Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

V
WOMEN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 107
Article 2(g): Penal provisions must not discriminate
against women
Article 2(g) of the CEDAW Convention requires States: “To
repeal all national penal provisions which constitute
discrimination against women”.
As outlined in Chapter IV above (‘Respect: State actors must
not commit gender-based violence’), there will inevitably be
some overlap between acts and conditions of detention that are
violations of human rights standards relating to detention
generally and acts that are recognized as cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment, or torture.
The European Court of Human Rights recognized the concept of
degradation as “[treatment] such as to arouse in their victims
feelings of fear, anguish and inferiority capable of humiliating
and debasing them and possibly breaking their physical or
moral resistance”. 269 Women in prison, or other forms of
detention, may be vulnerable to feelings of degradation due to
the conditions of detention, for example lack of hygiene
facilities, including the means to deal with menstruation in a
clean and dignified manner, or being supervised by male staff.
Penal provisions relating to gender-based violence may lead to
discrimination against women in three fundamental ways:
1. Where there is a failure to effectively investigate and
prosecute acts of violence against women [see above
Chapters II and IV];
2. Where States detain and imprison women in a
discriminatory and disproportionate manner, for reasons
related to their gender or situation; and/or
3. Where conditions of detention lead to disproportionately
harsh treatment for women because of their gender.
269
Ireland v UK (1978) ECHR 1, paragraph 167.