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Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- As demonstrated by WHO data, criminalizing termination of pregnancy does not reduce the need for it. Rather, it is likely to increase the number of women seeking clandestine and unsafe solutions. Countries in Northern Europe, where women gained the right to termination of pregnancy in the 1970s or 1980s and are provided with access to information and to all methods of contraception, have the lowest rates of termination of pregnancy. Ultimately, criminalization does grave harm to women's health and human rights by stigmatizing a safe and needed medical procedure. In countries where induced termination of pregnancy is restricted by law and/or otherwise unavailable, safe termination of pregnancy is a privilege of the rich, while women with limited resources have little choice but to resort to unsafe providers and practices. This results in severe discrimination against economically disadvantaged women, which the Working Group has highlighted during its country visits.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Active participation of women rights holders and autonomous women’s organizations in the development, monitoring, assessment and implementation of judicial decisions and public policies is essential to ensuring responsivity and impact.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The integration of gender responsive measures and protection of social welfare systems during economic crises can protect women’s human rights gains and, at the same time, support healthy recovery.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The adoption of parity laws or quotas for women is a good practice to combat the manifold barriers to women’s political participation and to ensure immediate representation of women in political bodies.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Discriminatory laws and practices have contributed to a deplorable global situation with respect to women's health and safety which calls for urgent, immediate and effective actions. According to WHO, an estimated 225 million women are deprived of access to essential modern contraception. Pregnancy and childbirth-related complications resulted in the deaths of almost 300,000 women worldwide in 2013. About 22 million unsafe abortions take place annually and an estimated 47,000 women die from complications resulting from unsafe abortion each year. Breast and cervical cancer remain the leading cancers among women aged 20-59 years, resulting in 1 million deaths, the majority in low- and middle-income countries where screening, prevention and treatment are almost non-existent. Young women bear the brunt of new HIV infections. One in three women under 50 has experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or family member. At least 200 million women and girls have been subjected to female genital mutilation.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Some States that apply religious or customary law to regulate personal status have reinforced the traditional prohibitions on adultery by criminalizing it. Adultery, which is defined as any sexual relation outside marriage, is severely punished and may even result in a sentence of death by stoning in some States that apply Islamic law. The sanctions are generally imposed on the women rather than the men. Interventions by foreign Governments, civil society and special procedures mandate holders have sometimes led to judgements that imposed stoning to be overturned. In some states in the United States of America, adultery between married persons is a crime, but these provisions have not been implemented in the last thirty years. The Working Group issued a statement calling for the decriminalization of adultery and wishes to recall that criminalization of sexual relations between consenting adults is a violation of their right to privacy and an infringement of article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Several States have no secular family code and regulate personal status either by integrating religious laws on the family into constitutional or legislative provisions or by granting religious authorities or religious tribunals jurisdiction over personal status so that they may apply the family codes derived from the sacred texts. Currently, a large number of States that have Islam as their State religion, such as the Islamic and Arab republics, regulate the personal status of all citizens by applying Islamic law from the Koran and the Sunna. Although the notion of the equality of men and women before the law is often incorporated in their constitutions, some States maintain that this equality does not apply in the case of laws on the family and on marital or personal status. Some States that recognize the legal competence of a majority religion in the State also grant non-majority religions jurisdiction over their own communities of faithful, such as Lebanon (Muslim majority), India (Hindu majority) and Israel (Jewish majority).
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in political and public life with a focus on political transition 2013, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Elimination of discrimination against women in political and public life necessitates reform of nationality laws. Women's capacity to participate in political and public life is defined by their citizenship and nationality, but nationality laws often discriminate against women, particularly when they require a single nationality in a family and the wife's nationality is treated as dependent on her husband's. In effect, women lose their nationality upon marriage with a foreign husband, particularly if both countries of the spouses follow the principle of dependent nationality. If the country of the husband does not follow this principle, then the wife is at risk of becoming stateless, denying her the right to legitimately participate in the political and public life of any country. Laws which require women to seek permission from their husbands, or other family members traditionally defined as their guardians, in acquiring passports and other identity documents also potentially undermine women's capacity to equal participation in political and public life, including through limited freedom of movement.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in political and public life with a focus on political transition 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- General recommendation No. 23 (1997) of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women refers to political and public life as encompassing the exercise of legislative, judicial, executive and administrative powers; covering all aspects of public administration and the formulation and implementation of policy at the international, national, regional and local levels; and including civil society, such as public boards and local councils and the activities of organizations such as political parties, trade unions, professional or industry associations, women's organizations, community-based organizations and other organizations concerned with public and political life (para. 5). The Beijing Platform for Action, in its paragraph 182, referred to the scant progress made towards achieving by 1995 the 30 per cent target for women in decision-making positions. Global progress in achieving the goals for women's political representation set by the international community continues to be excruciatingly slow and is far from being met 18 years after the target date.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Annual Report of the WG on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice 2012, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- For legal guarantees of gender equality to benefit all women, implementation frameworks and strategies must be responsive to the intersections of sex-based discrimination with other grounds of discrimination, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, language, political affiliation, health, status, age, class, caste, national or social origin, property, birth, and sexual orientation and gender identity. Legal guarantees and implementation frameworks and strategies must also integrate special measures to reach women who face multiple forms of discrimination, such as rural and indigenous women, women with disabilities, women living in poverty and women facing other forms of marginalization. This requires a comprehensive and coherent human rights-based approach that ensures that women are at the centre of efforts to hold principally States accountable for implementing international standards guaranteeing civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. National, regional and international human rights mechanisms play critical roles in ensuring the full enjoyment by women of their human rights.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- Measures involving groups of women who experience intersectional discrimination, such as indigenous women, must be developed in accordance with an intersectional, gender-sensitive human rights perspective and engage with women as stakeholders.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- Legal frameworks and partnership protocols that formalize the collaboration and participation of citizen or civil society organizations or autonomous women’s rights organizations in developing, monitoring and implementing the law, can help to address power imbalances on the basis of historical discrimination and can lead to meaningful change.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The Working Group considers that the study of the ways and means by which those movements engage with processes of change involving the law merits in-depth consideration. Such investigation will reveal specific ways that States can create an ameliorating environment for and work collaboratively with autonomous women’s movements towards eliminating discrimination against women in law and in practice.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Policies must be implemented in tandem with quotas to mitigate the effects of historical discrimination and to support women’s success and impact in politics, including capacity-building performed in tandem with autonomous women’s organizations as well as regional or international partners.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Good practice requires: (a) the removal of barriers, whether cultural, economic, institutional or religious, preventing women from having an equal opportunity to gain access to positions of power at all levels; (b) the elimination of disempowering stereotypes, misogyny and violence against women in public and private spheres; (c) parity for women in decision-making forums; (d) and gender-sensitive mainstreaming of policymaking processes, including budgeting.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The right to participate in all areas of political and public life is an essential prerequisite for the fulfilment of many other rights. Despite progress in many States, women’s representation in elected office — especially at the senior level, the judiciary, civil service or in entities such as unions, national human rights institutions or international agencies, including the United Nations — falls short of the good practice standard of equal representation.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The living-law approach looks at laws beyond the text of a legislation or judicial decision, including the dynamic processes by which that law comes into being, is implemented meaningfully and contributes to real and sustainable outcomes for women’s de facto enjoyment of human rights. Thus, a living-law approach involves understanding laws in the context of dynamic and sustained processes situated in local social, political, historical and legal realities and in relation to the acts of a diversity of duty and rights holders alike. As such, the living-law approach is inherently grounded in particular contexts and moments in time. This methodology thus requires examining a multitude of ways and means States have used to achieve successful outcomes in terms of fulfilling their obligations regarding women’s human rights, along with a robust consideration of processes and actors in play, including those that overcome and perpetuate barriers to substantive achievement. This exploration process has not focused on identifying or ranking “best practices”, but rather has examined the ways and means through which States can promote substantive equality, recognizing that progress is not always linear and that de facto change requires multiple strategies; effective responses to lessons learned from mistakes made; context-specific interventions; and sustained time and resources.