Search Tips
sorted by
18 shown of 18 entities
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 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
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that contributions from its half day of general discussion on women and girls with disabilities which took place during its 9th session in April 2013, highlighted a range of topics and identified three main subjects of concern with respect to the protection of their human rights: (1) violence, (2) sexual and reproductive health and rights and (3) discrimination. Furthermore, concluding observations issued by this Committee to date on women with disabilities express concern about: the prevalence of multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination against women with disabilities , on account of their gender, disability and other factors which are not sufficiently addressed in legislation and policies ; the right to life , equal recognition before the law , the persistence of violence against women and girls with disabilities , including sexual violence and abuse , forced sterilization , female genital mutilation , sexual and economic exploitation ; institutionalization , the lack of or insufficient participation of women with disabilities in decision-making processes in public and political life ; the lack of inclusion of a gender perspective in disability policies , the lack of a disability rights perspective in gender policies ; and the lack of or insufficient specific measures to promote the education and employment of women with disabilities .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Older women and protection of their human rights 2010, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Gender stereotyping, traditional and customary practices can have harmful impacts on all areas of the lives of older women, in particular those with disabilities, including family relationships, community roles, portrayal in the media, employers' attitudes, health care and other service providers, and can result in physical violence as well as psychological, verbal and financial abuse.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- 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
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2014, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- In many communities, children with disabilities and with albinism, children without parental care and specially gifted children are the target of witchcraft accusations. Surrounded by social exclusion, stigma, fear, deep isolation and ostracism, they are branded as witches, in itself a form of psychological violence, and exposed to physical attacks and other manifestations of violence, including starvation, abandonment, amputation of body parts, and death. This phenomenon cuts across all social lines and is being reported across regions.
- 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
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The rights of children with disabilities 2007, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The Committee is deeply concerned about the prevailing practice of forced sterilisation of children with disabilities, particularly girls with disabilities. This practice, which still exists, seriously violates the right of the child to her or his physical integrity and results in adverse life-long physical and mental health effects. Therefore, the Committee urges States parties to prohibit by law the forced sterilisation of children on grounds of disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2007
- 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
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Provisions that allow, tolerate or condone forms of gender-based violence against women, including child or forced marriage and other harmful practices, provisions allowing medical procedures to be performed on women with disabilities without their informed consent and provisions that criminalize abortion, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender, women in prostitution and adultery, or any other criminal provisions that affect women disproportionally, including those resulting in the discriminatory application of the death penalty to women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- 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
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In practice, the choices of women with disabilities, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are often ignored, their decisions are often substituted by third parties, including legal representatives, service providers, guardians and family members, thus violating their rights under article 12 . All women with disabilities must be able to exercise their legal capacity by taking their own decisions, with support when desired with regard to medical and/or therapeutic treatment, including decisions on: retaining their fertility, reproductive autonomy, their right to choose the number and spacing of children, to consent and accept a statement of fatherhood, and the right to establish relationships. Restricting or removing legal capacity can facilitate forced interventions, such as: sterilisation, abortion, contraception, female genital mutilation, or surgery, or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent and forced detention in institutions .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subjected to the same harmful practices committed against women without disabilities such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, crimes committed in the name of so called honour, dowry related violence, widowhood practices and accusations of witchcraft . The consequences of harmful practices goes far beyond social exclusion. It reinforces harmful gender stereotypes, perpetuates inequalities and contributes to discrimination against women and girls. They can result in physical, and psychological violence and economic exploitation. Harmful practice based on patriarchal interpretations of culture cannot be evoked to justify violence against women and girls with disabilities. In addition, women and girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of 'virgin testing' and, regarding HIV/AIDS misbeliefs, "virgin rapes" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of harmful practices, which are justified by invoking sociocultural and religious customs and values. For example, girls with disabilities are more likely to die through "mercy killings" than boys with disabilities because their families are unwilling or lack the support to raise a girl with an impairment . Other examples of harmful practices include: infanticide , accusations of "spirit possession" and restrictions in feeding and nutrition. In addition, the marriage of girls with disabilities, especially girls with intellectual disabilities, is justified under the pretext of providing future security, care and finance for her. In turn, child marriage contributes to higher rates of school drop-out as well as early and frequent childbirth. The social isolation, segregation and exploitation of girls with disabilities inside the family, includes: exclusion from family activities, prevention from leaving home, forced unpaid housework and being forbidden from attending school.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Certain forms of violence, exploitation or abuse may be considered as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and breaches a number of international human rights treaties. Among these are forced, coerced and otherwise involuntary pregnancy or sterilisation ; as well as any other medical procedure or intervention performed without free and informed consent, including those related to contraception and abortion; the invasive and irreversible surgical practises including psychosurgery, female genital mutilation or surgery or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent; the administration of electroshocks, chemical, physical or mechanical restraints; isolation or seclusion.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
18 shown of 18 entities