A/81/133 menopausal transition. 143 Older women serving life sentences suffer particularly from the distress of being unable to connect or reconcile with their families and from the fear of death in prison. 144 J. Minorities, human rights and political leaders 51. Older women defending land rights 145 and democracy may experience persecution, threats and suppression. Those searching for forcibly disappeared relatives, including in Sri Lanka, 146 Argentina or Mexico, 147 may experience reprisals. Older women who are imprisoned for their political activities, such as in Belarus, may be incarcerated in inhumane conditions, cut off from the outside world and without access to healthcare. 148 Those belonging to religious minorities, such as Falun Gong in China 149 or the Baha’i community in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 150 might face violence, arrests and detention as part of the harassment of their communities. VI. Manifestations of violence A. Physical violence 52. Physical violence is multidimensional and not limited to physical injuries. It can include denial of access to food, necessities and healthcare or the removal of older women from their own homes. 151 53. Older women can be subjected to beatings, with injuries being dismissed and mischaracterized as signs of ageing. 152 The experience of abuse can also lead to consequential suicide. 153 Older victims are less likely to be known to police prior to serious harm or femicide, indicating missed opportunities for early intervention. 154 54. Data, such as from Italy, suggest that femicide of older women is frequently justified as stemming from the intention of family members or partners to “put an end to the suffering of the older person”. 155 Women subjected to such killings in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for the most part, had no expressed wish to die and overwhelmingly (78%) were not terminally ill, but disabled, elderly and infirm. 156 In some parts of India, rituals aimed at hastening death by causing hypothermia, renal failure, pneumonia or high fever are performed on older people, often for socioeconomic reasons. 157 __________________ 143 See https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17455057251392754#bibr25 17455057251392754. 144 See https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2190/om.60.1.c?url_ver=Z39.88 2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed . 145 Submission by the Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent. 146 See https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/05/legacy-enforced-disappearances-haunts-sri-lanka. 147 A/HRC/62/49, para. 28. 148 See communication BLR 5/2024. 149 Submission by the Falun Dafa Information Center. 150 Submission by the Baha’i International Community. 151 Submission by Rural Women Assembly. 152 Submission by the Swedish Women Lobby. 153 A/HRC/59/47, paras. 38 and 39. 154 Joint submission by Open University and others. 155 See https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/global_femicide_ meeting_2025/Femicide_meeting_report.pdf. 156 See https://theotherhalf.uk/safeguarding-women-in-assisted-dying. 157 See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6504736/. 14/26 26-09992