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Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- While United Nations human rights instruments, mechanisms and agencies have recognized that the forced sterilization of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination, a form of violence, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the practice is still legal and applied in many countries. Across the globe, many legal systems allow judges, health-care professionals, family members and guardians to consent to sterilization procedures on behalf of persons with disabilities as being in their “best interest”, particularly for girls with disabilities who are under the legal authority of their parents. The practices are often conducted on a purported precautionary basis because of the vulnerability of girls and young women with disabilities to sexual abuse, and under the fallacy that sterilization would enable girls and young women with disabilities who are “deemed unfit for parenthood” to improve their quality of life without the “burden” of a pregnancy. However, sterilization neither protects them against sexual violence or abuse nor removes the State’s obligation to protect them from such abuse. Forced sterilization is an unacceptable practice with lifelong consequences on the physical and mental integrity of girls and young women with disabilities that must be immediately eradicated and criminalized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are also likely to be proposed for marriage in regions and communities where child marriage occurs. Indeed, families are more prone to force girls with disabilities into marriage because they see it as a way to ensure long-term security and protection for their children. In addition, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has strongly condemned the practice of female genital mutilation affecting girls and women with disabilities in a number of countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Girls and young women with disabilities have the same sexual and reproductive health and rights as other girls and young women. However they encounter significant obstacles in exercising and accessing those rights, including stigma and stereotypes, restrictive legislation and a lack of child- and disability-appropriate information and services. Moreover, poverty and/or social exclusion deprive them of the necessary knowledge to develop healthy relationships and increase the risk of sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and harmful practices. Grave human rights violations such as forced sterilization, forced abortion and forced contraception are frequent, and the violence experienced by girls and young women with disabilities remains largely invisible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Girls and young women with disabilities are disproportionately affected by different forms of gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse; bullying; coercion; arbitrary deprivation of liberty; institutionalization; female infanticide; trafficking; neglect; domestic violence; and harmful practices such as child and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, forced sterilization and invasive and irreversible involuntary treatments (see A/HRC/20/5, paras. 12-27). Many of those forms of violence are a consequence of the intersection between disability and gender, and might happen while a girl or young woman with disabilities performs daily hygiene, receives treatment or is overmedicated. Gender-based violence occurs at home, in institutions, in schools, in health centres and in other public and private facilities, and perpetrators are frequently relatives, caregivers and professionals on whom the girl or young woman may depend.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and young women with disabilities 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The forced sterilization of girls and young women with disabilities represents a widespread human rights violation across the globe. Girls and young women with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to forced and involuntary sterilization for different reasons, including eugenics, menstrual management and pregnancy prevention. Women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, as well as those placed in institutions, are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilization. Despite the limited data on current practices, studies show that the sterilization of women and girls with disabilities continues to be prevalent, and up to three times higher than the rate for the general population.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women with disabilities 2012, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are often treated as if they have no control, or should have no control, over their sexual and reproductive choices. They may be forcibly sterilized or forced to terminate wanted pregnancies - under the paternalistic guise of "for their own good". This is done sometimes with the sanction of partners, parents, institutions or guardians. There is a long history of socially and even legally sanctioned forced and non-consensual sterilization of women with disabilities. Despite legal prohibitions in some countries, involuntary sterilization is used to restrict the fertility of some persons with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual disabilities. Sterilization also has been used as a technique for menstrual management.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women with disabilities 2012, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The forced sterilization of women with disabilities remains a global problem. Women with disabilities who elect to have a child are often criticized for their decision and face barriers in accessing adequate health care and other services for themselves and their children. Although society's fear that women with disabilities will produce so-called "defective" children is for the most part groundless, such erroneous concerns have resulted in discrimination against women with disabilities from having children. There is a dichotomy between the notions, on the one hand, that motherhood is expected of all women and, on the other, that women with disabilities are often discouraged, if not forced, to reject motherhood roles, despite their personal desires. Research shows that no group has ever been as severely restricted, or negatively treated, in respect of their reproductive rights, as women with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Certain forms of abuses in health-care settings that may cross a threshold of mistreatment that is tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Some women may experience multiple forms of discrimination on the basis of their sex and other status or identity. Targeting ethnic and racial minorities, women from marginalized communities and women with disabilities for involuntary sterilization because of discriminatory notions that they are "unfit" to bear children is an increasingly global problem. Forced sterilization is an act of violence, a form of social control, and a violation of the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The mandate has asserted that "forced abortions or sterilizations carried out by State officials in accordance with coercive family planning laws or policies may amount to torture".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
8 shown of 8 entities