WUNRN
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON
TORTURE TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 2013
APPLYING THE TORTURE &
ILL-TREATMENT FRAMEWORK IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS
Direct Link to Full 23-Page Report:
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Gender Excerpts:
IV B. Reproductive
Rights Violations
46. International
and regional human rights bodies have begun to
recognize that abuse and mistreatment of women seeking
reproductive
health services can cause tremendous and lasting
physical and emotional suffering, inflicted on the basis of gender.
Examples of such violations include abusive treatment and
humiliation in institutional settings, involuntary sterilization, denial of
legally available health services such as abortion and post-abortion
care, forced abortions and sterilizations, female genital mutilation,
violations of medical secrecy and confidentiality in health-care
settings,
such as denunciations of women by medical personnel
when evidence of illegal abortion is found, and the practice of
attempting to obtain confessions as a condition of potentially
life-saving medical treatment after abortion.
48. 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."
49. For
many rape survivors, access to a safe abortion procedure is
made
virtually impossible by a maze of administrative hurdles, and
by official negligence and obstruction.....
E. Marginalized Groups
1. Persons Living with HIV/AIDS
2.
Persons Who Use Drugs
3. Sex Workers
4.
Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex Persons
5. Persons With Disabilities
