WUNRN
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WITH
DISABILITIES - UN SR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REPORT TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2012
Direct Link to Full 23-Page Report:
III. Report on violence against women with disabilities
A. Background
12. Women with disabilities make up a significant part of the world’s population. According to the 2011 World Report on Disability of the World Health Organization and World Bank,
it is
estimated that approximately 15
per
cent of
the
world’s population
lives with
some form of disability. The disability level
threshold indicates that the male disability prevalence rate is 12 and the female 19.2. Based on such figures, it is clear that women with disabilities constitute a significant
portion of the global population.
Despite the evolution of normative frameworks concerning both the human rights of women and of persons with disabilities, the impact of the combined effects of both gender and disability
have not gained sufficient attention, and violence against women with disabilities remains largely unaddressed.
13. The 2011 report
to the Human Rights
Council of the Special
Rapporteur
on violence against
women, its causes and
consequences (A/HRC/17/26)
focused on the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that contribute to
and exacerbate violence against women, noting that factors such as ability, age, access to resources,
race/ethnicity,
language, religion,
sexual orientation
and gender identity and class can exacerbate the violence women experience. Although women with disabilities experience many of
the same forms of
violence that all women experience
— when
gender,
disability and
other factors
intersect —
the violence against them takes on unique forms, has unique causes and results in
unique consequences.
14. In
recent years,
the experiences
of women
with disabilities
have become somewhat
more visible. An analysis of the intersection
between the provisions of the Convention
on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention
on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, along with various United Nations resolutions and policy statements on human rights, women’s
rights and the rights of persons
with disabilities, demonstrates the synergy
that exists to foster changes in law, policy and practice
in order to ensure the inclusion of women with disabilities in understanding and responding to violence against women.
15. In
its resolution
17/11, the Human
Rights Council
requested OHCHR
to prepare a thematic analytical study on the issue of violence against women and girls and disability in consultation,
inter alia,
with the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
The resulting report (A/HRC/20/5
and Corr.1) was based on the submissions
received from Member States, United Nations agencies and programmes, national human rights institutions and
non-governmental organizations.
16. The
present report
aims to
deepen the
findings of
the OHCHR
study and further
examine the
manifestations, causes
and
consequences of
violence
against women with
disabilities. In addition, the
report briefly
examines relevant international and regional legal frameworks and provides recommendations.