health-care needs of children and women who have undergone female genital mutilation or other harmful practices and provide specialized training also for professionals within child welfare services and services focused on the rights of women and the education and police and justice sectors, politicians and media personnel working with migrant girls and women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 25b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that independent, safe, effective, accessible and child-sensitive complaint and reporting mechanisms are available to girls. Such mechanisms should be established in conformity with international norms, especially the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and staffed by appropriately trained officials, working in an effective and gender-sensitive manner, in accordance with general comment No. 14 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, so that the best interests of the girls concerned is taken as a primary consideration;
- 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
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against women is also compounded by intersecting forms of discrimination, as noted in general recommendation No. 28. Given that the Convention reflects a life-cycle approach, States parties are also required to address the rights and distinct needs of conflict-affected girls that arise from gender-based discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- For out-of-school girls, non-formal education is often their only route to learning and should provide basic education and instruction in life skills. It is an alternative to formal schooling for those who did not complete primary or secondary school and may also be made available through radio programmes and other media, including digital media.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
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
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The provisions of the Convention prohibiting discrimination against women reinforce and complement the international legal protection regime for refugees and displaced and stateless women and girls in many settings, especially because explicit gender equality provisions are absent from relevant international agreements, notably the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- States parties should establish adequate screening mechanisms for the early identification of women asylum seekers with specific protection and assistance needs, including women with disabilities, unaccompanied girls, victims of trauma, victims of trafficking and/or forced prostitution, victims of sexual violence and victims of torture and/or ill-treatment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 69a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Provide universal, free and compulsory primary education that is girl friendly, including in remote and rural areas, consider making secondary education mandatory while also providing economic incentives for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to complete secondary school and establish non-discriminatory return policies;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- In States parties in which the prevalence of harmful practices is primarily limited to immigrant communities, health-care providers, teachers and childcare professionals, social workers, police officers, migration officials and the justice sector must be sensitized and trained in how to identify girls and women who have been, or are at risk of being, subjected to harmful practices and which steps can and should be taken to protect them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 35b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Develop and implement measures to raise awareness among the media and the population, in close collaboration with communities and civil society organizations, of the right of women to have access to justice. Such measures should be multidimensional and directed at girls and women, as well as boys and men, and should take account of the relevance and potential of ICT to transform cultural and social stereotypes;
- 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
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
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
Temporary special measures 1988, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- States parties should clearly distinguish between temporary special measures taken under article 4, paragraph 1, to accelerate the achievement of a concrete goal for women of de facto or substantive equality, and other general social policies adopted to improve the situation of women and the girl child. Not all measures that potentially are, or will be, favourable to women are temporary special measures. The provision of general conditions in order to guarantee the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of women and the girl child, designed to ensure for them a life of dignity and non-discrimination, cannot be called temporary special measures.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1988
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 15a
- Paragraph text
- [The obligation to protect rights relating to women's health requires States parties, their agents and officials to take action to prevent and impose sanctions for violations of rights by private persons and organizations. Since gender-based violence is a critical health issue for women, States parties should ensure:] The enactment and effective enforcement of laws and the formulation of policies, including health-care protocols and hospital procedures to address violence against women and sexual abuse of girl children and the provision of appropriate health services;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- When reporting on measures taken to comply with article 12, States parties are urged to recognize its interconnection with other articles in the Convention that have a bearing on women's health. Those articles include article 5 (b), which requires States parties to ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function; article 10, which requires States parties to ensure equal access to education, thus enabling women to access health care more readily and reducing female student drop-out rates, which are often a result of premature pregnancy; article 10 (h), which requires that States parties provide to women and girls access to specific educational information to help ensure the health and well-being of families, including information and advice on family planning; article 11, which is concerned, in part, with the protection of women's health and safety in working conditions, including the safeguarding of the reproductive function, special protection from harmful types of work during pregnancy and with the provision of paid maternity leave; article 14, paragraph 2 (b), which requires States parties to ensure access for rural women to adequate health-care facilities, including information, counselling and services in family planning, and (h), which obliges States parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure adequate living conditions, particularly housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications, all of which are critical for the prevention of disease and the promotion of good health care; and article 16, paragraph 1 (e), which requires States parties to ensure that women have the same rights as men to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise those rights. Article 16, paragraph 2, proscribes the betrothal and marriage of children, an important factor in preventing the physical and emotional harm which arise from early childbirth.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Trafficking in women and girls, which constitutes gender-based discrimination, is exacerbated during and after conflict owing to the breakdown of political, economic and social structures, high levels of violence and increased militarism. Conflict and post-conflict situations can create particular war-related demand structures for women's sexual, economic and military exploitation. Conflict-affected regions can be areas of origin, transit and destination with regard to trafficking in women and girls, with the forms of trafficking varying by region, specific economic and political context and State and non-State actors involved. Women and girls living in or returning from camps for internally displaced persons, refugees or those searching for livelihoods are particularly at risk of trafficking.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- There may be cases in which States parties also have extraterritorial obligations of international cooperation, as set out in international law, such as treaty law on women with disabilities (art. 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), girls in armed conflict (art. 24 (4) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the first two optional protocols thereto) and the non-discriminatory enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights (arts. 2 (1), 11 (1), 22 and 23 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). In such cases, the extraterritorial application of the Convention requires States to comply with the Convention in implementing those obligations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In addition, articles 2, 15 (1) and 16 require States parties to recognize that women may present independent claims to asylum. In this respect, their claims may also be based on fears relating to their children. For example, claims to refugee status may arise from a fear that their daughters will suffer female genital mutilation, be forced into marriage or be subjected to severe community ostracism and exclusion for being girls. The child's protection claim should also be considered on its own merits in a child-sensitive manner in the best interests of the child. Once the principal claimant is recognized as a refugee, other members of the family should normally also be recognized as refugees ("derivative status").
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain legally binding obligations that relate both in general and specifically to the elimination of harmful practices. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have consistently drawn attention to those practices affecting women and children, primarily girls, in the execution of their monitoring mandates. It is by virtue of that overlapping mandate and the shared commitment to prevent, respond to and eliminate harmful practices, wherever and in whichever form they occur, that the Committees decided to develop the present joint general recommendation/general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Committees acknowledge that harmful practices affect adult women, both directly and/or owing to the long-term impact of practices to which they were subjected as girls. The present joint general recommendation/general comment therefore further elaborates on the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with regard to the relevant provisions for the elimination of harmful practices that affect the rights of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 55m
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions adopt or amend legislation with a view to effectively addressing and eliminating harmful practices. In doing so, they should ensure:] That legislation and policies relating to immigration and asylum recognize the risk of being subjected to harmful practices or being persecuted as a result of such practices as a ground for granting asylum. Consideration should also be given, on a case-by-case basis, to providing protection to a relative who may be accompanying the girl or woman;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- One of the first steps in combating harmful practices is through prevention. Both Committees have underlined that prevention can be best achieved through a rights-based approach to changing social and cultural norms, empowering women and girls, building the capacity of all relevant professionals who are in regular contact with victims, potential victims and perpetrators of harmful practices at all levels and raising awareness of the causes and consequences of harmful practices, including through dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- States parties have an obligation to challenge and change patriarchal ideologies and structures that constrain women and girls from fully exercising their human rights and freedoms. For girls and women to overcome the social exclusion and poverty that many experience, which increase their vulnerability to exploitation, harmful practices and other forms of gender-based violence, they need to be equipped with the skills and competencies necessary to assert their rights, including to make autonomous and informed decisions and choices about their own lives. In this context, education is an important tool for empowering women and girls to claim their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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. 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. 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
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
Temporary special measures 2004, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- States parties should clearly distinguish between temporary special measures aimed at accelerating the achievement of a concrete goal of women's de facto or substantive equality, and other general social policies adopted and implemented in order to improve the situation of women and the girl child. States parties should bear in mind that not all measures which potentially are or would be favourable to women qualify as temporary special measures.
- 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
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2004
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Many other practices having been identified as harmful practices are all strongly connected to and reinforce socially constructed gender roles and systems of patriarchal power relations and sometimes reflect negative perceptions of or discriminatory beliefs regarding certain disadvantaged groups of women and children, including individuals with disabilities or albinism. The practices include, but are not limited to, neglect of girls (linked to the preferential care and treatment of boys), extreme dietary restrictions, including during pregnancy (force-feeding, food taboos), virginity testing and related practices, binding, scarring, branding/infliction of tribal marks, corporal punishment, stoning, violent initiation rites, widowhood practices, accusations of witchcraft, infanticide and incest. They also include body modifications that are performed for the purpose of beauty or marriageability of girls and women (such as fattening, isolation, the use of lip discs and neck elongation with neck rings) or in an attempt to protect girls from early pregnancy or from being subjected to sexual harassment and violence (such as breast ironing). In addition, many women and children increasingly undergo medical treatment and/or plastic surgery to comply with social norms of the body, rather than for medical or health reasons, and many are also pressured to be fashionably thin, which has resulted in an epidemic of eating and health disorders.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 81h
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Adopt gender-sensitive procedures in order to avoid revictimization and stigmatization, establish special protection units and gender desks in police stations, undertake investigations confidentially and sensitively and ensure that, during investigations and trials, equal weight is given to the testimony of women and girls as to that of men;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 41a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Prevent, prosecute and punish trafficking and related human rights violations that occur under their jurisdiction, whether perpetrated by public authorities or private actors, and adopt specific protection measures for women and girls, including those who are internally displaced or refugees;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
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
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Special consideration is to be given to girls (including the girl child and adolescent girls, where appropriate) because they face specific barriers to gaining access to justice. They often lack the social or legal capacity to make significant decisions about their lives in areas relating to education, health and sexual and reproductive rights. They may be forced into marriage or subjected to other harmful practices and various forms of violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
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. 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
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993, States are urged to repeal existing laws and regulations and to remove customs and practices which discriminate against and cause harm to the girl child. Article 16 (2) and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child preclude States parties from permitting or giving validity to a marriage between persons who have not attained their majority. In the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, "a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". Notwithstanding this definition, and bearing in mind the provisions of the Vienna Declaration, the Committee considers that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years for both man and woman. When men and women marry, they assume important responsibilities. Consequently, marriage should not be permitted before they have attained full maturity and capacity to act. According to the World Health Organization, when minors, particularly girls, marry and have children, their health can be adversely affected and their education is impeded. As a result their economic autonomy is restricted.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 61b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that measures to protect stateless women and girls remain in place before, during and after conflict;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The payment of dowries and bride prices, which varies among practising communities, may increase the vulnerability of women and girls to violence and to other harmful practices. The husband or his family members may engage in acts of physical or psychological violence, including murder, burning and acid attacks, for failure to fulfil expectations regarding the payment of a dowry or its size. In some cases, families will agree to the temporary "marriage" of their daughter in exchange for financial gains, also referred to as a contractual marriage, which is a form of trafficking in human beings. States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography have explicit obligations with regard to child and/or forced marriages that include dowry payments or bride prices because they could constitute a sale of children as defined in article 2 (a) of the Protocol. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has repeatedly stressed that allowing marriage to be arranged by such payment or preferment violates the right to freely choose a spouse and has in its general recommendation No. 29 outlined that such practice should not be required for a marriage to be valid and that such agreements should not be recognized by a State party as enforceable.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
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
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. 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
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. 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
Violence against women 1992, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Rural women are at risk of gender-based 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 and sexual exploitation when they leave the rural community to seek employment in towns.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1992
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 52d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that women and girls, including those who may be particularly vulnerable to HIV, have access to basic health services and information, including HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The Committee recommends that State parties, when implementing their obligations under the Convention, give due consideration to the complementary protections for women and girls stemming from international humanitarian, refugee and criminal law.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Gender sensitivity should be reflected in reception arrangements, taking into account the specific needs of victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, of trauma and torture or ill-treatment and of other particularly vulnerable groups of women and girls. Reception arrangements should also allow for the unity of the family as present within the territory, in particular in the context of reception centres. As a general rule, pregnant women and nursing mothers, who both have special needs, should not be detained. Where detention of women asylum seekers is unavoidable, separate facilities and materials are required to meet the specific hygiene needs of women. The use of female guards and warders should be promoted. All staff assigned to work with women detainees should receive training relating to the gender-specific needs and human rights of women. Pursuant to articles 1, 2, 5 (a) and 12 of the Convention, failure to address the specific needs of women in immigration detention and ensure the respectful treatment of detained women asylum seekers could constitute discrimination within the meaning of the Convention. Not least for the purposes of avoiding violence against women, separate facilities for male and female detainees are required, unless in family units, and alternatives to detention are to be made available.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 25d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Protect women and girls from interpretations of religious texts and traditional norms that create barriers to their access to justice and result in discrimination against them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
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. 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
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In conflict-affected areas, access to essential services such as health care, including sexual and reproductive health services, is disrupted owing to inadequate infrastructure and a lack of professional medical care workers, basic medicines and health-care supplies. Consequently, women and girls are at a greater risk of unplanned pregnancy, severe sexual and reproductive injuries and contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS, as a result of conflict-related sexual violence. The breakdown or destruction of health services, combined with restrictions on women's mobility and freedom of movement, further undermines women's equal access to health care, as guaranteed by article 12 (1). Power imbalances and harmful gender norms make girls and women disproportionately more vulnerable to HIV infection and these factors become more pronounced in conflict and post-conflict settings. HIV-related stigma and discrimination is also pervasive and has profound implications for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, especially when combined with the stigma associated with gender-based violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
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
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are part of the broader security sector reform framework and among the first security initiatives put in place in post-conflict and transition periods. This notwithstanding, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes are rarely developed or implemented in coordination with security sector reform initiatives. This lack of coordination often undermines women's rights, such as when amnesties are granted in order to facilitate the reintegration into security sector positions of ex-combatants who have committed gender-based violations. Women are also excluded from positions within newly formed security sector institutions owing to a lack of planning and coordination in security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration initiatives. Inadequate vetting processes further impede gender-sensitive security sector reform, which is key to developing non-discriminatory, gender-responsive security sector institutions that address the security needs of women and girls, including disadvantaged groups.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Violence against women 1992, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Poverty and unemployment force many women, including young girls, into prostitution. Prostitutes are especially vulnerable to violence because their status, which may be unlawful, tends to marginalize them. They need the equal protection of laws against rape and other forms of violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 1992
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 15d
- Paragraph text
- [The obligation to protect rights relating to women's health requires States parties, their agents and officials to take action to prevent and impose sanctions for violations of rights by private persons and organizations. Since gender-based violence is a critical health issue for women, States parties should ensure:] The enactment and effective enforcement of laws that prohibit female genital mutilation and marriage of girl children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 38g
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Invest in technical expertise and allocate resources to address the distinct needs of women and girls subject to violence, including the impact of sexual violence on their reproductive health;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 41d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Adopt bilateral or regional agreements and other forms of cooperation to protect the rights of trafficked women and girls and to facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Violence against women and girls is a form of discrimination prohibited by the Convention and is a violation of human rights. Conflicts exacerbate existing gender inequalities, placing women at a heightened risk of various forms of gender-based violence by both State and non-State actors. Conflict-related violence happens everywhere, such as in homes, detention facilities and camps for internally displaced women and refugees; it happens at any time, for instance, while performing daily activities such as collecting water and firewood or going to school or work. There are multiple perpetrators of conflict-related gender-based violence. These may include members of government armed forces, paramilitary groups, non-State armed groups, peacekeeping personnel and civilians. Irrespective of the character of the armed conflict, its duration or the actors involved, women and girls are increasingly deliberately targeted for and subjected to various forms of violence and abuse, ranging from arbitrary killings, torture and mutilation, sexual violence, forced marriage, forced prostitution and forced impregnation to forced termination of pregnancy and sterilization.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- It is indisputable that, while all civilians are adversely affected by armed conflict, women and girls are primarily and increasingly targeted by the use of sexual violence, "including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group", and that this form of sexual violence persists even after the cessation of hostilities (see Security Council resolution 1820 (2008)). For most women in post-conflict environments, the violence does not stop with the official ceasefire or the signing of the peace agreement and often increases in the post-conflict setting. The Committee acknowledges the many reports confirming that, while the forms and sites of violence change, which means that there may no longer be State-sponsored violence, all forms of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence, escalate in the post-conflict setting. The failure to prevent, investigate and punish all forms of gender-based violence, in addition to other factors such as ineffective disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes, can also lead to further violence against women in post-conflict periods.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 65a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee reiterates its general recommendations Nos. 21 and 29 and further recommends that States parties:] Prevent, investigate and punish gender-based violations such as forced marriages, pregnancies, abortions or sterilization of women and girls in conflict-affected areas;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- States parties, and in particular immigration and asylum officials, should be aware that women and girls may be fleeing their country of origin to avoid undergoing a harmful practice. Those officials should receive appropriate cultural, legal and gender-sensitive training on what steps need to be taken for the protection of such women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Forced marriages are marriages in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. They may be manifested in various forms, including child marriage, as indicated above, exchange or trade-off marriages (i.e. baad and baadal), servile marriages and levirate marriages (coercing a widow to marry a relative of her deceased husband). In some contexts, a forced marriage may occur when a rapist is permitted to escape criminal sanctions by marrying the victim, usually with the consent of her family. Forced marriages may occur in the context of migration in order to ensure that a girl marries within the family's community of origin or to provide extended family members or others with documents to migrate to and/or live in a particular destination country. Forced marriages are also increasingly being used by armed groups during conflict or may be a means for a girl to escape post-conflict poverty. Forced marriage may also be defined as a marriage in which one of the parties is not permitted to end or leave it. Forced marriages often result in girls lacking personal and economic autonomy and attempting to flee or commit self-immolation or suicide to avoid or escape the marriage.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- National protection systems or, in their absence, traditional structures should be mandated to be child friendly and gender sensitive and adequately resourced to provide all necessary protection services to women and girls who face a high risk of being subjected to violence, including girls running away to avoid being subjected to female genital mutilation, forced marriage or crimes committed in the name of so-called honour. Consideration should be given to the establishment of an easy-to-remember, free, around-the-clock helpline that is available and known nationwide. Appropriate safety and security measures for victims must be available, including specifically designed temporary shelters or specialized services within shelters for victims of violence. Given that perpetrators of harmful practices are often the spouse of the victim, a family member or a member of the victim's community, protective services should seek to relocate victims outside their immediate community if there is reason to believe that they may be unsafe. Unsupervised visits must be avoided, especially when the issue may be considered one of so-called honour. Psychosocial support must also be available to treat the immediate and long-term psychological trauma of victims, which may include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 69b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Provide girls and women with educational and economic opportunities in a safe and enabling environment where they can develop their self-esteem, awareness of their rights and communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 69e
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Ensure access to non-formal education programmes for girls who have dropped out of regular schooling, or who have never enrolled and are illiterate, and monitor the quality of those programmes;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 69f
- Paragraph text
- [The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions:] Engage men and boys in creating an enabling environment that supports the empowerment of women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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. 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
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Convention is a significant tool in international efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness because it particularly affects women and girls with regard to nationality rights. The Convention requires full protection of women's equality in nationality matters. Nationality is the legal bond between a person and a State and is critical to ensuring full participation in society. Nationality is also essential to guaranteeing the exercise and enjoyment of other rights, including the right to enter and reside permanently in the territory of a State and to return to that State from abroad. Article 9 of the Convention is therefore essential to the enjoyment of the full range of human rights by women. While human rights are to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of nationality status, in practice nationality is frequently a prerequisite for the enjoyment of basic human rights. Without nationality, girls and women are subject to compounded discrimination as women and as non-nationals or stateless persons.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Women and adolescent girls who have been, or are at risk of being, subjected to harmful practices face significant risks to their sexual and reproductive health, in particular in a context where they already encounter barriers to decision-making on such issues arising from lack of adequate information and services, including adolescent-friendly services. Special attention is therefore needed to ensure that women and adolescents have access to accurate information about sexual and reproductive health and rights and on the impacts of harmful practices, as well as access to adequate and confidential services. Age-appropriate education, which includes science-based information on sexual and reproductive health, contributes to empowering girls and women to make informed decisions and claim their rights. To this end, health-care providers and teachers with adequate knowledge, understanding and skills play a crucial role in conveying the information, preventing harmful practices and identifying and assisting women and girls who are victims of or might be at risk of being subjected to them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Core obligations of States parties under article 2 2010, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- States parties in particular are obliged to promote the equal rights of girls since girls are part of the larger community of women and are more vulnerable to discrimination in such areas as access to basic education, trafficking, maltreatment, exploitation and violence. All these situations of discrimination are aggravated when the victims are adolescents. Therefore, States shall pay attention to the specific needs of (adolescent) girls by providing education on sexual and reproductive health and carrying out programmes that are aimed at the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation and teenage pregnancy.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Although international tribunals have contributed to recognizing and prosecuting gender-based crimes, a number of challenges remain to ensuring women's access to justice and many procedural, institutional and social barriers continue to prevent them from participating in international justice processes. Passive acquiescence of past violence reinforces the culture of silence and stigmatization. Reconciliation processes such as truth and reconciliation commissions often provide women survivors with an opportunity to deal with their past in a safe setting and constitute official historical records. They should, however, never be used as a substitute for investigations into and prosecutions of perpetrators for human rights violations committed against women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Even when women and girls are included in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes, the support is inadequate, gender stereotyped and limits their economic empowerment by providing skills development only in traditionally female fields. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes also fail to deal with the psychosocial trauma that women and girls experience in conflict and post-conflict situations. That in turn can cause further rights violations, given that women's social stigma, isolation and economic disempowerment can force some women to remain in exploitative situations (such as with their captors) or force them into new ones if they have to turn to illicit activities to provide for themselves and their dependants.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The provisions of the Convention reinforce and complement the international legal protection regime for refugees and stateless women and girls, especially because explicit gender equality provisions are absent from relevant international agreements, notably the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto, the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, the Committees recognize that boys are also the victims of violence, harmful practices and bias and that their rights must be addressed for their protection and to prevent gender-based violence and the perpetuation of bias and gender inequality later in their lives. Accordingly, reference is made herein to the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding harmful practices stemming from discrimination that affect boys' enjoyment of their rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The causes of harmful practices are multidimensional and include stereotyped sex- and gender-based roles, the presumed superiority or inferiority of either of the sexes, attempts to exert control over the bodies and sexuality of women and girls, social inequalities and the prevalence of male-dominated power structures. Efforts to change the practices must address those underlying systemic and structural causes of traditional, re-emerging and emerging harmful practices, empower girls and women and boys and men to contribute to the transformation of traditional cultural attitudes that condone harmful practices, act as agents of such change and strengthen the capacity of communities to support such processes.
- 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
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The efforts to combat harmful practices notwithstanding, the overall number of women and girls affected remains extremely high and may be increasing, including, for example, in conflict situations and as a result of technological developments such as the widespread use of social media. Through the examination of State parties' reports, the Committees have noted that there is often continued adherence to harmful practices by members of practising communities who have moved to destination countries through migration or to seek asylum. Social norms and cultural beliefs supporting such harmful practices persist and are at times emphasized by a community in an attempt to preserve its cultural identity in a new environment, in particular in destination countries where gender roles provide women and girls with greater personal freedom.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Female genital mutilation, female circumcision or female genital cutting is the practice of partially or wholly removing the external female genitalia or otherwise injuring the female genital organs for non-medical or non-health reasons. In the context of the present joint general recommendation/general comment, it is referred to as female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is performed in every region and, within some cultures, is a requirement for marriage and believed to be an effective method of controlling the sexuality of women and girls. It may have various immediate and/or long-term health consequences, including severe pain, shock, infections and complications during childbirth (affecting both the mother and the child), long-term gynaecological problems such as fistula, psychological effects and death. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund estimate that between 100 million and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to a type of female genital mutilation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In some contexts, children are betrothed or married very young and, in many cases, young girls are forced to marry a man who may be decades older. In 2012, the United Nations Children's Fund reported that almost 400 million women between 20 and 49 years of age around the world had been married or had entered into a union before reaching 18 years of age. The Committees have therefore been paying particular attention to cases in which girls have been married against their full, free and informed consent, such as when they have been married too young to be physically and psychologically ready for adult life or to make conscious and informed decisions and thus not ready to consent to marriage. Other examples include cases in which guardians have the legal authority to consent to marriage of girls in accordance with customary or statutory law and in which girls are thus married contrary to the right to freely enter into marriage.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage is often accompanied by early and frequent pregnancy and childbirth, resulting in higher than average maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for girls between 15 and 19 years of age, whether married or unmarried, around the world. Infant mortality among the children of very young mothers is higher (sometimes as much as two times higher) than among those of older mothers. In cases of child and/or forced marriage, in particular where the husband is significantly older than the wife, and where girls have limited education, the girls generally have limited decision-making power in relation to their own lives. Child marriage also contributes to higher rates of school dropout, especially among girls, forced exclusion from school and an increased risk of domestic violence, in addition to limiting the enjoyment of the right to freedom of movement.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Polygamy is contrary to the dignity of women and girls and infringes on their human rights and freedoms, including equality and protection within the family. Polygamy varies across, and within, legal and social contexts and its impact includes harm to the health of wives, understood as physical, mental and social well-being, the material harm and deprivation that wives are liable to suffer and emotional and material harm to children, often with serious consequences for their welfare.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Both women and girls find themselves in polygamous unions, with evidence showing that girls are much more likely to be married or betrothed to much older men, increasing the risk of violence and violations of their rights. The coexistence of statutory laws with religious, personal status and traditional customary laws and practices often contributes to the persistence of the practice. In some States parties, however, polygamy is authorized by civil law. Constitutional and other provisions that protect the right to culture and religion have also at times been used to justify laws and practices that allow for polygamous unions.
- 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
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Crimes committed in the name of so-called honour are acts of violence that are disproportionately, although not exclusively, committed against girls and women because family members consider that some suspected, perceived or actual behaviour will bring dishonour to the family or community. Such forms of behaviour include entering into sexual relations before marriage, refusing to agree to an arranged marriage, entering into a marriage without parental consent, committing adultery, seeking divorce, dressing in a way that is viewed as unacceptable to the community, working outside the home or generally failing to conform to stereotyped gender roles. Crimes in the name of so-called honour may also be committed against girls and women because they have been victims of sexual violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Victims seeking justice for violations of their rights as a result of harmful practices often face stigmatization, a risk of revictimization, harassment and possible retribution. Steps must therefore be taken to ensure that the rights of girls and women are protected throughout the legal process, in accordance with articles 2 (c) and 15 (2) and (3) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and that children are enabled to effectively engage in court proceedings as part of their right to be heard under article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 18f
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to the good quality of justice systems, the Committee recommends that States parties:] When necessary to protect women's privacy, safety and other human rights, ensure that, in a manner consistent with due process and fair proceedings, legal proceedings can be held privately in whole or in part or that testimony can be given remotely or using communications equipment, such that only the parties concerned are able to gain access to their content. The use of pseudonyms or other measures to protect the identities of such women during all stages of the judicial process should be permitted. States parties should guarantee the possibility of taking measures to protect the privacy and image of victims through the prohibition of image capturing and broadcasting in cases where doing so may violate the dignity, emotional condition and security of girls and women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- There is a clear correlation between the low educational attainment of girls and women and the prevalence of harmful practices. States parties to the Conventions have obligations to ensure the universal right to high-quality education and to create an enabling environment that allows girls and women to become agents of change (Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 28-29; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 10). This entails providing universal, free and compulsory primary school enrolment and ensuring regular attendance, discouraging dropping out, eliminating existing gender disparities and supporting access for the most marginalized girls, including those living in remote and rural communities. In implementing the obligations, consideration should be given to making schools and their surroundings safe, friendly to girls and conducive to their optimal performance.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The completion of primary and secondary education provides girls with short-term and long-term benefits by contributing to the prevention of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy and lower rates of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity, preparing women and girls to better claim their right to freedom from violence and increasing their opportunities for effective participation in all spheres of life. The Committees have consistently encouraged States parties to take measures to boost enrolment and retention in secondary education, including by ensuring that pupils complete primary school, abolishing school fees for both primary and secondary education, promoting equitable access to secondary education, including technical-vocational educational opportunities and giving consideration to making secondary education compulsory. The right of adolescent girls to continue their studies, during and after pregnancy, can be guaranteed through non-discriminatory return policies.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 39a
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should safeguard the right of rural women and girls to adequate health care, and ensure:] That high-quality health-care services and facilities are physically accessible to and affordable for rural women, including older women, heads of household and women with disabilities (provided free of charge when necessary), culturally acceptable to them and staffed with trained medical personnel. Services should provide: primary health care, including family planning; access to contraception, including emergency contraception, and to safe abortion and high-quality post-abortion care, regardless of whether abortion is legal; prenatal, perinatal, postnatal and obstetric services; HIV prevention and treatment services, including emergency intervention following rape; mental health services; counselling on nutrition, the feeding of infants and young children; mammography and other gynaecological examinations services; the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases, such as cancer; access to essential medicines, including pain relief; and palliative care;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- States parties should take steps to prevent and prohibit child and/or forced marriage among rural women and girls, including through the reform and enforcement of laws prohibiting such practices in rural areas, media campaigns, particularly aimed at raising the awareness of men, the provision of school-based prevention programmes, including comprehensive age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, as well as the provision of social and health services for rural married girls and girls at risk of child and/or forced marriage. In addition, States parties should discourage and prohibit the practice of polygamy, which may be more common in rural areas.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Childhood, and early adolescence at the latest, are entry points for assisting both girls and boys and supporting them to change gender-based attitudes and adopt more positive roles and forms of behaviour in the home, at school and in wider society. This means facilitating discussions with them on social norms, attitudes and expectations that are associated with traditional femininity and masculinity and sex- and gender-linked stereotypical roles and working in partnership with them to support personal and social change aimed at eliminating gender inequality and promoting the importance of valuing education, especially girls' education, in the effort to eliminate harmful practices that specifically affect pre-adolescent and adolescent girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- States parties should adopt measures to promote gender equality in the ICT sector and improve the access of rural women and girls to ICT, as well as develop or expand initiatives to increase their ICT skills, for example, through the development of village-based or community-based knowledge centres. States parties should also explore public awareness-raising and training through mobile phone technology, which has the potential to reach rural women and girls.
- 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. 43c
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Awareness-raising is implemented to change negative attitudes in rural areas towards girls' education and incentives are provided to support rural girls and their parents in offsetting the direct and indirect costs of education, including through scholarships and financial support, loans and cash transfers, and transportation;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 25a
- 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:] Raise the awareness of rural women and men, girls and boys, as well as local, religious and community leaders, about the rights of rural women and girls, with the aim of eliminating discriminatory social attitudes and practices, in particular those that condone gender-based violence;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 25b
- 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:] Take effective measures aimed at preventing, investigating, prosecuting and punishing acts of violence against rural women and girls, including migrant rural women and girls, whether perpetrated by the State, non-State actors or private persons;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Trafficking may also occur when third-party countries seek to restrict migrant influxes out of conflict-affected areas through measures such as interdiction, expulsion or detention. Restrictive, sex-specific or discriminatory migration policies that limit opportunities for women and girls fleeing from conflict zones may heighten their vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The general recommendation covers the application of the Convention to conflict prevention, international and non-international armed conflicts, situations of foreign occupation and other forms of occupation and the post-conflict phase. In addition, the recommendation covers other situations of concern, such as internal disturbances, protracted and low-intensity civil strife, political strife, ethnic and communal violence, states of emergency and suppression of mass uprisings, war against terrorism and organized crime, which may not necessarily be classified as armed conflict under international humanitarian law and which result in serious violations of women's rights and are of particular concern to the Committee. For the purpose of the present general recommendation, the phases of conflict and post-conflict have at times been divided, given that they can encompass different challenges and opportunities with regard to addressing the human rights of women and girls. The Committee notes, however, that the transition from conflict to post-conflict is often not linear and can involve cessations of conflict and then slippages back into conflict, a cycle that can continue for long periods.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 41c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Adopt a comprehensive gender-sensitive and rights-based migration policy that ensures that women and girls coming from conflict-affected areas are not subject to trafficking;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 81c
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Ensure that support for reconciliation processes does not result in blanket amnesties for any human rights violations, especially sexual violence against women and girls, and that such processes reinforce efforts to combat impunity for such crimes;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child consistently note that harmful practices are deeply rooted in social attitudes according to which women and girls are regarded as inferior to men and boys based on stereotyped roles. They also highlight the gender dimension of violence and indicate that sex- and gender-based attitudes and stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination perpetuate the widespread existence of practices that often involve violence or coercion. It is also important to recall that the Committees are concerned that the practices are also used to justify gender-based violence as a form of "protection" or control of women and children in the home or community, at school or in other educational settings and institutions and in wider society. Moreover, the Committees draw States parties' attention to the fact that sex- and gender-based discrimination intersects with other factors that affect women and girls, in particular those who belong to, or are perceived as belonging to, disadvantaged groups, and who are therefore at a higher risk of becoming victims of harmful practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- At the end of conflict, women face particular challenges as female ex combatants and women and girls associated with armed groups as messengers, cooks, medics, caregivers, forced labourers and wives. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, given the traditionally male structure of armed groups, often do not respond to the distinct needs of women and girls, fail to consult them and also exclude them. It is not uncommon for female ex-combatants to be excluded from disarmament, demobilization and reintegration lists. Such programmes also fail to recognize the status of girls associated with armed groups by characterizing them as dependants rather than abductees, or by excluding those who did not have visible combatant roles. Many female combatants suffer gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence, resulting in children born of rape, high levels of sexually transmitted diseases, rejection or stigmatization by families and other trauma. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address their experiences and the psychological trauma that they have undergone. Consequently, they are unable to reintegrate into family and community life successfully.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43j
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] On-the-job training is tailored and targeted to rural women's professional needs, and rural women have equal access to technical and vocational education and skills training, such as on sustainable farming practices, animal health and improved husbandry.
- 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. 81
- Paragraph text
- The rights of rural women and girls to water and sanitation are not only essential rights in themselves but also key to the realization of a wide range of other rights, including rights to health, food, education and participation.
- 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
Discrimination against Roma 2000, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends that the States parties to the Convention, taking into account their specific situations, adopt for the benefit of members of the Roma communities, inter alia, all or part of the following measures, as appropriate.] To support the inclusion in the school system of all children of Roma origin and to act to reduce drop out rates, in particular among Roma girls, and, for these purposes, to cooperate actively with Roma parents, associations and local communities.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Discrimination against Roma 2000, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends that the States parties to the Convention, taking into account their specific situations, adopt for the benefit of members of the Roma communities, inter alia, all or part of the following measures, as appropriate.] To ensure that their programmes, projects and campaigns in the field of education take into account the disadvantaged situation of Roma girls and women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Racial discrimination against people of African descent 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- [Formulates the following recommendations addressed to States parties:] Undertake initiatives specifically aimed at protecting the special rights of the girl child and the rights of boys in vulnerable situations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention (Descent) 2002, para. (ss)
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends that the States parties, as appropriate for their particular circumstances, adopt some or all of the following measures:] Reduce school drop-out rates for children of all communities, in particular for children of affected communities, with special attention to the situation of girls;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2002
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- There is strong evidence to show that women and girls with disabilities face barriers in most areas of life. These barriers create situations of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities, particularly, with regard to equal access to education, access to economic opportunities, access to social interaction, access to justice and equal recognition before the law , the ability to participate politically, and the ability to exercise control over their own lives across a range of contexts, for example: with regard to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health; and where and with whom they wish to live.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Gender equality is central to human rights. Equality is a fundamental human rights principle that is inherently relative and context specific. Ensuring the human rights of women requires, firstly, a comprehensive understanding of the social structures and power relations that frame laws and policies as well as the economy, social dynamics, family and community life, and cultural beliefs. Gender stereotypes can also limit women's capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives and life plans. Both hostile/negative or seemingly benign stereotypes can be harmful. There is a recognized need to address harmful gender stereotypes in order to promote gender equality . The Convention equally enshrines an obligation to combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- This general comment reflects an interpretation of article 6 which is premised on the general principles of the Convention, as outlined in article 3, namely, respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy - including the freedom to make one's own choices -, and independence of persons; non-discrimination; full and effective participation and inclusion in society; respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity; equality of opportunity; accessibility; equality between men and women; and respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 paragraph 1 recognizes that women with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and requires that States parties take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by women with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Convention references multiple discrimination in article 5 paragraph 2 which not only requires States parties to prohibit any kind of discrimination based on disability, but also to protect against discrimination on other grounds . Jurisprudence by the CRPD Committee has included measures to address multiple and intersectional discrimination .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The right to freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse for women with disabilities can be impacted negatively by harmful stereotypes that heighten their risk of experiencing violence. Harmful stereotypes that infantilize women with disabilities, call into question their ability to make judgements, and perceptions of women with disabilities as being asexual, or hypersexual; and erroneous beliefs and myths, heavily influenced by superstition, which increase the risk of sexual violence against women with albinism , all contribute to women with disabilities not exercising their rights as set out in article 16.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The lack of consideration of gender and/or disability aspects in policies relating to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas, prevents women with disabilities from living independently and participating fully in all areas of life on an equal basis with others. This is specially relevant in their access to safe houses, support services and procedures in order to provide effective and meaningful protection from violence, abuse and exploitation or when providing health care, particularly reproductive health care.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a ii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Adopting appropriate laws, policies and actions to ensure the rights of women with disabilities are included in all policies, especially in policies related to women in general, as well as in policies on disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Forced contraception and sterilization can also result in sexual violence without the consequence of pregnancy, especially for women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities and those in psychiatric or other institutions or custody. Therefore, it is particularly important to reaffirm that the legal capacity of women with disabilities should be recognised on an equal basis with others, that women with disabilities have the right to found a family and be provided with appropriate assistance to raise their children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Violations relating to deprivation of liberty disproportionately affect women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and those in institutional settings. Those deprived of their liberty in places such as psychiatric institutions, on the basis of actual or perceived impairment, are subject to higher levels of violence as well as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment , are segreggated and exposed to the risk of sexual violence and trafficking within care and special education institutions . Violence against women with disabilities in institutions includes: involuntary undressing by male staff against the will of the woman concerned; forced psychiatric medication; and overmedication which can reduce the ability to describe and/or remember sexual violence. Perpetrators may act with impunity because they perceive little risk of discovery or punishment as access to judicial remedies is severely restricted, and women with disabilities subjected to such violence are unlikely to be able to access helplines or other forms of support to report such violations.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The right of women with disabilities to choose their place of residence may be adversely affected by cultural norms and patriarchal family values that limit autonomy and oblige them to live in a particular living arrangement. Thus, multiple discrimination can prevent the full and equal enjoyment of the right to live independently in the community. In the case of older persons with disabilities, age and impairment, separately or jointly, can increase their risk of institutionalization . In addition, it has been widely documented that institutionalization may expose persons with disabilities to violence and abuse, with women with disabilities particularly exposed .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- A lack of access to sexuality information for women with disabilities, especially women with intellectual disabilities, deaf and deafblind women, can increase their risk of sexual violence .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- States parties should respect, protect and fulfill each of the essential features of the right to inclusive education: availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability. The obligation to respect requires avoiding measures that hinder the enjoyment of the right, such as legislation excluding certain children with disabilities from education, or denial of accessibility or reasonable accommodation. The obligation to protect requires taking measures that prevent third parties from interfering with the enjoyment of the right, for example, parents refusing to send girls with disabilities to school, or private institutions refusing to enrol persons with disabilities based on their impairment. The obligation to fulfill requires taking measures that enable and assist persons with disabilities to enjoy the right to education, for example, that education institutions are accessible and that education systems are adapted appropriately with resources and services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The Convention sets out that States parties must take "all appropriate measures" to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities. These measures are legislative, educational, administrative, cultural, political, linguistic, and others. Measures are appropriate if they respect the principles of the Convention, including achieving the goal of guaranteeing women with disabilities the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Convention. Measures may be temporary or long term and should overcome de jure and de facto inequality. While special temporary measures such as quotas, might be necessary to overcome structural and systemic multiple discrimination, long term measures such as reforming laws and policies to ensure the equal participation of women with disabilities in all areas of life are essential prerequisites for achieving substantive equality for women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- All measures must ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities. Although development relates to economic growth and eradication of poverty, it is not limited to these fields. While gender and disability-sensitive development in the field of, among others, education, employment, income generation, and relating to combating violence may be appropriate measures to ensure the full economic empowerment of women with disabilities, additional measures are necessary with regard to health, political and cultural and sports participation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subjected to the same harmful practices committed against women without disabilities such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, crimes committed in the name of so called honour, dowry related violence, widowhood practices and accusations of witchcraft . The consequences of harmful practices goes far beyond social exclusion. It reinforces harmful gender stereotypes, perpetuates inequalities and contributes to discrimination against women and girls. They can result in physical, and psychological violence and economic exploitation. Harmful practice based on patriarchal interpretations of culture cannot be evoked to justify violence against women and girls with disabilities. In addition, women and girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of 'virgin testing' and, regarding HIV/AIDS misbeliefs, "virgin rapes" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are not a homogenous group. They include: indigenous women; refugee, migrant, asylum seeker and internally displaced women; women in detention (hospitals, residential institutions, juvenile or correctional facilities and prisons); women living in poverty; women from different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds; women with multiple disabilities and high levels of support; women with albinism; and lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender women, and intersex persons. The diversity of women with disabilities also includes all types of impairments which is understood as physical, psychosocial, intellectual or sensory conditions which may or may not come with functional limitations. Disability is understood as the social effect of the interaction between individual impairment and the social and material environment, as described in article 1.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities, more often than men with disabilities and than the broader population of women, are denied their right to legal capacity. Their rights to maintain control over their reproductive health, including on the basis of free and informed consent , the right to found a family, the right to choose where and with whom to live, the right to physical and mental integrity, the right to own and inherit properties, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit are often violated through patriarchal systems of substituted decision-making.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face barriers to accessing justice including with regard to exploitation, violence and abuse, due to harmful stereotypes, discrimination and lack of procedural and reasonable accommodations, which can lead to their credibility being doubted and their accusations being dismissed . Procedures or enforcement attitudes may intimidate victims or discourage them from pursuing justice. These can include: complicated or degrading reporting procedures; referral of victims to social services rather than legal remedies; dismissive attitudes by police or other enforcement agencies. This can lead to impunity and invisibility of the issue, resulting in violence lasting for extended periods of time . Women with disabilities may also fear reporting violence, exploitation or abuse because they are concerned they may lose their support requirements from caregivers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are more likely to be subjected to forced interventions than other women in general and men with disabilities, and are 'wrongfully justified by theories of incapacity and therapeutic necessity (and) are legitimized under national laws, and may enjoy wide public support as being in the alleged "best interest" of the person concerned' . Forced interventions violate a number of articles of the Convention, namely: the right to equal recognition before the law; freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse; the right to found a family; protecting the integrity of the person; sexual and reproductive health and rights; and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 is a binding non-discrimination and equality provision that unequivocally outlaws discrimination against women with disabilities and promotes equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes. Women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be discriminated against than men and boys with disabilities and the larger population of women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities goes beyond the goal of development in so far as measures must also target the improvement of the situation of women with disabilities throughout their lifespan. It is not enough to recognize women with disabilities in development measures rather, they must also be able to participate in and contribute to society.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- State parties to the Convention have an obligation to respect, to protect and to fulfil the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 and all other substantive provisions in order to guarantee them the enjoyment and exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. These duties imply the undertaking of legal, political, administrative, educational and other measures.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28a
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Violence against women with disabilities (art. 16);
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Harmful gender and/or disability stereotypes such as incapacity and inability, can lead to mothers with disabilities facing legal discrimination. As such, they are significantly overrepresented in child protection proceedings and disproportionately lose contact and custody of their children who are subject to adoption proceedings and/or can be placed in institutions. In addition, husbands can be granted separation and/or divorce on the basis of his wife's psychosocial disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In situations of armed conflict, occupation of territories, natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies women with disabilities are at increased risk of sexual violence and are less likely to be able to have access to recovery and rehabilitation services or access to justice . Women refugees, migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities may also face an increased risk of violence because they are denied the right to access health and justice systems because of their citizenship status.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- International and national laws and policies on disability have historically neglected aspects related to women and girls with disabilities. In turn, laws and policies addressing women have traditionally ignored disability. This invisibility has perpetuated the situation of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities. Women with disabilities are discriminated against on the grounds of gender and/or disability, or other possible grounds.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters disproportionately impact the right to inclusive education. States parties should adopt inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction strategies for comprehensive school safety and security in emergencies, which are sensitive to learners with disabilities. Temporary learning environments in such contexts must ensure the right of persons, and particularly children, with disabilities to education on the basis of equality with others. This includes accessible educational materials, school facilities, counselling, or access to training in local sign language for deaf learners. According to Article 11, and recognizing the heightened risk of sexual violence in such settings, measures must be taken to ensure that learning environments are safe and accessible for women and girls with disabilities. Learners with disabilities must not be denied access to educational establishments on the basis that their evacuation in emergency situations would be impossible, and reasonable accommodation must be provided.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 recognises that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and States parties must adopt measures to ensure the equal enjoyment of their rights. Intersectional discrimination and exclusion pose significant barriers to the realization of the right to education for women and girls with disabilities. States parties must identify and remove these barriers including, inter alia, gender-based violence and lack of value placed on education of women and girls, and put in place specific measures to ensure that their right to education is not impeded by gender and/or disability discrimination, stigma or prejudice. Harmful gender and/or disability stereotypes must be combatted in textbooks and curricula. Education plays a vital role in combating traditional notions of gender that perpetuate patriarchal and paternalistic societal frameworks. States parties must ensure the access and retention of girls and women with disabilities in education and rehabilitation services as instruments for their development, advancement and empowerment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In line with a human rights-based approach, ensuring the empowerment of women with disabilities means promoting their participation in public decision-making. Women and girls with disabilities have historically encountered many barriers to participation in public decision-making. Due to power imbalances and multiple forms of discrimination, they have had fewer opportunities to establish or join organizations that can represent their needs as women and persons with disabilities. States parties should reach out directly to women and girls with disabilities andestablish adequate measures to guarantee that the perspectives of women and girls with disabilities are fully taken into account and that they will not be subjected to any reprisals for expressing their viewpoints and concerns, especially in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence including sexual violence. Finally, States parties must promote the participation of representative organizations of women with disabilities beyond disability-specific consultative bodies and mechanisms .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to respect requires States parties to refrain from interfering with the enjoyment of the rights of women with disabilities. As such, existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women with disabilities must be abolished. Laws that do not allow women with disabilities to marry or choose the number and spacing of their children on an equal basis with others are frequent examples of such discrimination. Further, the duty to respect implies refraining from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with article 6 and other substantive provisions, to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with it .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Certain forms of violence, exploitation or abuse may be considered as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and breaches a number of international human rights treaties. Among these are forced, coerced and otherwise involuntary pregnancy or sterilisation ; as well as any other medical procedure or intervention performed without free and informed consent, including those related to contraception and abortion; the invasive and irreversible surgical practises including psychosurgery, female genital mutilation or surgery or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent; the administration of electroshocks, chemical, physical or mechanical restraints; isolation or seclusion.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The often preferential care and treatment of boys means that violence against girls with disabilities is more prevalent when compared to boys with disabilities or the broader population of girls. Violence against girls with disabilities includes gender-specific neglect, humiliation, concealment, abandonment, abuse, including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, which increases during puberty. Children with disabilities are also disproportionately likely to experience non-registration at birth , which exposes them to exploitation and violence. Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of violence from family members and caregivers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of harmful practices, which are justified by invoking sociocultural and religious customs and values. For example, girls with disabilities are more likely to die through "mercy killings" than boys with disabilities because their families are unwilling or lack the support to raise a girl with an impairment . Other examples of harmful practices include: infanticide , accusations of "spirit possession" and restrictions in feeding and nutrition. In addition, the marriage of girls with disabilities, especially girls with intellectual disabilities, is justified under the pretext of providing future security, care and finance for her. In turn, child marriage contributes to higher rates of school drop-out as well as early and frequent childbirth. The social isolation, segregation and exploitation of girls with disabilities inside the family, includes: exclusion from family activities, prevention from leaving home, forced unpaid housework and being forbidden from attending school.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b v
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Support and promotion of international cooperation and assistance in a manner consistent with all national efforts to eliminate the legal, procedural, practical or social barriers to the full development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities in their communities as well as at the national, regional and global levels and the inclusion of women with disabilities in the design, implementation and monitoring of international cooperation projects and programmes that affect their lives.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Harmful gender and disability stereotypes combine to fuel discriminatory attitudes, policies and practices, such as: the higher valuing of education of boys over girls, educational material perpetuating wrongful gender and disability stereotypes, child marriage of girls with disabilities, gender-based family activities, female caregiver roles, lack of accessible sanitation facilities at schools to ensure hygienic menstrual management. In turn this results in high rates of illiteracy, school failure, uneven daily attendance rates, absenteeism and dropping out of school entirely.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face barriers to accessing health and rehabilitation services; these include but are not limited to: lack of education and information on sexual and reproductive health and rights; physical barriers to gynaecological, obstetric and oncology services; and attitudinal barriers to fertility and hormone treatments. In addition, physical and psychological rehabilitation service provision, including counselling for acts of gender-based violence, may not be accessible, inclusive, age or gender sensitive.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a i
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Repealing discriminatory laws, policies and practices that prevent women with disabilities from enjoying all the rights of the Convention; outlawing gender and disability-based discrimination and its intersectional forms; criminalizing sexual violence against girls and women with disabilities; prohibiting all forms of forced sterilization, forced abortion and non-consensual birth control; prohibiting all forms of forced gender and/or disability related medical treatment and taking all appropriate legislative steps to protect women with disabilities against discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against women and girls with disabilities can take many forms of discrimination: direct or indirect discrimination, discrimination by association, denial of reasonable accommodation, structural and systemic discrimination. Irrespective of the form it takes, the impact of discrimination violates the rights of women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17b
- Paragraph text
- Indirect discrimination means that law, policies or practices appear neutral at face value, but have a disproportionate negative impact on women with disabilities. For example, healthcare facilities may appear neutral, but do not include accessible examination beds for gynaecological screening.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The recommendations of the relevant United Nations bodies dealing with gender equality shall be taken into account by all States parties and applied to women and girls with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Women represent a disproportionate percentage of the world's poor as a consequence of discrimination, leading to a lack of choice and opportunities, especially formal employment income. Poverty is both a compounding factor and the result of multiple discrimination. Older women with disabilities, especially, face many difficulties in accessing adequate housing, they are more likely to be institutionalized and do not have equal access to social protection and poverty reduction programs .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 is a cross-cutting article related to all articles of the Convention to remind States parties to include the rights of women and girls with disabilities in all actions aimed at implementing the Convention. In particular, positive action measures need to be taken in order to ensure that women with disabilities are protected against multiple discrimination and can enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse compared to the broader population of women. Violence may be interpersonal, institutional and/or structural in nature. Institutional and/or structural violence is any form of structural inequality or institutional discrimination that maintains a woman in a subordinate position, whether physical or ideological, with regard to other people within her family , household or community.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination on the basis of disability is defined by the Convention as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation" . Discrimination against women is defined by CEDAW as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, or enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The Convention defines "reasonable accommodation" as 'necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms' requiring that State parties guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds . Recent jurisprudence from the CEDAW Committee has referenced reasonable accommodation with respect to women with disabilities' access to employment . The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is an ex nunc duty, meaning it is enforceable from the moment a person requests it in a given situation in order to enjoy their rights on an equal basis in a particular context. Failure to provide reasonable accommodation for women with disabilities may amount to discrimination under articles 5 and 6 . An example of reasonable accommodation could be a woman with a disability in the workplace requiring an accessible place to breast feed.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Intersectional discrimination recognizes that individuals do not experience discrimination as members of a homogenous group but rather, as individuals with multidimensional layers of identities, statuses and life circumstances. It means acknowledging the lived realities and experiences of heightened disadvantage of individuals caused by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, which requires targeted measures with respect to disaggregated data collection, consultation, policymaking, enforceability of non-discrimination and provision of effective remedies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17a
- Paragraph text
- Direct discrimination occurs when women with disabilities are treated less favourably than another person in a similar situation for a reason related to a prohibited ground. It also includes detrimental acts or omissions on the basis of prohibited grounds where there is no comparable similar situation . For example, direct discrimination occurs when the testimonies of women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities are dismissed from court proceedings because of legal capacity, thus denying them justice and effective remedies as victims of violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination not only in the public, but also in the private sphere, for example, within family relations or by private social service providers. International human rights law has long acknowledged State party responsibility for discrimination perpetrated by private, non-state actors . States parties must adopt legal provisions and procedures which explicitly recognise multiple discrimination to ensure complaints made on the basis of more than one ground of discrimination are considered in the context of the determination of both liability and remedies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The present draft was prepared by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in accordance with rule 47 of its rules of procedure, which states that the Committee may prepare general comments based on the various articles and provisions of the Convention with a view to assisting States parties in fulfilling their reporting obligations, as well as paragraphs 54-57 of its working methods.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28c
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Spheres of discrimination against women with disabilities in other relevant articles.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities may be targeted for economic exploitation because of their impairment, which can in turn expose them to further violence. For example, women with physical or visible impairments can be trafficked into forced begging because it is believed they may have a stronger impact on public sympathy .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28b
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Sexual and reproductive health and rights, including respect for home and the family (art. 25 and 23);
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Healthcare facilities and equipment, including mammogram machines and gynaecological examination beds, are often physically inaccessible for women with disabilities . Safe transport for women with disabilities to attend healthcare facilities or screening programmes may be unavailable, unaffordable or inaccessible.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Health care and social protection would remain unattainable for persons with disabilities without access to the premises where those services are provided. Even if the buildings where the health-care and social protection services are provided are themselves accessible, without accessible transportation, persons with disabilities are unable to travel to the places where the services are being provided. All information and communication pertaining to the provision of health care should be accessible through sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication. It is especially important to take into account the gender dimension of accessibility when providing health care, particularly reproductive health care for women and girls with disabilities, including gynaecological and obstetric services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Gradual changes in law and policy have occurred since the 1980s and the recognition of women with disabilities has increased. Jurisprudence developed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have highlighted concerns that need to be addressed regarding women and girls with disabilities and recommendations to be implemented. At a policy level, various United Nations bodies have started addressing issues facing women with disabilities and a number of regional strategies addressing disability inclusive development include them.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 of the Convention is a response to the lack of recognition of the rights of women and girls with disabilities, who worked hard for its inclusion in the treaty text. It reinforces the non-discriminatory approach of the Convention in its particular application to women and girls and requires that States parties go beyond refraining from discriminatory actions, to adopting measures aiming at the development, advancement and empowerment of women and girls with disabilities and promotes measures to empower them, by recognizing these constituencies as distinct right holders, providing channels for voice and agency, raising their self-confidence and increasing their power and authority to take decisions in all areas affecting their lives. Article 6 serves as an interpretation tool to approach the responsibilities of States parties across the Convention, to promote, protect and fulfill the human rights of women and girls with disabilities, from a human rights-based approach and a development perspective.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Terminology used in this general comment includes: a. ‘Women with disabilities’ refers to all adult women, girls and adolescents. b. Sex and gender: Where sex refers to biological differences and gender refers to the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine. c. Multiple discrimination is a situation where a person can experience discrimination on two or several grounds, in the sense that discrimination is compounded or aggravated . Intersectional discrimination refers to a situation where several grounds operate and interact with each other at the same time in such a way that they are inseparable . Grounds for discrimination include, but are not limited to: age, disability, ethnic, indigenous, national or social origin, gender identity, political or other opinion, race, refugee, migrant or asylum status, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Wrongful stereotyping related to disability and gender are a form of discrimination, which particularly impacts the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the right to a found a family. Harmful stereotypes of women with disabilities include but are not limited to beliefs that they are: asexual, incapable, irrational, lacking control and/or hypersexual. Like all women, women with disabilities have the right to choose the number and spacing of their children, as well as the right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face multiple barriers to the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, equal recognition before the law and access to justice, which are addressed below. In addition to barriers resulting from multiple discrimination on the grounds of gender and disability, some women with disabilities, such as refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, face additional barriers because they are denied access to healthcare. Likewise, women with disabilities may face harmful eugenic stereotypes when it is assumed that women with disabilities give birth to children with disabilities and are thus discouraged or prevented from realizing their right to motherhood .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities may also be denied access to information and communication, including comprehensive sexuality education, based on harmful stereotypes which assume they are asexual and thus that they do not require such information. Information may also not be available in accessible formats. Sexual and reproductive health information includes, but is not limited to information, on the basis of equality with others, about "all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, including maternal health, contraceptives, family planning, sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention, safe abortion and post abortion care, infertility and fertility options, and reproductive cancers" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In practice, the choices of women with disabilities, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are often ignored, their decisions are often substituted by third parties, including legal representatives, service providers, guardians and family members, thus violating their rights under article 12 . All women with disabilities must be able to exercise their legal capacity by taking their own decisions, with support when desired with regard to medical and/or therapeutic treatment, including decisions on: retaining their fertility, reproductive autonomy, their right to choose the number and spacing of children, to consent and accept a statement of fatherhood, and the right to establish relationships. Restricting or removing legal capacity can facilitate forced interventions, such as: sterilisation, abortion, contraception, female genital mutilation, or surgery, or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent and forced detention in institutions .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence against women with disabilities includes rape . Sexual abuse occurs in all scenarios within both state and non-state institutions, within the family or the community . Some women with disabilities, in particular, deaf and deafblind women , and women with intellectual disabilities, may be further at risk of violence and abuse because of their isolation, dependency or oppression.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls, can be disproportionately affected by violence and abuse, including physical and humiliating punishments by educational personnel, for example, the use of restraints and seclusion, and bullying by others in and on route to school. Article 16 requires that States parties take all appropriate measures to protect from and prevent all forms of violence and abuse towards persons with disabilities, including sexual violence. Such measures must be age, gender and disability sensitive. The Committee strongly endorses the recommendations of the CRC, the Human Rights Committee and CESCR that States parties must prohibit all forms of corporal punishment, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in all settings, including schools, and ensure effective sanctions against perpetrators. It encourages schools and other educational centers to involve students, including students with disabilities, in the development of policies, including accessible protection mechanisms, to address disciplinary measures and bullying, including cyberbullying, which is increasingly recognized as a growing feature of the lives of students, particularly children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that contributions from its half day of general discussion on women and girls with disabilities which took place during its 9th session in April 2013, highlighted a range of topics and identified three main subjects of concern with respect to the protection of their human rights: (1) violence, (2) sexual and reproductive health and rights and (3) discrimination. Furthermore, concluding observations issued by this Committee to date on women with disabilities express concern about: the prevalence of multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination against women with disabilities , on account of their gender, disability and other factors which are not sufficiently addressed in legislation and policies ; the right to life , equal recognition before the law , the persistence of violence against women and girls with disabilities , including sexual violence and abuse , forced sterilization , female genital mutilation , sexual and economic exploitation ; institutionalization , the lack of or insufficient participation of women with disabilities in decision-making processes in public and political life ; the lack of inclusion of a gender perspective in disability policies , the lack of a disability rights perspective in gender policies ; and the lack of or insufficient specific measures to promote the education and employment of women with disabilities .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Besides the general barriers which persons with disabilities face when trying to exercise their right to work, women with disabilities also face unique barriers to their equal participation in the workplace, including sexual harrassment and unequal pay and the lack of access to seek redress because of discriminatory attitudes dismissing their claims, as well as physical, information and communication barriers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The voices of women and girls with disabilities have historically been silenced and thus women and girls with disabilities are disproportionately underrepresented in public decision-making. Due to power imbalances and multiple forms of discrimination, they have had fewer opportunities to establish or join organizations that can represent their needs as women, children and persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- In its examination of States parties' reports, the Committee has identified that States parties face a number of consistent challenges to guarantee to women with disabilities the full enjoyment of all their rights without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, in compliance with article 6 and other related articles of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Article 8 calls for measures to raise awareness and challenge stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices regarding persons with disabilities, particularly targeting those affecting women and girls with disabilities and persons with intellectual disabilities and intensive support requirements. These barriers impede both access to, and effective learning within the education system. The Committee notes the practice of some parents of children without disabilities removing their children from inclusive schools, based on lack of awareness and understanding of the nature of disability. States parties must adopt measures to build a culture of diversity, participation and involvement into community life and to highlight inclusive education as a means to achieve a quality education for all students, with and without disabilities, parents, teachers and school administrations, as well as the community and society. States parties must ensure that mechanisms are in place to foster, at all levels of the education system, and among parents and the wider public, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities. Civil society, in particular OPDs, should be involved in all awareness raising activities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17e
- Paragraph text
- Structural or systemic discrimination are hidden or overt patterns of discriminatory institutional behaviour, discriminatory cultural traditions, social norms and/or rules. Harmful gender and disability stereotyping can lead to such discrimination, inextricably linked to a lack of policies, regulation and service provision specifically for women with disabilities. For example, due to stereotyping based on the intersection of gender and disability, women with disabilities may face barriers when reporting violence, such as disbelief and dismissal by police, prosecutors and courts. Likewise, harmful practices are strongly connected to and reinforce socially constructed gender roles and power relations that can reflect negative perceptions of, or discriminatory beliefs regarding women with disabilities, such as the belief that men with HIV/AIDS can be cured by engaging in sexual intercourse with women with disabilities . The lack of awareness training and policies to prevent harmful stereotyping of women with disabilities by public officials, be it teachers, health service providers, police officers, prosecutors, judges,. and the public at large can often lead to individual instances of violations of rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Attitudinal barriers by health care staff and related personnel may result in refusal of access of women with disabilities to healthcare practitioners and/or services, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual impairments, deaf and deafblind women, and women that are still institutionalized .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Acts of violence, exploitation and/or abuse against women with disabilities that violate article 16 includes, but is not limited to: women who aquire a disability as a consequence of violence, physical force; economic coercion; trafficking, deception; misinformation; abandonment; the absence of free and informed consent and legal compulsion; neglect, including the withholding or denying access to medication; removing or controlling communication aids or refusal of assistance to communicate; denying personal mobility and accessibility such as removing or destroying accessibility features such as ramps, or assistive devices such as a white cane or mobility devices such as a wheelchair, refusal of caregivers to assist with daily living such as bathing, menstrual and/or sanitation management, dressing and eating, thus denying the right to live independently and freedom from degrading treatment; denial of food or water, or threat of any of these acts; bullying, verbal abuse and ridicule on the grounds of disability causing fear by intimidation; harming or threatening to harm, removing or killing pets or assistance dogs, or destroying objects; psychological manipulation; and controlling behaviours involving restricting face-to-face or virtual access to family, friends or others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to protect means that States parties have to ensure that the rights of women with disabilities are not infringed upon by third parties. Thus, States parties must take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex and/or impairment by any person, organization or private enterprise. It also includes the duty to exercise due diligence through preventing violence or violations of human rights, protecting victims and witnesses from violations, investigating, prosecuting and punishing those responsible, including private actors, and providing access to redress and reparations where human rights violations occur . For example, promoting the training of professionals in the justice sector to ensure there are effective remedies for women with disabilities who have been subjected to violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to fulfil imposes an ongoing and dynamic duty to adopt and apply the measures needed to secure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities. States parties must adopt a twin track approach through: a) systematically mainstreaming the interests and rights of women and girls with disabilities across all national action plans, strategies and policies concerning women, chilhood and disability as well as in sectoral plans concerning, for example: gender equality, health, violence, education, political participation, employment, access to justice and social protection; and b) targeted and monitored action aimed specifically at women with disabilities. A twin track approach is an essential pre-cursor to reducing inequality with regard to participation and enjoyment of rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a iii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Addressing all barriers that prevent or restrict the participation of women with disabilities and ensuring that women with disabilities as well as the views and opinions of girls with disabilities, through their representative organizations, are included in the design, implementation and monitoring of all programmes which have an impact on their lives; including women with disabilities in all branches and bodies of the national monitoring system.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a iv
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Collecting and analysing data on the situation of women with disabilities in all areas relevant to them in consultation with organizations of women with disabilities with a view to guiding policy planning for the implementation of article 6, and eliminating all forms of discrimination, especially multiple and intersectional discrimination and improving data collection systems for adequate monitoring and evaluation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a v
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Ensuring that all international cooperation is disability and gender sensitive and inclusive, and including data and statistics on women with disabilities in the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, targets and indicators, as well as other international frameworks.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b i
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Repealing any law or policy that restricts women with disabilities from their effective and full participation in political and public life on an equal basis with others, including the right to form and join organizations and networks of women in general, and of women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b iii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Support and promotion of the creation of organizations and networks of women with disabilities and the promotion and support for women with disabilities to take leadership roles in public decision-making bodies at all levels.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17c
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination by association applies where discrimination can occur based on association with a person with a disability. For example often the association is made for women in a caregiver role. For example, a mother of a child with a disability may be discriminated against by a potential employer due to the fear of the employer that she will be a less engaged/available worker because of her child.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 paragraph 2 addresses the development, advancement and empowerment of women. It assumes that women can be ensured the rights designated in the Convention if States parties strive to achieve and promote these goals with appropriate means, and in all of the fields addressed by the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17d
- Paragraph text
- Denial of reasonable accommodation is discrimination if necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments (that do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden) are denied and are needed to ensure women with disabilities enjoy equal exercise of a human right or fundamental freedom . For example, a woman with a disability may be denied reasonable accommodation if she cannot undergo a mammogram at a health centre due to the physical inaccessibility of the built environment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b iv
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: The promotion of specific research on the situation of women with disabilities, in particular research on the impediments to the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities, in all areas related to them; the consideration of women with disabilities in data collection relating to persons with disabilities as well as to the broader population of women; and appropriately targeting policies for the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities, involving women with disabilities and their representative organisations in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of, and training for, data collection and the establishment of consultation mechanisms to better inform the creation of systems for the effective identification and capturing of the diverse lived experiences of women with disabilities for improved public policies and practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph