CRC/C/GC/20 Boys 29. Traditional concepts of masculinity and gender norms linked to violence and dominance can compromise boys’ rights. These include the imposition of harmful initiation rites, exposure to violence, gangs, coercion into militia, extremist groups and trafficking. The denial of their vulnerability to physical and sexual abuse and exploitation also poses pervasive and significant barriers to boys gaining access to sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, and a consequent lack of protective services. 30. The Committee urges States to introduce measures to address such rights violations, and encourages them to challenge negative perceptions of boys, promote positive masculinities, overcome cultural values based on machismo and promote greater recognition of the gender dimension of the abuses they experience. States should also recognize the importance of engaging with boys and men, as well as girls and women, in all measures introduced to achieve gender equality. Adolescents with disabilities 31. The Committee has previously highlighted the widespread prejudice, exclusion, social isolation and discrimination faced by many children with disabilities. 13 Adolescents with disabilities are, in many States, commonly excluded from opportunities available to other adolescents. They can be barred from participating in social, cultural and religious rites of passage. Significant numbers are denied access to secondary or tertiary education or vocational training, and consequent acquisition of the social, educational and economic skills necessary for future employment and freedom from poverty. They are widely denied access to sexual and reproductive health information and services and may be subjected to forced sterilization or contraception, which is in direct violation of their rights and can amount to torture or ill-treatment. 14 Adolescents with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable to physical and sexual violence, as well as child or forced marriage, and are routinely denied access to justice or redress.15 32. States parties should introduce measures to overcome such barriers, guarantee equal respect for the rights of adolescents with disabilities, promote their full inclusion and facilitate effective transitions from adolescence to adulthood, consistent with article 23 of the Convention and the recommendations in general comment No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children with disabilities. Adolescents with disabilities should, in addition, be provided with opportunities for supported decision-making in order to facilitate their active participation in all matters concerning them. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex adolescents 33. Adolescents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex commonly face persecution, including abuse and violence, stigmatization, discrimination, bullying, exclusion from education and training, as well as a lack of family and social support, or access to sexual and reproductive health services and information.16 In extreme cases, they face sexual assault, rape and even death. These experiences have been linked to low selfesteem, higher rates of depression, suicide and homelessness. 17 13 14 15 16 17 See general comment No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children with disabilities, paras. 8-10. See A/HRC/22/53. See A/66/230, paras. 44-49. See statement dated 13 May 2015 by the Committee of the Rights of the Child and other United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, available from www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/ Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15941&LangID=E. Ibid. 9