Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 592 entities
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2013, para. 26a
- Paragraph text
- [The consultation highlighted the following issues:] The critical role of legislation, which constitutes a core dimension of States' accountability for the protection of children from violence and makes a decisive contribution to the abandonment of harmful practices against girls and boys by communities concerned;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2012, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The consultation considered significant developments where law reform and enforcement, supported by awareness-raising and a widely participatory social mobilization process, have helped to address deeply rooted social conventions and promote the abandonment of harmful practices against children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In 2011 in Egypt, 20 female prisoners were arrested in a peaceful public protest and 17 were subjected to forced virginity testing in a military prison. It is alleged that the purpose was to humiliate them and deter other women from protesting.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- As noted above, certain cultural norms and beliefs are the causal factors for harmful practices resulting in violence against women. For example, in India the practice of sati, that is, the burning alive of a widow on her husband's pyre, has emerged since the country's independence. To date there have been at least 40 reported cases.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- In India, under section 13 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, magistrates can issue an injunction against any person, including a member of an organization or an association of persons, prohibiting a child marriage where they are convinced that such a marriage has been arranged or is about to be solemnized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Cultural relativism is often given as an excuse for slavery-like violations such as servile marriage and sexual slavery committed against women and girls. Societies that permit servile marriage are based on an overwhelming fear of female sexuality and culturally believe that it should be curtailed and regulated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- It is important to note that the payment of a dowry or bride price does not mean that a woman ends up in a servile marriage. In this context, it is the non-consensual nature of the marriage that is the abuse, not the payment. In some countries, however, a bride price does in fact translate into men feeling that they own their wives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- In the present section, the Special Rapporteur discusses the root causes of servile marriage, which include strengthening family links, preventing unsuitable relationships, protecting perceived cultural and religious ideals, protecting family honour and controlling female behaviour and sexuality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The persistence of such harmful practices recently prompted the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to work on their first joint general comment on harmful traditional practices, which is likely to be finalized in 2013.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95e
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and implement a single, well-recognized process for adoption that includes a holistic assessment of the child's full range of rights, and prohibit private and independent adoptions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Comprehensive prevention strategies against sale and sexual exploitation of children 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- A number of social practices are rooted in discrimination against women. Child marriage is entrenched in social and gender norms that significantly affect the well-being of girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Comprehensive child protection systems 2011, para. 28c
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to prohibition, comprehensive legal frameworks should:] Establish 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys, with a prohibition on the procurement, offering, conducting of or forcing into an under-age marriage;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effective Implementation of the OPSC 2010, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- In some circumstances, early marriage is used as an economic survival strategy by poor families. Girls are given into marriage, often against their will and in exchange for a dowry, in order to settle the family's debts, to acquire land or even to settle disputes between families or clans.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Report of the SR on the right to health and Agenda 2030 2016, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Addressing violence cuts across the Sustainable Development Goals and is critical to the realization of the right to health. The Goals envisage "a world free from fear and violence" and include specific commitments to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres (target 5.2); to eliminate all harmful practices, including child early and forced marriage and genital mutilation (target 5.3); to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere (target 16.1); and to end all forms of violence against and torture of children (target 16.2). The Goals also include a commitment to build capacities to prevent violence (target 16.a). In addition, several other Goals address risk factors linked to violence, including ending poverty (Goal 1), ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being (Goal 3), ensuring quality education (Goal 4), addressing inequalities (Goal 10) and making cities and settlements safe (Goal 11). As recognized in the Goals, reducing and eliminating violence is critical to transforming the world into a peaceful and inclusive global community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- 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
The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence 2011, para. 29g
- Paragraph text
- [Harmful practices. These include, but are not limited to:] Accusations of "witchcraft" and related harmful practices such as "exorcism";
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism are found in a combination of factors. Aspects of these root causes, such as poverty and impunity, have already been identified outside the context of attacks against persons with albinism and efforts to tackle them tend to be under way in countries where such attacks are reported. However, deeply rooted myths and, in particular, witchcraft beliefs and practices pose a major challenge that has yet to be addressed. They are a key factor fuelling attacks, yet they are often riddled with secrecy and are deeply entrenched, historically and culturally. Another difficulty with regard to these root causes is the shortage of best practices on the matter, including tackling the many challenges that arise from the link to the supernatural, which can complicate evidence-gathering in the framework of a legal approach. The phenomenon certainly calls for further study and a creative but balanced approach, to curb or mitigate its negative implications for human rights, while protecting freedom of belief.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside Their Country of Origin 2005, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- When assessing refugee claims of unaccompanied or separated children, States shall take into account the development of, and formative relationship between, international human rights and refugee law, including positions developed by UNHCR in exercising its supervisory functions under the 1951 Refugee Convention. In particular, the refugee definition in that Convention must be interpreted in an age and gender-sensitive manner, taking into account the particular motives for, and forms and manifestations of, persecution experienced by children. Persecution of kin; under-age recruitment; trafficking of children for prostitution; and sexual exploitation or subjection to female genital mutilation, are some of the child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution which may justify the granting of refugee status if such acts are related to one of the 1951 Refugee Convention grounds. States should, therefore, give utmost attention to such child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution as well as gender-based violence in national refugee status-determination procedures.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2005
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women 1992, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In some States there are traditional practices perpetuated by culture and tradition that are harmful to the health of women and children. These practices include dietary restrictions for pregnant women, preference for male children and female circumcision or genital mutilation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 1992
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel and degrading forms of punishment 2006, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The Committee defines "corporal" or "physical" punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Most involves hitting ("smacking", "slapping", "spanking") children, with the hand or with an implement - a whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon, etc. But it can also involve, for example, kicking, shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion (for example, washing children's mouths out with soap or forcing them to swallow hot spices). In the view of the Committee, corporal punishment is invariably degrading. In addition, there are other non-physical forms of punishment that are also cruel and degrading and thus incompatible with the Convention. These include, for example, punishment which belittles, humiliates, denigrates, scapegoats, threatens, scares or ridicules the child.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2006
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Extra-custodial use of force and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Mandate holders have consistently maintained that, conceptually, the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is not confined to acts carried out against persons deprived of their liberty, but also covers excessive police violence, such as during arrest and the policing of assemblies, or even torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by acquiescence, namely, when States violate their due diligence obligation to combat ill-treatment at the hands of non-State actors, including harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, domestic violence and trafficking in human beings (A/HRC/13/39, summary. See also A/HRC/28/68/Add.4, para. 27 (protests); A/HRC/31/57, paras. 51-53 (sexual violence); E/CN.4/2006/6, para. 38 (police powers); A/HRC/13/39, para. 61 (arrests); and E/CN.4/1997/7, paras. 122-123 (police brutality)). Similarly, in reference to extra-custodial settings, the Human Rights Council has expressed concern about the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against persons exercising their freedoms of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association in all regions of the world (see Human Rights Council resolution 25/38).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
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
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative will further enhance her collaboration with the African Union, the Special Rapporteur of the African Union on Child Marriage and other partners with a view to the swift implementation of the plan of action for the implementation of the African Common Position on the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa, as well as the Model Law to end child marriage in Southern Africa, which will be of crucial importance to advancing implementation of target 5.3.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The vast majority of young people who generate or receive sexts would not tell an adult about it; parents and teachers are considered the last resort for seeking help. While most sexting images are self-generated and distributed on a mobile device, the images move easily from the mobile platform onto social networks, which can result in cyberbullying and online abuse on those platforms.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children spearheaded a regional action plan to end child marriage and the Kathmandu call for action to end child marriage, to accelerate progress in ending the practice, including through the urgent review of the compatibility of relevant legislation with human rights standards; the establishment of a minimum legal age of marriage of 18; and the harmonization of laws prohibiting child marriage with laws protecting children from violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 123
- Paragraph text
- In some communities, certain incidents of violence reflect harmful beliefs towards particularly marginalized girls, including those with disabilities or albinism, who may be accused of witchcraft. As a result, those girls endure stigmatization and are the victims of serious acts of violence, neglect, abandonment, mutilation and murder.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2015, para. 120
- Paragraph text
- In 1995, data from many countries showed that girls experienced discrimination from the earliest stages of life, through their childhood and into adulthood. Owing to violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, harmful attitudes and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference and child marriage, many girls do not survive into adulthood. They are neglected and their self-esteem undermined, with the risk of initiating a lifelong downward spiral of deprivation and exclusion.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- Inappropriate contact and online grooming. The anonymity of much online interaction, combined with the lack of social cues that condition face-to-face interaction, facilitates inappropriate advances on the part of adults towards children online. Grooming takes place when online contact with children involves premeditated behaviour intended to secure their trust and cooperation with the intention of engaging in sexual conduct.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Misfortune and unexpected bad luck, sudden and incurable disease, or death often fuel the belief in witchcraft and the stigmatization of marginalized children. Traditional healers and local leaders may condone witchcraft accusations; and uninformed families may seek assistance to exorcise the child's "evil" spirits. Rituals are surrounded by secrecy and, by fear and superstition, remain hidden and concealed.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Children with albinism are exposed to severe incidents of violence, mutilation and murder. At times they become the target of witchcraft accusations, leading to the use of their body parts for ritual purposes. Children who survive such attacks, are left with serious and long-lasting health and psychological consequences, and the development of their full potential is compromised for life.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph