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

166 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
Reflecting on the right to the highest attainable standard of
health for girls, the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights has found that “the principle of nondiscrimination
requires that girls, as well as boys, have equal
access to adequate nutrition, safe environments, and physical
as well as mental health services”. 444 The Committee has also
called for necessary measures to eliminate harmful traditional
practices that discriminate against and affect the health of girls,
including “early marriage, female genital mutilation,
preferential feeding and care of male children”. 445
While many women who have been subjected to violence are
often unwilling to disclose the violence committed against them
to State officials, or even to their friends and family, many are
much more willing to seek medical assistance and disclose what
has happened to them to medical professionals. 446
All medical professionals therefore need to be trained to
understand:
Various forms of violence that affect women;
Prevention and detection of such violence;
Equality between women and men;
Needs and rights of victims; and
How to prevent secondary victimization. 447
The World Health Organization has noted that healthcare
professionals are able to “provide assistance by facilitating
disclosure; offering support and referral; providing the
444
Ibid, paragraph 22.
445
Ibid, paragraph 22.
446
World Health Organization, “Responding to intimate partner
violence and sexual violence against women. WHO clinical and policy
guidelines” (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2013), page 1:
“Statistics show that abused women use health-care services more
than non-abused women do. They also identify health-care providers
as the professionals they would most trust with disclosure of abuse.”
447
Istanbul Convention, above note 378, Article 15.