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Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the common belief that persons with albinism are a bad omen or a curse on their family or on the community, although not, stricto sensu, a witchcraft accusation, does attribute evil qualities to a newborn, with an impact on the mothers and family members in a manner that is strongly analogous to the impact stemming from witchcraft accusations. Consequently, infanticide, abandonment of children with albinism and exclusion of the children and their mothers from community life (either structural expulsion or exclusion from participation) have been reported to the Independent Expert.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- From the sociological and anthropological perspectives, the following definition for witchcraft has been proposed by Marc Augé: witchcraft is "a set of beliefs, structured and shared by a given population that addresses the origin of misfortune, illness and death, and the set of practices for detection, treatment and punishment that corresponds to these beliefs". Often, the diagnostic aspect of witchcraft often pinpoints an individual person as the source of the misfortune within the family, place of employment or community.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Vision for the mandate 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The large number of cases reported by civil society no doubt represents a fraction of the attacks against persons with albinism. The secrecy that often surrounds ritual attacks, the complicity of family members in certain cases, the difficulty in accessing data owing to the fact that most attacks occur in rural environments, as well as the low response to such attacks may serve as hindrances to the reporting and visibility of attacks. Moreover, discrimination against persons with albinism and significant impunity may also have an impact on the reporting of such cases. Impunity was also highlighted by OHCHR, which had received information that persons with albinism faced significant difficulties in having their cases brought to justice. In a similar vein, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children has stated that the human rights violations committed against children with albinism are of the highest severity. Discrimination, harassment and violence, including cases of mutilation and murder, are often met with passivity and rarely reported, as they often take place in remote areas and because such children are perceived as bringing bad luck and being a source of shame to even their own families and communities. Mutilation and murders of children with albinism are mostly met by social silence and indifference.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (2015), para. 150
- Paragraph text
- (h) To ensure that an informal or mediated settlement of cases involving violence against children takes place only when it is in the best interests of the child, and does not involve harmful practices, such as forced marriage, taking into account any power imbalance and the vulnerability of the child or his or her family in consenting to a settlement, with due regard for any future risk to the safety of the child or other children;
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
Paragraph
Torture, ill-treatment and coercion during interviews/ Universal protocol for non-coercive, ethically sound, evidence-based and empirically founded interviewing practices 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- International and regional human rights mechanisms have to date developed an extensive body of jurisprudence on practices that amount to physical or psychological torture or ill-treatment, including but not limited to punching, kicking, beatings, electrocution, forms of suffocation, burns, use of firearms, mock executions, threats of reprisals against relatives, death threats, restraints in very painful conditions, rape, sexual abuse and humiliation, sleep deprivation, prolonged stress positions, prolonged solitary confinement, incommunicado detention, sensory deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures or loud music for prolonged periods, dietary adjustments, blindfolding and hooding during questioning, prolonged questioning sessions, removal of clothing, deprivation of all comfort and religious items and exploitation of phobias during questioning (see A/HRC/13/39/Add.5; A/52/44; CCPR/C/USA/CO/3/Rev.1; CAT/C/USA/CO/2; and CAT/C/KAZ/CO/3). Deplorably, such illegal methods have often been combined with poor conditions of detention - which can alone amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in themselves - to exert additional psychological pressure on detainees to reveal information. The Special Rapporteur recalls that the physical environment and conditions during questioning must be adequate, humane and free from intimidation, so as not to run afoul of the prohibition of torture or ill-treatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to mental health 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Special attention should be paid to women, who suffer disproportionately from mental health practices that are based on paternalistic and patriarchal traditions, inappropriate and harmful gender stereotypes, medicalization of women’s feelings and behaviour, and coercion. Women who have suffered from violence and inequalities within their families, communities and societies, and who have mental health conditions very often face situations in mental health settings that amount to violence, coercion, humiliation and disrespect for their dignity. It is unacceptable that after suffering from violations in family and other settings, women suffer from violations again within services that are supposed to promote their mental health. In that regard, it is very important to emphasize that violations of sexual and reproductive health rights have a direct, negative impact on the mental health of women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom of expression 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In