Plan International - Girls' Rights Platform - Girls' rights are human rights: Positioning girls at the heart of the international agenda

Under paragraph 16 (d) of Human Rights Council resolution 32/11, the mandate holder is tasked with giving special consideration to the human rights of internally displaced women and children, and of other groups with special needs, such as older persons, persons with disabilities and severely traumatized individuals, and to their particular assistance, protection and development needs. The Special Rapporteur will therefore dedicate a thematic report to the needs and protection issues facing internally displaced children, with a view to bringing renewed attention to their plight and in order to seek innovative approaches, concrete actions, and new commitments to their protection in displacement-affected countries.

The Special Rapporteur commends the SkillsFuture credit, launched in Singapore to promote lifelong learning. Given to every Singaporean aged 25 years and older, it covers nearly 2.5 million citizens in the country. The first credit amounts to $500, with the proviso that the Government will top it up at regular intervals in future. The credit can be used for a wide range of courses. Already, there are 10,000 courses, in areas ranging from basic computing to web design, digital animation, human resources management, finance, health care and languages. The courses are provided at publicly funded tertiary institutions, as well as by private providers. The Government will provide employers with subsidies of 70 to 90 per cent when they train their employees. The credit is provided on top of SkillsFuture study awards in various fields. For example, for all Singaporeans aged 40 years and older, 90 per cent of the costs of their courses will be funded.

The Special Rapporteur recalls that the normative bases of lifelong learning exist in international human rights treaties. The Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) lays down the obligation of States with regard to continuing education. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted in 1966, includes similar provisions. According to article 13 (2) (d) of the Covenant, individuals "who have not received or completed the whole period of their primary education" have a right to fundamental education, or basic education as defined in the World Declaration on Education for All (1990). The enjoyment of the right to fundamental education is not limited by age or gender; it extends to children, young people and adults, including older persons. Fundamental education, therefore, is an integral component of adult education and lifelong learning. Because fundamental education is a right of all age groups, curricula and delivery systems suitable for students of all ages must be devised.

Internally displaced persons must have a greater say and role in shaping the nature of assistance and support that they receive and the solutions targeted at them. The Special Rapporteur has found that the common message from internally displaced persons is that they are deprived of their dignity, have little hope and feel that nobody is listening to them, let alone consulting them. Meaningful consultation and participation of internally displaced persons guarantee the durability and legitimacy of solutions and help to re-establish dignity and hope. The voices and views of displaced women, older persons, youth and those with disabilities for example, must be given equal weight to ensure that solutions are appropriate and meet the needs of all.

Recognition of internally displaced persons as holders of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights is crucial. A human rights-based approach to internal displacement and humanitarian and development assistance to such persons requires assessments of their human rights on the basis of information that goes beyond basic displacement statistics and recognizes the unique circumstances, challenges and requirements of each individual, including women, older persons, persons with disabilities, minorities and others. It also requires a deeper level of engagement and consultation with internally displaced persons, allowing a more detailed understanding of needs, concerns and intentions and demonstrating respect for the human agency of those persons, as partners in a process of achieving solutions, rather than passive beneficiaries.

Consultation, participation and information provision activities must engage widely with internally displaced persons, including women and female heads of households, young people, older persons and persons with disabilities. In-depth assessments, profiling and consultations help to reveal vulnerabilities, capacities and obstacles, essential to providing appropriate responses and durable solutions. Gathering data on those outside of camps has also proven extremely difficult, and there is a need to find creative solutions to ensure that they do not fall through protection and support nets. The Special Rapporteur's report on the issue to the Human Rights Council in 2012 notably focuses on addressing the causes of neglect of internally displaced persons outside camps through data collection.

Particular challenges face some people within internally displaced populations, including older persons, persons with disabilities, unaccompanied minors, or members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender community. Women are made particularly vulnerable by displacement, including to sexual or gender-based violence and other human rights violations, and consequently require specific protection measures. A key protection element is disaggregated data to provide an evidence base to build a profile of internally displaced persons and assess their needs according to their circumstances. Such data is often lacking and this gap reinforces the significance of the work carried out by bodies such as the Joint Internally Displaced Person Profiling Service (JIPS; see www.jips.org/en/home).

[The Special Rapporteur also recommends that States Members of the African Union:] Establish or strengthen the mechanisms promoting the engagement and participation of local authorities, communities, civil society organizations and the private sector in issues relating to internal displacement; community participation should involve those who are most vulnerable; in particular, potentially vulnerable groups, such as women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, should be fully included in disaster prevention, response planning and implementation to ensure that their specific needs are addressed;

Article 9 (2) of the Convention requires States to provide special protection and assistance to internally displaced persons with special needs, including separated and unaccompanied children, female heads of household, expectant mothers, mothers with young children, persons with disabilities and older persons, and to take measures for family tracing and reunification.

Despite these challenges, host communities are often the key to ensuring essential assistance services to IDPs, to the work of humanitarian organizations, and to finding durable solutions. They are most often the "first responders" to a crisis, and may welcome, support and assist IDPs upon their arrival. But as displacement becomes protracted, tensions can often result due to competition over scarce resources, employment opportunities, or from underlying religious, ethnic, cultural or other differences - frequently related to or exacerbated by the conflict causing the displacement in the first place. Without IDP frameworks and institutions in place to respond to the particular context and needs of IDPs living within these communities, these tensions and competition over resources and services will usually have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable IDP groups, such as female-headed households, children and older persons, and leave them exposed to human rights violations, exploitation and poverty.

The Human Rights Council resolution 14/6 extending this mandate, requests the Special Rapporteur to "integrate a gender perspective throughout the work of the mandate, and to give special consideration to the human rights of internally displaced women and children, as well as of other groups with special needs, such as older persons, persons with disabilities and severely traumatized individuals affected by internal displacement, and their particular assistance, protection and development needs". As part of carrying out this aspect of the mandate, a special focus will be given to exploring more specifically the situation of internally displaced women and girls, including in various types of internal displacement situations.

From an age perspective, the Special Rapporteur has found that there is a significant gap with regard to adults, including older adults, who are not generally taken into account in States' public policies. However, recent decades have seen significant changes in adult learning, reflecting the principle of lifelong education. The Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning, adopted under UNESCO auspices in 1997, emphasizes the importance of sexual education for adults and sets out a commitment to "enabling people to exercise their human rights, including reproductive and sexual health rights, and to develop responsible and caring attitudes".

Women have a longer life expectancy and are particularly exposed to neglect and abuse in older age, including in health-care settings, and higher risks of diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. A gender- and age-sensitive approach needs to take into account the specific needs for care and protection of older women, including those widowed, living alone or displaced, those with dementia or other disability, those in need of palliative and geriatric care and those in emergency situations; these women are most at risk of multiple forms of discrimination, violence and poverty.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Adopt a holistic approach towards women's health and safety by looking at their full life cycle from childhood to old age as interconnected phases with distinct considerations and needs, and in this regard: Provide gender- and age-sensitive health-care services for older women, taking cognizance of their heightened health and safety vulnerability;

In addition, problems associated with ageing affect women disproportionally as a result of the cumulative effect of discriminatory practices women face over the course of their lives, as the Working Group described in its report on discrimination against women in economic and social life (A/HRC/26/39). Women are more likely to take care of men and to be left without spousal support. At the same time, they are more likely to suffer economic disadvantages, exacerbated by discriminatory pension systems that fail to produce equal outcomes for women, and to be excluded from social security and health insurance schemes. They are thus at greater risk of living in poverty. The mere recognition of equal rights for all, without distinction, is thus insufficient to ensure in practice the enjoyment by older women of all human rights, including the right to health.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Adopt a holistic approach towards women's health and safety by looking at their full life cycle from childhood to old age as interconnected phases with distinct considerations and needs, and in this regard: Ensure that laws, policies and practices mandate respect for women's autonomy in their decision-making, especially regarding pregnancy, birthing and postnatal care;

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Adopt a holistic approach towards women's health and safety by looking at their full life cycle from childhood to old age as interconnected phases with distinct considerations and needs, and in this regard: Provide adequate nutrition and free services for pregnant and lactating women, as required by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women;

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Provide adequate non-contributory pensions, on an equal basis with men, as a core social and economic right;

Need for care continues for toddlers and older children after the period of parental leave and also exists for the elderly and disabled. Responsibility for this needs to be redistributed through care services. At present, international minimum state obligations for provision of childcare services or for elderly and disabled services are lacking.

Although women at all economic levels, in high-, middle- and low-income countries, suffer from discrimination, they have primary responsibility for the provision of care and are victims of violence. Women are not a homogenous group, and their experience varies greatly between regions, countries, socioeconomic classes within countries and their identities as members of minorities, migrants, girl children, older women, or on account of single parenthood, disabilities or sexual identity, among others.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Ensure that women are not forced into early retirement; that women who have been economically active have access to adequate occupational pensions, including by introducing gender-specific compensatory measures such as accumulation of pension rights during maternity and childcare absences; unisex calculation of benefits; equalizing of mandatory retirement age and mandatory joint annuities.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] States should recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work for children and other disabled or elderly dependents, by including unpaid care work in gross national product; allowing deduction of care expenses for tax purposes; improving the environmental and service infrastructure to reduce private care burdens; and synchronizing school time with working time;

Much remains to be done to end the inappropriate marketing of breast milk substitutes, and countries are encouraged to adopt, amend and strengthen legal measures in line with the International Code and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions. In particular, it is necessary to ensure that national legislation adequately covers substitute products aimed at children older than 12 months.

Girls and women suffer from discrimination in relation to their right to food at all stages in life. In many countries, females receive less food than their male partners, due to a lower social status. In extreme cases, a preference for male children may lead to female infanticide, including by deprivation of food. Some mothers stop breastfeeding girls prematurely in order to try and get pregnant with a male, which could increase risks of infection and other risks if impure water is used with formula. Similar discrimination applies to older women who tend to be less literate than older men, in many parts of the world; this limits women's employability, participation and voice in community development activities and makes them less likely to be able to provide for themselves.

Accessibility refers to both physical and economic access. Physical accessibility means that food should be accessible to all persons, including the physically vulnerable such as children, older persons and persons with a disability; economic accessibility means that food should be affordable without compromising other basic needs such as education, health care or housing.

In its general comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defined the necessary elements required for the right to food (i.e., the possibility either to feed oneself directly from productive land or other natural resources, or to purchase food) as follows: (a) availability; (b) accessibility; and (c) adequacy. Availability relates to the presence of sufficient food on the market to meet population needs. Accessibility refers to both physical and economic access: physical accessibility means that food should be accessible to all persons, including the physically vulnerable, such as children, older persons and persons with a disability; economic accessibility means that food should be affordable without compromising other basic needs, such as education, health care or housing. Adequacy requires that food satisfy dietary needs (factoring in a person's age, living conditions, health, occupation, sex and so on), be safe for human consumption, free of adverse substances, culturally acceptable and nutritious.

A first requirement is breaking the cycle of discrimination against women. This does not mean simply removing discriminatory provisions in the law, particularly as regards access to land or other productive resources, but it also requires that the structural causes of de facto discrimination be addressed. In particular, measures should be taken to relieve women of the burden imposed on them by the duties they assume in the "care" economy, and to improve their economic opportunities by better access to education and employment. Older women are particularly at risk of food insecurity as the cumulative effect of discrimination in accessing employment tends to leave older women with disproportionately lower (or no) incomes and pensions in later life; yet older women are expected to take care of other, more dependent members of the household.

The right to social security, as guaranteed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, includes access to health care; benefits and services to persons without work-related income due to sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age or death of a family member, including contributory or non-contributory pensions for all older persons; family and child support sufficient to cover food, clothing, housing, water and sanitation; survivor and orphan benefits. The Special Rapporteur observes that, in many cases, the specific situation of women is not considered in the design and implementation of programmes. Three examples may serve to illustrate this.

Those data had been gathered from publicly available sources, in particular media articles, and also included details of the perpetrators and the incident, including the date, names, police force jurisdiction, information about children, the recorded motive and the weapon used. Some of the data are verified, emanating from official reports, while other data, from media reports, are unverified. The census records women killed by men under any circumstance, not just intimate partner violence. Data are disaggregated by age, nationality, ethnicity and occupation of both the victim and perpetrator. Information on the health condition of the victim, including whether she was pregnant, and the relationship status with her perpetrator are recorded. This includes whether they were separated and, if so, the time that had elapsed between the actual separation or end of the relationship and the victim's death (from the information analysed, it appears that 53 per cent of intimate partner violence took place within one month of separation), whether the femicide took place in a context of the victim having rejected the perpetrator's advances or was committed in the course of another crime (e.g., high level of killings of older women in the course of burglaries) and any other information that would shed light on the nature of the femicide.

Goal 11, to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, and target 11.2, to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons, and target 11.7, to provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities, are also directly relevant.