As part of our advocacy to draw attention to the impact of carceral systems on women and girls, Women Lead Network has been raising our concerns to the United States Mission to the ICCPR (International Convention on Civil and Political Rights). The ICCPR is one of the few Conventions that the U.S. has committed itself to uphold as a signatory and through ratification. Fundamentally, the ICCPR requires member states to ensure freedom from discrimination, equal rights, freedom from torture and access to humane treatment in detention.
As in our previous work, we centered our comments and focus on the impact of detention on women and girls and the inhumane cross over between victimization and incarceration. Our comments include drawing attention to the inhumane practice of sterilizing incarcerated women without their consent and the lack of access to resources supporting survivors of gender based violence resulting in their acts of self – defense and subsequent incarceration. You can download our detailed comments at the end of this blog.
As part of this work we will be joining other Civil Society Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland this month to raise these issues with the U.S. Mission in advance of their report to the ICCPR on Tuesday, October 17th. We look forward to their efforts to address these issues and stand in solidarity with other Civil Society Organizations.