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The law is an essential mechanism for women’s enjoyment of human rights. Law is both informed by and the creator of norms in society. Laws determine the values and operating principles by which actions and behaviours are deemed acceptable, or criminalized and stigmatized, and can have an enabling or chilling effect on women’s human rights.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The present report focuses on good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women in law and practice and women’s empowerment pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 15/23, in which the Council established the mandate of the Working Group, including the collection of best practices in the area of the mandate and the development of a compendium of best practices.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Autonomous access to health care means ensuring a woman's right to make decisions concerning her health, fertility and sexuality free of coercion and violence. Key to this is the notion of choice. The rights to informed consent and confidentiality are crucial to ensuring that women can make decisions freely. These rights impose corresponding duties upon health-care providers, who are bound to disclose information about proposed treatments and alternatives in order to aid informed consent and to respect the right to refuse treatment; likewise, they are bound to maintain confidentiality to allow women to make private decisions without the interference of others whom they have not chosen to consult and who might not have their best interests at heart. Autonomy means that a woman seeking services in relation to her health, fertility or sexuality is entitled to be treated as an individual in her own right, the sole beneficiary of the service provided by the health-care practitioner and fully competent to make decisions concerning her own health. This is a matter of, among other things, a woman's right to equality before the law.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Criminal laws and other punitive regulations have imposed custodial sentences on women involved in prostitution/sex work in a manner that has been shown to harm rather than protect them. The Working Group considers that the criminalization of women in prostitution/sex work places them in a situation of injustice, vulnerability and stigma and is contrary to international human rights law. It notes that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women calls for prohibition of the exploitation of prostitution and not for punishment of the women in prostitution/sex work themselves; the well-established position of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that women should not be criminalized for prostitution; and the stipulation in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol) that efforts should be made to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of women, including trafficking for sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- In many settings, especially where same-sex consensual sexual behaviour is prohibited, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons are deterred from seeking health services out of fear of being arrested and prosecuted. Even in countries where same-sex sexual orientation is not criminalized, lesbians are often discriminated against and mistreated by medical providers, which deters them from seeking health services. In some settings, they are subjected to coercive, inhumane and degrading practices such as "corrective" or punitive rape. Transgender persons are often subjected in law and practice to compulsory medical interventions without being given an opportunity for informed decision-making and choice. Their gender identity is pathologized in many countries and they are often subjected to mental and physical examinations and treatments and forced to undergo "conversion therapies". Transgender persons' biological needs, such as transition-related medical services, screening for cervical cancer, termination of pregnancy and contraception, are often refused by service providers.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Even where they are entitled to emergency health care, women migrant domestic workers are often excluded from preventive reproductive and sexual health services, as well as gynaecological and obstetric care, because of their status and lack of access to insurance or national health schemes.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Women migrants are often at great risk of being subjected by public authorities or private individuals to all manner of violence, exploitation, trafficking and slavery while in transit or in detention. These practices can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or torture.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are disproportionately subject to intimate-partner violence, owing to the mutually reinforcing dynamics of gender and disability.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The Working Group is particularly concerned about the discrimination experienced by women because of their economic status. It has witnessed first-hand during its country visits that women living in poverty are disparately affected in their access to health services, particularly reproductive and sexual health and preventive health care.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In some countries, adolescent girls are deterred from accessing information and services for family planning and termination of pregnancy that are needed to protect their health and safety and prevent unwanted high-risk pregnancies, including the requirement of third party authorization.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against women is also manifest in the unequal provision of health services required by both women and men. This has been especially severe in countries where women have been excluded from receiving medical treatment by male doctors on the grounds of "modesty".
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination is sometimes manifested in humiliating treatment women that may face in facilities that are dedicated exclusively to them, such as birthing facilities where, as repeatedly stressed by United Nations human rights mechanisms and WHO, they are too often subjected to degrading and sometimes violent treatment.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The social, religious and cultural factors that disregard the dignity of girls and women must be tackled to achieve women's right to equality in health and safety.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph