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Elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child 2007, para. 14.9.h
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission [...] urges Governments [...] to:] [14.9. Violence and discrimination] (h) Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the root causes of son preference, which results in harmful and unethical practices regarding female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, which may have significant repercussions on society as a whole;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2007
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 42m
- Paragraph text
- [The Commission urges Governments, at all levels [...] to take the following actions:] [Realizing women's and girls' full enjoyment of all human rights]: Eliminate all harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, by reviewing, adopting, enacting and enforcing laws and regulations that prohibit such practices, creating awareness around their harmful health consequences and generating social support for the enforcement of these laws;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Commission welcomes international momentum to address the issue of child, early and forced marriage. The Commission recognizes that child, early and forced marriage is a harmful practice, and notes that its continued prevalence, among other factors, has slowed the achievement of several of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The girl child 1998, para. e
- Paragraph text
- [Actions to be taken by Governments, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and civil society and the United Nations system, as appropriate:] Eliminate traditional and customary practices that constitute son- preference through awareness-raising campaigns and gender training;
- Body
- Commission on the Status of Women
- Document type
- CSW Agreed Conclusions / Declaration
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 1998
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Violations of the obligation to protect occur when a State fails to take effective steps to prevent third parties from undermining the enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. This includes the failure to prohibit and take measures to prevent all forms of violence and coercion committed by private individuals and entities, including domestic violence, rape (including marital rape), sexual assault, abuse and harassment, including during conflict, post-conflict and transition situations; violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons or women seeking abortion or post-abortion care; harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage, forced sterilization, forced abortion and forced pregnancy; and medically unnecessary, irreversible and involuntary surgery and treatment performed on intersex infants or children.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to sexual and reproductive health (Art. 12) 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- It is also important to undertake preventive, promotional and remedial action to shield all individuals from the harmful practices and norms and gender-based violence that deny them their full sexual and reproductive health, such as female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage and domestic and sexual violence, including marital rape, among other things. States parties must put in place laws, policies and programmes to prevent, address and remediate violations of the right of all individuals to autonomous decision-making on matters regarding their sexual and reproductive health, free from violence, coercion and discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The implementation of any holistic strategy necessarily requires the provision of adequate organizational, human, technical and financial resources that are supplemented with appropriate measures and tools, such as regulations, policies, plans and budgets. In addition, States parties are obliged to ensure that an independent monitoring mechanism is in place to track progress in protecting women and children from harmful practices and in realizing their rights.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Given that the requirement to effectively address harmful practices is among the core obligations of States parties under the two Conventions, reservations to the relevant articles, which have the effect of broadly limiting or qualifying the obligations of States parties to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women and children to live free from harmful practices, are incompatible with the object and purpose of the two Conventions and impermissible pursuant to article 28 (2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and article 51 (2) 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Harmful practices are persistent practices and forms of behaviour that are grounded in discrimination on the basis of, among other things, sex, gender and age, in addition to multiple and/or intersecting forms of discrimination that often involve violence and cause physical and/or psychological harm or suffering. The harm that such practices cause to the victims surpasses the immediate physical and mental consequences and often has the purpose or effect of impairing the recognition, enjoyment and exercise of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and children. There is also a negative impact on their dignity, physical, psychosocial and moral integrity and development, participation, health, education and economic and social status. The practices are therefore reflected in the work of both Committees.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The regular and comprehensive collection, analysis, dissemination and use of quantitative and qualitative data are crucial to ensuring effective policies, developing appropriate strategies and formulating actions, as well as evaluating impacts, monitoring progress achieved towards the elimination of harmful practices and identifying re-emerging and emerging harmful practices. The availability of data allows for the examination of trends and enables the establishment of the relevant connections between policies and effective programme implementation by State and non-State actors and the corresponding changes in attitudes, forms of behaviour, practices and prevalence rates. Data disaggregated by sex, age, geographical location, socioeconomic status, education level and other key factors are central to the identification of high-risk and disadvantaged groups of women and children, which will guide policy formulation and action to address harmful practices.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Many States parties have taken steps to decentralize government power through devolution and delegation, but this should not reduce or negate the obligation to enact legislation that prohibits harmful practices and is applicable throughout their jurisdiction. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure that decentralization or devolution does not lead to discrimination with regard to protection of women and children against harmful practices in different regions and cultural zones. Devolved authorities need to be equipped with the human, financial, technical and other resources necessary to effectively enforce legislation that aims to eliminate harmful practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- 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. 16c
- Paragraph text
- [For the purposes of the present joint general recommendation/general comment, practices should meet the following criteria to be regarded as harmful:] They are traditional, re-emerging or emerging practices that are prescribed and/or kept in place by social norms that perpetuate male dominance and inequality of women and children, on the basis of sex, gender, age and other intersecting factors;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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. 40
- Paragraph text
- A key element of any holistic strategy is the development, enactment, implementation and monitoring of relevant legislation. Each State party is under the obligation to send a clear message of condemnation of harmful practices, provide legal protection for victims, enable State and non-State actors to protect women and children at risk, provide appropriate responses and care and ensure the availability of redress and an end to impunity.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Prejudices and weak capacity to address the rights of women and children among judges in customary and religious courts or traditional adjudication mechanisms and the belief that matters falling within the purview of such customary systems should not be subjected to any review or scrutiny by the State or other judicial bodies deny or limit the access to justice of victims of harmful practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- 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. 32
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the other hand, obliges States parties to take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children (art. 24 (3)). In addition, it provides for the right of the child to be protected from all forms of violence, including physical, sexual or psychological violence (art. 19) and requires States parties to ensure that no child is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 37 (a)). It applies the four general principles of the Convention to the issue of harmful practices, namely protection from discrimination (art. 2), ensuring the best interests of the child (art. 3 (1)), upholding the right to life, survival and development (art. 6) and the right of the child to be heard (art. 12).
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Women and children who are victims of harmful practices are in need of immediate support services, including medical, psychological and legal services. Emergency medical services may be the most urgent and obvious, given that some of the harmful practices covered herein involve the infliction of extreme physical violence and medical intervention may be necessary to treat severe harm or prevent death. Victims of female genital mutilation or other harmful practices may also require medical treatment or surgical interventions to address the short-term and long-term physical consequences. The management of pregnancy and childbirth in women or girls who have undergone female genital mutilation must be included in pre-service and in-service training for midwives, doctors and other skilled birth attendants.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Awareness-raising measures should include accurate information from trusted sources about the harm caused by the practices and convincing reasons as to why they should be eliminated. In this respect, the mass media can perform an important function in ensuring new thinking, in particular through access by women and children to information and material aimed at the promotion of their social and moral well-being and physical and mental health, in line with obligations under both Conventions that help to protect them from harmful practices.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women have explicit obligations to discourage and prohibit polygamy because it is contrary to the Convention. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also contends that polygamy has significant ramifications for the economic well-being of women and their children.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Provisions that allow, tolerate or condone forms of gender-based violence against women, including child or forced marriage and other harmful practices, provisions allowing medical procedures to be performed on women with disabilities without their informed consent and provisions that criminalize abortion, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender, women in prostitution and adultery, or any other criminal provisions that affect women disproportionally, including those resulting in the discriminatory application of the death penalty to women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
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
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. 16b
- Paragraph text
- [For the purposes of the present joint general recommendation/general comment, practices should meet the following criteria to be regarded as harmful:] They constitute discrimination against women or children and are harmful insofar as they result in negative consequences for them as individuals or groups, including physical, psychological, economic and social harm and/or violence and limitations on their capacity to participate fully in society or develop and reach their full potential;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- An underlying challenge that must be confronted is the fact that harmful practices may be perceived as having beneficial effects for the victim and members of their family and community. Consequently, there are significant limitations to any approach that targets only individual behavioural change. Instead, there is a need for a broad-based and holistic collective or community-based approach. Culturally sensitive interventions that reinforce human rights and enable practising communities to collectively explore and agree upon alternative ways to fulfil their values and honour or celebrate traditions without causing harm and violating the human rights of women and children can lead to the sustainable and large-scale elimination of the harmful practices and the collective adoption of new social rules. Public manifestations of a collective commitment to alternative practices can help to reinforce their long-term sustainability. In this regard, the active involvement of community leaders is crucial.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
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
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’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
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