India, members of the Adolescent Girls' Clubs against Child Marriage network help to persuade families not to marry their daughters off at a young age by educating people about the harmful consequences of early marriage. They offer a lifeline not only to girls who want to resist family pressure, but also to parents afraid that going against gender-based expectations will leave their daughters ostracized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals 2009, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Urges Governments, in order to ensure the contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, to, inter alia, protect and promote the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms regardless of age and marital status, including by eliminating all forms of discrimination against girls and women, working more effectively to achieve equality between women and men in all areas of family responsibility and in sexual and reproductive life, empowering women and girls, promoting and protecting women's and girls' right to education at all levels, providing young people with comprehensive education on human sexuality, on sexual and reproductive health, on gender equality and on how to deal positively and responsibly with their sexuality, enacting and enforcing laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses, ensuring the right of women 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, combating all forms of violence against women, including harmful traditional and customary practices such as female genital mutilation, developing strategies to eliminate gender stereotypes in all spheres of life and achieving gender equality in political life and decision-making, which would contribute to the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals;
- Body
- Commission on Population and Development
- Document type
- Resolution
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2009
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96c
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Governments should increase awareness of the need to bring the number of approvals of prospective adoptive parents into line with the projected number of adoptees, adopt stricter criteria for approval and provide more complete information, including on mechanisms available to report and denounce illicit practices, and better counselling and compulsory preparation for prospective adoptive parents by receiving countries;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- In all cases of systemic illegal adoptions, States must ensure redress for victims through remedies that include reparation for victims and support to adoptees in their search for their origins. The experiences of adoptees trying to establish the truth behind their "abandonment" and illegal adoption are telling, as are the obstacles they encounter and the good practices of competent authorities. Gradually, efforts are being made to facilitate the search process. For example, an adoption manual has been developed by the adoption service and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea, containing information on the steps to be taken searching one's birth family. The search for truth and origins is one of the main issues addressed by associations of intercountry adoptees. Such initiatives are still rare, however.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The fact that intercountry adoptions are mediated by private agencies means that they too can enable illegal practices. This is particularly true in respect of private agencies that are not authorized to work as adoption accredited bodies. Such agencies usually finance their operations by charging fees to prospective adoptive parents. As those fees will not be forthcoming unless the agency secures children for adoption, some agencies employ methods or accept conditions that encourage the commission of illegal acts and illicit practices. In some instances, the demand for adoptable children creates an unhealthy competition among agencies. Adoption agencies often claim that they lack knowledge of illicit practices or that they lack control over intermediaries in countries of origin. However, the financial gain behind the illicit practices, which is often linked to money-laundering, often puts such claims into question.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- International commercial surrogacy is a growing phenomenon quickly overtaking the number of intercountry adoptions. The international regulatory vacuum that persists in relation to international commercial surrogacy arrangements leaves children born through this method vulnerable to breaches of their rights, and the practice often amounts to the sale of children and may lead to illegal adoption. Indeed, several countries do not recognize such arrangements and, in order to establish a parent-child relationship, national laws often require parents to legally adopt the child born through international commercial surrogacy. However, if the international commercial surrogacy arrangement is found to amount to the sale of a child, the adoption too will consequently be illegal under international standards. Such a situation underscores the need for States to ensure that they are not inadvertently legitimizing the sale of children born through international commercial surrogacy by granting adoption orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In several instances loopholes have been used to conduct private and independent intercountry adoptions, which are prohibited by the 1993 Hague Convention, as the absence of oversight seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the process. Prospective adoptive parents have, for example, resided temporarily in countries of origin long enough to be able to conclude a domestic adoption and then brought the adopted child back to their country, thus bypassing the intercountry adoption process. Similarly, in Uganda foreign parents have been granted legal guardianship of children and taken them abroad where they then concluded a domestic adoption in the receiving country. The conversion of a kafalah guardianship arrangement into a domestic adoption, once the child has been brought back to the receiving country, has also been used to circumvent intercountry adoption procedures under the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Intercountry adoptions have been fuelled by a demand from prospective adoptive parents in higher-income countries for children from lower-income countries. That demand has put major pressure on countries of origin with weak child protection systems and often led to illegal acts and illicit practices that have resulted in the sale of children and illegal intercountry adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- In several countries, private and independent adoptions occur legally, in parallel to State adoptions. Because of their private nature and the absence of monitoring, private adoption procedures are quicker than public ones and are thus often favoured by prospective parents. Improper financial transactions have become inherent to private and independent adoptions and have resulted in the development of an adoption market.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In addition, in respect to intercountry adoptions, article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes the principle of subsidiarity and the prohibition of improper financial gain for those involved in the adoption process. It also establishes that the same level of safeguards and standards for domestic adoptions apply in the context of intercountry adoptions. Regarding the principle of subsidiarity, article 21 states that intercountry adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child's care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child's country of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- There has been progress on these issues in Malawi, including the adoption in 2015 of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 years; the Government's commitment, in November 2016, to align the Constitution with that legislation and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and the crucial role played by traditional leaders in mobilizing their communities to prevent the early and forced marriage of girls and to ensure their return to school to pursue their education.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Developed by the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, the Model Law has the potential to inform action to end child marriage. This is an area where incremental progress is being achieved, for example with recent legislative developments in the Gambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. In 2015, Malawi adopted the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. The social mobilization around that process and the important partnership developed with traditional leaders helped to raise awareness of the new law and achieve important results, including a landmark initiative led by a female traditional chief that resulted in the initial annulment of 330 child marriages in a single district and since then has broken up 850 child marriages and banned the sexual initiation of girls.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The vast majority of young people who generate or receive sexts would not tell an adult about it; parents and teachers are considered the last resort for seeking help. While most sexting images are self-generated and distributed on a mobile device, the images move easily from the mobile platform onto social networks, which can result in cyberbullying and online abuse on those platforms.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- This is an area where much has already been achieved. In Malawi, for example, the parliament adopted in 2015 the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 years of age. The social mobilization around this process and the important partnership developed with traditional leaders helped to raise awareness of the new law and achieve important results, including a landmark initiative led by a female traditional chief that led to the annulment of 330 child marriages in a single district.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Differently from previous generations, today's children tend to shift easily between "real" and "virtual" worlds and regard the online/offline distinction as ever less relevant. At the same time, ICTs are contributing to the deconstruction of traditional boundaries of privacy, creating situations in which children engage in "chat" or "conversation" in apparently private settings while in fact potentially exposing themselves to a wide and unknown audience. Sharing personal information, and failing to identify online dangers or warning signals that can serve to protect children in the physical world - including physical and behavioural cues, and the appraisal of friends, parents or caregivers which are largely absent online - may lead to multiple risks to children's protection. The consequences of online and offline abuse can be devastating and they are also similar. In both cases they lead to depression, fear, eating and sleeping disorders, aggression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and a sense of shame and guilt.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 41a
- Paragraph text
- [In some countries, important legislative initiatives have addressed violence against children with albinism and those accused of witchcraft, criminalizing harmful practices and issuing protective measures to secure children's safety and protection. Legislation is, however, insufficient to change superstition and deeply rooted beliefs. To ensure the protection of these children, the Special Representative has called for a comprehensive strategy highlighting, the following measures:] Supporting the protective role of the family. Parents and members of the extended family play a central role in the care and protection of children and need to be sensitized and supported in their child-rearing responsibilities. To address the social and economic drivers of violence against children with albinism or accused of witchcraft, it is critical to provide basic social services of quality to families concerned, to promote child development, well-being and effective protection, and to prevent children's exposure to harm.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Misfortune and unexpected bad luck, sudden and incurable disease, or death often fuel the belief in witchcraft and the stigmatization of marginalized children. Traditional healers and local leaders may condone witchcraft accusations; and uninformed families may seek assistance to exorcise the child's "evil" spirits. Rituals are surrounded by secrecy and, by fear and superstition, remain hidden and concealed.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In some cases this phenomenon may be veiled in a "culturally acceptable" practice through, for instance, child marriage. In countries where early marriage is still a common practice, money can be offered to families to marry young girls, despite the marriage only lasting for the length of the stay. Visitors may also take the minor back to their country, where the child will be subjected to continual sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Many communities believe that girls should marry and can never divorce because of cultural, religious and financial factors, among others. Consequently, families and communities resist change. In addition, there is an overwhelming belief that events within a family are private and should not be subject to outside interference. A wife who runs away is not permitted to return to her family and, if she does, she will be stigmatized for having left her husband, no matter how abusive the marriage. In some societies, it is believed that the husband has every right to discipline his wife and that there should be no interference in marital matters. The female spouse is often made to feel as thought she is at fault and must learn to be a better wife (i.e. more subservient).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- If a woman refuses marriage, she can be subject to character assassination or kidnapping by the man or his family to force her into marriage or to rape her. Bride kidnapping, a practice by which a bride is forcefully abducted and married, sometimes occurs in Kyrgyzstan and is often accompanied by physical and sexual violence (CEDAW/C/KGZ/CO/3, paras. 21 and 22). In many cases, girls and women endure years of constant abuse that sometimes leads to death at the hands of their relatives, their husbands or their husbands' families. Girls and women are also encouraged or forced by their husbands or their husbands' families to commit suicide.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Other forms of ritual slavery in which a girl is given to a shrine and married to the gods are practised in parts of West Africa. The girl is enslaved to atone for the real or alleged sins of a male relative. There is a belief that gods often punish a person's sin by causing the deaths of family members until the sin is pardoned. Until the early eighteenth century, livestock or other gifts were given to the priests in atonement. As girls could be used as domestic help and as sexual partners, priests began taking young virgins as reparation instead. A girl is expected to serve a priest for a certain period, depending upon the severity of the crime and the policy of the shrine. The girl's family can redeem her after that period, but the priest demands a high price. If the priest dies, the girl becomes the property of his successor. If the girl dies without her family redeeming her, her family is obligated to replace her with another virgin, meaning that the cycle can continue for generations. Enslaved girls and women are forced to live in inhumane conditions. They are expected to work in the fields and the local market and also provide sexual services to the priests. They are beaten into submission if they resist (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 42).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- As a result of cultural beliefs, girls and women with dual nationality are sometimes abducted by their families from one country and forced to marry men from their parents' country of origin. This has happened in the United Kingdom to women from Asian diaspora communities. The Governments involved have worked through consular assistance and judicial proceedings to provide victims with effective remedies. In 2005, the United Kingdom set up a forced marriage unit under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office to tackle the issue.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Family status depends on honour. In patriarchal and patrilineal societies, maintaining the honour of the family is a woman's responsibility. The concept of women as commodities and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights equal to those of men is deeply embedded in these societies. Women are seen as the property of men and must be obedient and passive, rather than assertive and active. Any assertive behaviour is considered to be an element that would result in an imbalance of power relations within the parameters of the family unit (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 27). UNICEF reports that in some countries, early marriages are regarded by families as a means of protecting girls from premarital sex that would undermine their honour and that of their families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- In some communities, honour is connected with virtue, good works, righteous behaviour and obligations to one's parents, older persons and the community. Honour-related killings have often been associated with religious beliefs. These, however, are traditional or cultural practices. Among some Asian tribes, honour (or izzat) is associated with the female body and therefore women and girls must be guarded, protected and passed on to another member of the tribe. A girl or woman dishonours her family and tribe if her body is violated, even by force, and the shame can be cleansed only through her death.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph