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Direct Link to Full 12-Page Paper:

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/cedaw_crc_contributions/JeanneSarson-LindaMacDonald.pdf

Non-State Torture—Specifically Sexualized Non-State Torture—Inflicted in the Private/Domestic Sphere against Girls/Women: An Emerging "Harmful Practice"

Jeanne Sarson, MEd, BScN, RN & Linda MacDonald, MEd, BN, RN ©2011

A Call for Action

We thank the Joint CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) and CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) Committee for providing the opportunity to submit this paper. We are calling on the Joint CEDAW and CRC Committee to take action in a proposed development of a Joint General Recommendation/Comment by addressing:

a) The harmful practice of non-state torture (NST) victimization, including sexualized NST that is perpetrated against children, predominately girls, with deliberate intentionality and destructive purposefulness within the private or domestic sphere by non-state actors such as parents, intergenerational kin, guardians, and like-minded other families or groups;

b) The harmful practice of NST, including sexualized non-state torture, that is predominately inflicted against girls and women and therefore constitutes a form of gender-based discrimination and an emerging form of gender-based violence; and,

c) The harmful practice of NST, including sexualized NST, by holding State parties to their due diligence obligations to eliminate such discrimination by the introduction of law, or to modify existing laws and legislation to ensure the recognition of and the criminalization of NST that is inflicted in the domestic/private sphere.

The information provided in this paper comes predominately from women who speak of the NST victimization—sexualized NST—they suffered from their earliest years of childhood, most from infancy or soon thereafter. The NST victimization generally continued throughout their childhood, for most it did not stop until they found a way to escape such family/group structures. The harmful practice of NST victimization, specifically sexualized NST, perpetrated in the private/domestic sphere constitutes a grievous intentional destruction to the tortured girl and/or woman’s relationship with her-Self that is life-threatening and long-lasting. Escaping is a very risky and demanding task because in Canada, the socio-cultural and legal systems do not acknowledge the dangerousness of their plight. Some women succeed, others do not although they keep trying they are vulnerable to chronic re-victimization.

Continue reading at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/cedaw_crc_contributions/JeanneSarson-LindaMacDonald.pdf