INTRODUCTION
women are usually the primary carers of children and
immense harm can be caused to dependent children,
both if they are separated from their detained mothers
or imprisoned with them. As such, there has been
increasing recognition of the need to take into account
the best interests of such children and to give preference
to alternatives to detention and imprisonment in the
case of women who are pregnant and mothers with
dependent children, in line with the Bangkok Rules.8
In specific circumstances the lack of attention to
women’s gender specific needs can be considered
to amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment or can evolve into cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment. The Subcommittee on Prevention
of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (SPT) has specifically
stated that ‘The scope of preventive work is large,
encompassing any form of abuse of people deprived
of their liberty which, if unchecked, could grow into
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment.’9 The SPT recommends that this broad
approach is also reflected in the work of National
Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs).10
The mandate of NPMs require that they examine
regularly the treatment of persons deprived of their
liberty, with a view to strengthening their protection
against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. NPMs are mandated to make
recommendations to the relevant authorities with the aim
of improving the treatment and conditions of persons
deprived of their liberty and to prevent torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
taking into consideration the relevant norms of the United
Nations, and to submit proposals and observations
concerning existing or draft legislation in this context.11 It
is important to underline that visits to places of detention
enable NPMs to gain first-hand information, but they only
constitute the first step of a holistic preventive strategy. In
order to contribute to sustainable improvements NPMs
are expected to go beyond the facts found in places of
detention to try to identify possible underlying causes of
the challenges faced.12
This paper aims to assist all monitoring bodies, and in
particular NPMs, to ensure that their activities include
gender-specific considerations, by outlining the particular
risks women face of being subjected to torture or illtreatment, the particular circumstances that increase
such risks and what measures can be taken to prevent
the torture and ill-treatment of women in all places of
detention. Monitoring bodies are encouraged to use this
paper in mainstreaming a gender perspective into their
monitoring activities and in preparing thematic reports or
reviews on women in detention.
8. See, for example, African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, General Comment No. 1 (on Article 30 of the African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child) on ‘Children of incarcerated and imprisoned parents and primary caregivers’, 2013.
9. SPT, First annual report, (February 2007 to March 2008), CAT/C/40/2, 14 May 2008, para. 12.
10. Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture Implementation Manual, Revised Edition, Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (IIHR),
Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), (2010) p. 28 http://www.apt.ch/content/files_res/opcat-manual-english-revised2010.pdf.
11. Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), Article 19.
12. OPCAT Implementation Manual, Revised edition, op. cit. p234.
Penal Reform International | Women in Detention: a guide to gender-sensitive monitoring
|3