...‘especially the youngest, the poorest and the most marginalized’, do not have access to nutritious foods:38 nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition.39 In 2021, 25 million children missed out on lifesaving vaccines.40 64 million children of primary school age remain out of school, ‘with the majority of them coming from marginalized groups’.41 In humanitarian settings, children are especially at risk: During armed conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies,......violence against women and girls is widespread and used as a war tactic:36 a majority of the 3300 cases of CRSV that the UN was able to verify in 2021 were women and girls (this number is not representative of the full scale and prevalence of CRSV).37 Children. Children are largely dependent on adults for their basic needs, including food, health care and education. Yet, circumstances force many to manage by themselves. Millions of children,......Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRSV may fall under the scope of violence against children and child abuse; Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRSV may amount to violence against persons with disabilities; Under the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), CRSV may be a form of domestic violence. Note to reader In the Guidebook, references to......children may be forced to flee their homes, some torn from their families and exposed to exploitation and abuse along the way. They risk injury and death. They may be recruited by armed forces. Especially for girls and women, the threat of gender-based violence soars.42 LGBTQI+ persons. Homophobic and transphobic attitudes, often combined with a lack of adequate legal protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, endanger......risk due to the poverty, political marginalisation and systemic discrimination that they still face. In some countries, Indigenous peoples are victims of massacres carried out by the army or paramilitary groups during conflicts. In many cases, Indigenous women have been used as “spoils of war” and subjected to sexual violence and rape. Indigenous children are sometimes forcibly recruited to participate in armed conflicts, leaving behind their homes, and their childhood.58 5.4 How Different Fields of...

...with the care and aid they require,91 as experience has shown that children, even the very youngest children, ‘are not immune from sexual assault’.92 Children deprived of their liberty. Children deprived of their liberty must be held in quarters separate from the quarters of adults, except where families are accommodated as family units.93 This separation should support the prevention of violence against children by non-family adult members, though notably is not a guarantee – children......than to prioritise women over other categories of victim/survivor. III.8 Special protection against CRSV is owed to children🔗 This obligation is general in nature: IHL does not expressly list what steps States must take to safeguard children from CRSV, but it does highlight that they are a particularly at risk section of the population.89 Children are the ‘object of special respect’ and must be ‘protected against any form of indecent assault’.90 States must provide them......considered and responded to. The ICRC, in its ‘Sexual Violence in Detention’ report, has stated that ‘detention should be the last resort for any child, particularly for a child who has suffered sexual violence’, with a preference for alternative forms of accommodation and care.94 Recruitment and use of children in hostilities. States must prohibit the recruitment and use of children in both IAC and NIAC.95 Underage recruitment and participation in hostilities ‘entails a high risk......of irreparable harm’, including recruitment not only as a combatant but also to provide sexual services for the military.96 Note to reader A detailed explanation of IHL on recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is beyond the scope of the Guidebook. For a breakdown of the relevant legal provisions, see ICRC, ‘Child Soldiers’ and ‘Child Soldiers and Other Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups’. On the abuses suffered by child soldiers,......was further codified in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, various conventions and protocols dealing with specific types of weapons used in warfare, and conventions aimed at ensuring respect for certain rights, such as children and cultural property, during armed conflict.4 The four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I confer on the ICRC a specific mandate in the event of international armed conflict: ‘subject to the consent of...

...‘any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such’: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and Forcibly transferring children of the...

...‘that the person will not be at risk of serious human rights violations upon return’,37 and that refugees ‘are not relocated to third countries without their consent’.38 It should be possible ‘to appeal against expulsion decisions’.39 Birth registration. Persons, particularly children, who are unregistered run the risk of ‘having no access to a range of social benefits’. States should ensure the proper registration of the births of children ‘of parents of foreign origin’, including refugees and asylum seekers,......African descent’21 and all other persons experiencing racial discrimination who may face multiple,22 ‘intersectional forms of discrimination’,23 including women,24 children,25 persons with disabilities and/or who identify as LGBTQI+,26 persons living with HIV, migrants27 and persons living in rural areas,28 among others. III.7 Special protection against CRSV is owed to migrants🔗 Under article 5, States should protect migrants, in particular refugees and asylum seekers, from all forms of violence.29 They should: Extend the area set aside for refugee camps ‘in order to reduce overcrowding and......procedures to ensure the rapid and appropriate identification of international protection needs or situations of vulnerability’;33 Provide migrants in migrant holding centres with access to medical care, interpreters, adequate food and social support. States should develop ‘a solid guardianship system and appoint qualified guardians to unaccompanied children’; Safeguard ‘the physical integrity of migrants and asylum seekers’, provide them with the assistance of lawyers and independent monitors, and ensure that law enforcement officers are guided ‘by......Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;65 The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness;66 The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure; The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol; The International...

...should take measures to: Build adequate shelters for women and children subjected to gender-based violence, in particular women and children with disabilities;57 Ensure that victims/survivors receive physical and psychological support, including through the establishment of a reparations fund for victims of sexual violence, to be put into operation as soon as possible; Facilitate victims/survivors’ access to legal services.58 Women’s sexual and reproductive health. The Committee has expressed concern at reports on the lack of sexual and...

...the upbringing of their child; Provide mothers and children born of rape who wish to seek redress through justice mechanisms with free legal aid; Recognise and treat children born of rape ‘as victims of conflict’, and include them ‘in all considerations regarding humanitarian aid, justice initiatives and diplomatic relations’; Register children born of rape and ensure their right to a nationality. States should provide abandoned children with access to care services, birth certificates and the......born of rape. States have specific obligations as concerns mothers (whether women or girls) and children born of rape. To prevent the (re)occurrence of human rights violations, States should: In the distribution of relief aid, prioritise ‘expectant mothers, maternity cases and nursing mothers in the context of conflict’; Abolish the death penalty for pregnant women or mothers of dependent or young children; Integrate child protection systems in the justice system to support mothers with subsidies for......right to acquire a nationality. States should implement Identification programmes in a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory manner ‘within a reasonable time-frame’; Keep children born of conflict-related rape and their mothers informed and consulted on any decisions affecting them. States should involve them in conflict prevention, peace building and post-conflict reconstruction; Provide children born of rape with ‘equal access to vocational training, life skills and socioeconomic support, sports and leisure activities, religion and cultural activities by means......of an individualized plan that is adapted to the child’s needs’, and ‘psychosocial support and counselling, including to families’; Develop and implement strategies ‘to identify young women and girls who are or have been used as soldiers and their children to provide them with effective reintegration assistance’. States should ensure that these strategies do not increase the stigma and exclusion faced by former girl soldiers; Combat stigmatisation and social isolation of children born of rape......and introduce training to prohibit national armed forces and armed groups from using or occupying schools or other educational facilities in a manner that violates IHL and/or the right to education; Bearing in mind Security Council resolutions on women and peace and security, institute measures to protect female students and teachers from physical and sexual abuse by State and non-State actors occupying educational institutions;110 Provide pregnant girls, girls with young children and children born of...

...of their liberty under the juvenile justice system ‘maintain regular contact with their families and, in particular, inform parents where their children are being held’;152 Ensure that children in conflict with the law are tried in juvenile courts by specialised judges;153 Develop new educational and rehabilitation programmes aimed at reducing juvenile reoffenders and encouraging pro-social behaviour, and provide adequate recreational activities to help children deprived of their liberty reintegrate into society;154 In the case of......against women and children. States should ensure that children are educated about violence against women and children by ‘training teachers, using new educational technology and developing training courses, curricula and textbook content’;160 Widely disseminate reports submitted by States to the Committee and the Committee’s concluding observations,161 in appropriate languages (including Indigenous)162 and through official websites, media and non-governmental organisations.163 Training of law enforcement personnel and others. Under article 10, States must fully include the prohibition against torture in......of Juvenile Delinquency (the Riyadh Guidelines) and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty;149 Offer prison staff training ‘on the rights and special needs of children’ and hire qualified officers specially trained to work with juveniles;150 Establish an effective, specialised and well-functioning juvenile justice system in compliance with international standards, including the Beijing Rules, the Riyadh Guidelines and the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty;151 Ensure that children deprived......as in prisons, hospitals, schools, institutions that engage in the care of children, the aged, persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities, in military service, and other institutions, as well as contexts where the failure of the State to intervene encourages and enhances the danger of privately inflicted harm.43 For example, where detention centres are privately owned or run, ‘personnel are acting in an official capacity on account of their responsibility for carrying out the State function’.......with disabilities. Persons with disabilities face multiple and intersecting barriers that may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. Many are neglected or detained in psychiatric and social care institutions, psychiatric wards, boot camps and medical or other settings where they are subjected to severe abuses amounting to torture or ill-treatment, including mental and physical abuse and sexual violence.81 In the case of children with disabilities in health-care settings, an...

...rehabilitation, assistive devices, personal assistance, housing, employment and community-based services’.45 Children. Under article 7, States must take all necessary measures to ensure children with disabilities’ human rights and fundamental freedoms, ‘on an equal basis with other children’. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration. Further, States must ensure ‘that children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting......them’, that their views are given due weight ‘in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children’, and that they are provided ‘with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right’. To prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation, States: Must undertake to provide ‘early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families’;46 Should ensure that all children with disabilities are registered at birth;47 Must ensure......conflicts ‘heighten the risks faced by persons with disabilities as they seek assistance, support and protection, and they impact access to and may lead to the collapse of essential services. Where services exist, inaccessible communication strategies often exclude persons with disabilities from identifying and utilizing them’.5 CRSV is one of the many risks affecting persons with disabilities,6 especially women and children. In its Preamble, the CRPD highlights ‘that women and girls with disabilities are often......that a child is not separated from their parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine that it is in the best interests of the child. In no case can a child be separated from parents ‘on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents’.48 This is particularly important ‘in humanitarian contexts, where children are more likely to be separated from their......with disabilities’ and ‘increase the visibility of persons with disabilities in society’;56 Fostering at all levels of the education system, including in all children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities. States should also translate the Convention and its Optional Protocol and the Committee’s work into the local languages and disseminate it widely in accessible formats;57 Encouraging media to portray persons with disabilities in a respectful manner...

...and men were in the same situation, they would be similarly treated and whether such treatment would be ‘fair and just’. As this was not the case, the Commission found a violation of articles 2 and 18(3).60 Children. Under article 18(3), States must ensure the protection of the rights of children. The Commission has noted that sexual violence against children includes the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, ‘as well as child prostitution, using children in......and reproductive rights of victims/survivors of CRSV🔗 Under article 14, States must respect and promote ‘the right to health of women, including sexual and reproductive health’. Women’s right to health includes: The right to control their fertility; The right to decide ‘whether to have children, the number of children and the spacing of children’; The right to choose ‘any method of contraception’; The right to self-protection and to be ‘protected against sexually transmitted infections, including......pornographic activities and scenes or publications, and producing, disseminating, broadcasting, importing, exporting, offering, selling or possessing pornographic materials involving children’.61 There should be a presumption of absence of consent from minors who have not reached the age of sexual consent, which should not be below 16 years.62 Under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Child Charter), States must comply with the rules of IHL in armed conflict that affect children63 and......ensure their protection and care.64 Under article 16 of the African Child Charter, States must take specific legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to protect children from all forms of torture and ill-treatment while they are in the care of a parent, legal guardian, school authority or any other carer. Further, under article 27, States must protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and, in particular, take measures to prevent; The......inducement, coercion or encouragement of a child to engage in any sexual activity; The use of children in prostitution or other sexual practices; The use of children in pornographic activities, performances and materials. Migrants. Under article 5, States Parties must refrain from returning individuals to a place where their personal integrity may be at risk. III.4 Special protection against CRSV is owed to persons deprived of their liberty🔗 States should design regulations to monitor the detention...

...and freedoms enshrined in the ECHR. The ECtHR has found that under article 1, read together with article 3, States must ensure that individuals within their jurisdiction are not subjected to torture or ill-treatment,30 including that perpetrated by private individuals.31 States should prevent ill-treatment of which the authorities had or should have had knowledge, and provide effective protection, ‘in particular of children and other vulnerable persons’.32 In the case of vulnerable persons, including persons with disabilities, States......discrimination are connected. In their implementation of the ECHR, States should be particularly considerate of the needs of individuals the ECtHR has deemed ‘vulnerable’, such as children.52 Vulnerability denotes individuals who, by virtue of different grounds of discrimination, are more exposed to both direct and indirect violation of their rights.53 For example, the ECtHR in De Donder et De Clippel considered that the applicants’ son, as a person deprived of his liberty and with mental disorders, was doubly......at risk: in E.B. v Romania, the ECtHR considered that the victim’s intellectual disability ‘placed her in a heightened state of vulnerability’. The investigating authorities and the domestic courts should have shown increased diligence in analysing her statements.83 Failure to properly investigate or provide appropriate judicial response to ‘complaints of sexual abuse against children or other vulnerable persons such as persons with intellectual disabilities’ fosters impunity, which may be in breach of article 3.84 III.8 States must......Under article 13, in co-operation with national human rights institutions and equality bodies, civil society and non-governmental organisations, especially women’s organisations, States must regularly and widely promote or conduct awareness-raising campaigns or programmes to increase societal awareness and understanding of the different forms of violence against women and domestic violence, ‘their consequences on children and the need to prevent such violence’. States must widely disseminate information on available measures to prevent violence against women and......long-term specialist support services to any victim/survivor in an adequate geographical distribution;133 Appropriate, easily accessible shelters in sufficient numbers to provide safe accommodation for and pro-actively reach out to victims/survivors, especially women and their children;134 State-wide round-the-clock (24/7) confidential telephone helplines free of charge to provide advice to callers;135 Easily accessible and sufficient rape crisis or sexual violence referral centres to provide victims/survivors with medical and forensic examination, trauma support and counselling;136 Protection and support...