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SHADOW REPORT ON THE USA HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN & GIRLS WITH DISABILITIES & ESPECIALLY SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

UN Universal Periodic Review of Member States by the Human Rights Council– Facts:

http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/upr/pages/BasicFacts.aspx

WOMEN ENABLED INTERNATIONAL

Direct Link to Full 16-Page 2014 Shadow Report: Read the PDF

http://www.womenenabled.org/pdfs/UPR_ShadowReport_WEI_CRR_9-13-14%20FINAL%20VERSION.pdf

Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review by Women Enabled International & Center for Reproductive Rights

September 13, 2014 - In collaboration with the Center for Reproductive Rights, Women Enabled International submitted this report to the Human Rights Council for use in its review of the United States. Our submission focuses on human rights violations against women and girls with disabilities in the United States, specifically violence and interference with sexual and reproductive rights. Women Enabled International participated in the United States Government's consultations with Civil Society as the United States prepares for its review by the UN Human Rights Council. 

Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review:

United States of America

Second Cycle

Twenty Second Session of the UPR

Human Rights Council

April - May 2015

Submitted by: Women Enabled International (WEI) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), both non-governmental organizations dedicated to ensuring gender equality and women’s human rights, jointly submit this statement concerning the Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United States.[i]

Contact Names: Stephanie Ortoleva (WEI), President@WomenEnabled.org, (202) 359-3045; Katrina Anderson, kanderson@reprorights.org, (917) 637-3616

Organizations endorsing this report: Ibis Reproductive Health, the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, National Organization for Women Foundation, Carrie Shandra (Assistant Professor, Sociology and Core Faculty, Program in Public Health at the State University of New York at StonyBrook), Hope Lewis (Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law)

I. Summary

1. Approximately 18% of women in the U.S., or 28 million women, are living with a disability.[ii] Women with disabilities in the U.S., as in most of the world, face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on gender and disability. For example, while people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as non-disabled persons,[iii] women with disabilities are almost half as likely to have jobs as men with disabilities and receive lower wages when they do work.[iv] Educational attainment is also lower for women with disabilities than their non-disabled peers, with women with disabilities being far less likely to receive a high school diploma or university degree than their non-disabled peers.[v]

2. Due to discrimination in both the private and public sphere, women with disabilities are two to three times more likely than non-disabled women to experience violence, including but not limited to sexual and domestic violence.[vi] They also face numerous barriers—physical, informational and economic—to accessing sexual and reproductive health services. This submission focuses on human rights violations against women and girls with disabilities in the United States, specifically violence and interference with sexual and reproductive rights.

II. Legal Framework

A. International Obligations

3. The U.S. is not a party to several international human rights treaties that protect the rights of women and people with disabilities, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The U.S.’s failure to ratify these instruments was frequently raised by HRC member states in the last UPR.  Nineteen states urged the U.S. to ratify CEDAW, and seven recommended swift ratification of the ICESCR. No action has been taken on either treaty by the U.S. Senate. Fourteen states urged the U.S. to ratify the CRPD, a recommendation the U.S. accepted. The U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaty in December 2012. In July 2014, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Convention and urged its full consideration once again by the U.S. Senate. As of September 2014, the Senate has not voted on ratification.

4. The U.S. has, however, ratified other international instruments that commit the United States to ending gender discrimination and promoting equality, specifically the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. As expressed in periodic reviews of treaty implementation, the U.S. understands its treaty obligations to include ending violence against women and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health services for all.[vii]

5. As explicitly recognized in the CRPD, violence, exploitation, and abuse of people with disabilities arises from discrimination based on gender as well as disability, and it may occur in varied situations within and outside the home.[viii] The ability of women with disabilities to exercise their reproductive rights also depends on freedom from violence and coercion when making reproductive decisions, such as decisions around contraception use, sterilization, and abortion.[ix]

6. A key part of respecting, protecting, and fulfilling reproductive rights for women with disabilities is the full accessibility of reproductive health information and services.[x] Accessibility has four dimensions: non-discrimination in access to services and information; physical accessibility to health facilities;[xi] economic accessibility, or affordability of goods and services;[xii] and information accessibility through the provision of reproductive health information in multiple accessible formats.[xiii]

7. States have an obligation to ensure accountability for violations of the human rights of women with disabilities, including judicial or other appropriate remedies, as well as reparations to victims.[xiv] Effective access to justice for women with disabilities includes providing accommodations when needed to facilitate their participation in justice proceedings, as well as training court personnel.[xv] A full remedy also includes rehabilitation and social reintegration programs for victims of violence that are gender- and age-specific.[xvi]

8. Finally, States should take positive measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender and disability that raises the risk of violence and compounds barriers to healthcare for women with disabilities.[xvii] This includes steps “[t]o combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices.”[xviii] Such efforts may include health systems improvements to address the needs of women with disabilities; steps to end systemic discrimination in access to health care; awareness raising programs to foster respect for women with disabilities;[xix] training of social service personnel, healthcare providers, and justice officials on responding to the concerns of women with disabilities; and equitable distribution of health resources to serve communities most in need.[xx]………..See above link to full Report.

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[i] Prepared by Stephanie Ortoleva (WEI), Lindsay Sanders (WEI), and Katrina Anderson (CRR), with research assistance from: Stephanie M. Newton, University of Virginia School of Law, 2016; Sarah Nolan, University of Virginia School of Law, 2015; Alexis Ruiz, Tulane University Law School, 2016; Carolyn J. Rumer, University of Virginia School of Law, 2014; Hillary Scrivani, University of Virginia School of Law, 2015; Alison Vicks, University of Virginia School of Law, 2015; Katherine Watkins, George Washington University Law School. Aram Schvey, Karla Torres, and Seth Weintraub provided assistance from CRR.

[ii] Age-Adjusted and Unadjusted Disability Rates by Gender, Race, Hispanic Origin: 2005 and 2010, U.S. Census Bureau, available at www.census.gov/people/disability/publications/disab10/table_2.pdf (last accessed Sept. 27, 2013). 

[iii] Matthew Brault, Americans with Disabilities: 2010, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, pg. 12 (July 2012), available at www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-131.pdf [hereinafter Americans with Disabilities 2010].

[iv] U. S. Dep’t of Labor, Women, Office of Disability Employment Pol’y, available at http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/women.htm (last accessed Sept. 4, 2014).

[v] Based on 2010 data, 18.4% of women with severe disabilities and 11.7% of women with non-severe disabilities have less than a high school diploma compared to just 8.8% of non-disabled women 25 and older; 13.5% of women with severe disabilities have a Bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 34.1% of non-disabled women. Americans with Disabilities 2010, supra note 3, pg. 22. 

[vi] U.S. Dep’t of State & USAID, United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally, 7 (Aug. 10, 2012), available at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/196468.pdf (noting that “[w]omen with a disability are two to three times more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse than women with no disability.”); see also Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, paras. 31-32, U.N. Doc. A/67/227 (Aug. 3, 2012) (by Rashida Manjoo) [hereinafter SRVAW].

[vii] See Fourth Periodic Report: United States, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/USA/4 (Dec. 30, 2011), available at http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/179781.htm; Seventh to Ninth Periodic Reports of States Parties due in 2011: United States of America, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/USA/7-9 (June 13, 2013), available at http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/cerd_report/210605.htm.

[viii] Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted Dec. 13, 2006, arts. 6, 16, G.A. Res. A/RES/61/106, U.N. GAOR, 61st Sess., U.N. Doc. A/61/611, (entered into force May, 3 2008) [hereinafter CRPD].

[ix] Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), General Recommendation No. 24: Article 12 of the Convention (Women and Health), (20th Sess., 1999), in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, para. 22 U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.9 (Vol. II) (2008) [hereinafter CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 24]; SRVAW, supra note 6, para. 28].

[x] CRPD, supra note 8, art. 6; see also CRPD, General Comment No. 2 on Article 9: Accessibility, para. 40, U.N. Doc. CRPD/C/GC/2 (May 22, 2014) [hereinafter CRPD General Comment No. 2].

[xi] Physical accessibility includes ensuring that facilities are located “as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas.” CRPD, supra note 8, art. 25(c); Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 14, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12), para. 12(b), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (2000) [hereinafter CESCR General Comment No. 14]. It also requires ensuring adequate access to healthcare facilities for persons with disabilities. CRPD General Comment No. 2, supra note 10, para. 40.

[xii] Economic accessibility requires states to ensure that health services and goods are affordable for everyone, with payment based on equity—a particularly important principle for women with disabilities, who are often more economically disadvantaged than others in their communities. CESCR General Comment No. 14, supra note 11, para. 12(b). See also CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 24, supra note 9, para. 27.

[xiii] CRPD, supra note 8, arts. 21, 23(1)(b); CESCR General Comment No. 14, supra note 11, para. 12; CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No. 24, supra note 9, para. 6.

[xiv] CESCR General Comment No. 14, supra note 11, para. 59.

[xv] CRPD, supra note 8, art. 13.

[xvi] Id. at art. 16(4).

[xvii] Id. at art. 6.

[xviii] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted Dec. 18, 1979, G.A. Res. 34/180, U.N. GAOR, 34th Sess., Supp. No. 46 at 193, art. 5, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, 1249 U.N.T.S 13, 19 I.L.M 33 (1980) (entered into force Sept. 3, 1981); see also CRPD, supra note 8, art. 8(b) (calling for the elimination of “prejudices and harmful practices” that relate to people with disabilities in policy and practice).

[xix] CRPD, supra note 8, art. 8(d); CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 18: Disabled Women (10th session, 1991), CEDAW, General Recommendation 19: Violence against Women (llth session, 1992), CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 24: article 12, Women and Health (20th session, 1999).

[xx] CESCR General Comment No. 14, supra note 11, para. 36.