La consumación del amor (6:4—8:14)

The CEDAW Committee has dealt with aspects of disability in several General Recommendations, in order to expound obligations that States have to women with disabilities in peacetime. In each of those General Recommendations, the

Committee tends to apply one or more models of disability, as discussed in the following sections.

410 _{Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Available}

at<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/pages/cedawindex.aspx> (Accessed on/15 August/2018).

105 General Recommendation No.18 (1991) on disabled women predates the disability treaty and highlights the problem of limited information on women with disabilities in more than 60 periodic reports of States parties.412 _The

Recommendation earmarks the earliest hallmarks of the social model in the way the CEDAW Committee approaches matters of disability. To that end, the CEDAW Committee affords special consideration to the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (NFLSAW), which specifically identify women with disabilities as a category of a more vulnerable group.413 _{In addition, it approves the} World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons (1982).414 _{The use of the} term ‘disabled women’ (replaced by ‘women with disabilities’ in subsequent General Recommendations), indicates features of the medical model that underpinned the CEDAW Committee’s approach to disability from its time of commencement.

In General Recommendation No. 24 the CEDAW Committee elaborates obligations associated with Article 12 of the Convention.415 _{The Committee urges} States to pay special attention to health needs and rights of women with disabilities as constituting a more vulnerable and disadvantaged group.416 _{There is a likelihood} that ‘health needs’ encompass medical requirements that depend upon the medical model, while ‘health rights’ suggest a more assertive rhetoric of special measures for enhancing the access to health services through concepts of the social model. For example, the social model is exemplified by the requirement of the CEDAW

Committee to have appropriate measures that make environments for health

services physically accessible to women with disabilities of all ages and respectful to their dignity.417 _{At the same time, the Committee accepts the medical model to the} extent that osteoporosis, dementia, handicaps and other disabilities associated with ageing women could be addressed through health services.418

412 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General}

Recommendation No. 18 (Disabled women) Tenth session (1991). Paragraph. 2.

413 _{UN General Assembly, Implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of}

Women: resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, 13/December/1985, A/RES/40/108 UN General Assembly (40th session 1985-1986). Paragraph 296.

414 _{General Recommendation No. 18 (Disabled women). Paragraph. 5.}

415 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General}

Recommendation No. 24: Article 12 of the Convention (Women and Health), 1999, A/54/38/Rev.1, chap. I.

416 _{Ibid. Paragraph 6.} 417 _{Ibid. Paragraph 25.} 418 _{Ibid. Paragraph 24.}

106 The CEDAW Committee also pronounced on disability under General

Recommendation No. 27 on protection of older women and their human rights.419 Older women with disabilities are specifically identified as a more vulnerable group.420 _{The CEDAW Committee gives emphasis to the social model by}

representing the problems of women with disabilities as a consequence of societal tendencies such as gender stereotyping and outmoded habitual practices.421 _Such stereotypes and practices have aggravated the deprivation of women with disabilities to their right to education and consequently many of them receive inadequate

education.422

The CEDAW Committee also notes that older women with disabilities experience double stereotyping based on both disability and aging making them twice as exposed to employment related discrimination as other women.423

Considering that the social protection from pensions is linked to a person’s earnings while in work, then women with disabilities face a higher likelihood of ending up with much lower pensions than other women.424 _{The social model is also used by the} Committee to suggest a number of recommendations such as increasing the

accessibility and availability of legal services,425 _{paying consideration to older women} with disabilities when devising polices to reform societal and cultural behavioural patterns unfavourable and dangerous to minorities.426 _{The approach of the social} model is also apparent where the CEDAW Committee recommends enacting

protective laws for older women with disabilities.427 _{Most of the WENA States have a} comparatively larger percentage aging population than regions of the Global South, with older women with disabilities being more prevalent in WENA States. This indicates the concentration of the CEDAW Committee on features of disability in WENA States. Nevertheless, it is clear there are many older women with disabilities in regions of the Global South such as Sub-Saharan African and MENA States, and

419 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), General Recommendation}

No. 27 on older women and protection of their human rights, 16/December/2010, CEDAW/C/GC/27.

420 _{Ibid. Paragraph 16.} 421 _{Ibid. Paragraph 16.} 422 _{Ibid. Paragraph 19.} 423 _{Ibid. Paragraph 20.} 424 _{Ibid. Paragraph 20.} 425 _{Ibid. Paragraph 33.} 426 _{Ibid. Paragraph 36.} 427 _{Ibid. Paragraph 37.}

107 that women in several States in Sub-Saharan African are more prone to war-related disabilities

Even though provisions of the CEDAW are completely silent on whether States have specific duties of protecting women with disabilities during and after situations of armed conflict, the CEDAW Committee uses General Recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict to make specific consideration for women with

disabilities. This General Recommendation shall be expounded further under a different section of this thesis. However, it suffices to note that international cooperation is supported, and the medical model seems evident.

General Recommendation No. 32 is concerned with gender-based

dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women.428 The CEDAW Committee proposes establishing adequate early screening

mechanisms for identifying women asylum seekers with disabilities that might require specific protection and assistance needs.429 _{The CEDAW Committee applies the} medical model by emphasising needs from those screening mechanisms rather than the rights of women asylum seekers with disabilities. Needs could be physical, medical, and economic amongst others.

General Recommendation No. 33 concerning women’s access to justice relies on the social model by blaming physical barriers for the inaccessibility of courts and tribunals to women with disabilities.430 _{The CEDAW Committee neither blames} impairments nor focuses on treatment of deformities as responsible for denying women with disabilities access to courts and tribunals. The social model also

accounts for the Committee’s recommendation urging States to give special attention to the availability of and accessibility to justice systems by women with disabilities.431

In General Recommendation No. 34 on the rights of rural women the CEDAW Committee notes that rural settings present unique challenges to women with

428 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), General Recommendation}

No. 32 on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women, 5/November/2014, CEDAW/C/GC/32. Paragraph.

429 _{Ibid. paragraph 46.}

430 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General}

Recommendation No. 33 on women’s access to justice, CEDAW/C/GC/33 3/August/2015. Paragraph. 13.

108 disabilities.432 _{The CEDAW Committee applies the social model by reminding States} of the need to facilitate modifications and adjustments that make environments of rural settings adopted to accommodating women with disabilities.433 _{For example,} the CEDAW Committee obliges States to promote the accessibility of rural

infrastructures and services to women with disabilities.434 _{Similarly, the trend of a} social model is evidenced by condemning attitudinal barriers as the cause of limited access to sexual and reproductive health care among women with disabilities as a marginalised minority.435 _{Support for increasing the accessibility and affordability of} education for rural women and girls with disability is also highlighted, especially the requirement to offer education on good hygiene and allocate resources for menstrual hygiene.436 _{It is evident that these obligations would seem more practical for a State} in times of peace. Firstly, it is highly unlikely that in a situation of armed conflict, a State could successfully execute its role of rendering health related information. Secondly, the resource constraints in Global South States make some of the ideas suggested in this recommendation - such as free education to girls with disabilities - impractical even in peacetime, hence making international cooperation and

assistance under Article 32 of the CRPD a necessary obligation.

General Recommendation No. 35, relates to gender-based violence against women through which the CEDAW Committee updated General Recommendation 19.437 _{The Committee calls upon States to repeal laws of customary, religious and} indigenous nature, that permit performance of medical procedures on women with disabilities without their informed consent,438 _{as well as laws intended to deny}

women with disabilities the means to prevent or report acts of gender-based violence by depriving them of legal capacity to institute claims by restricting their ability to testify as competent witness in courts of law.439 _{The social model is symbolised in}

432 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW, General}

Recommendation No. 34 on the rights of rural women , 63rd session, CEDAW/C/GC/34, 7/March/2017. Paragraph 14.

433 _{Ibid. Paragraph 14.} 434 _{Ibid. Paragraph 15.}

435 _{Ibid. paragraph 37. UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), General Comment No.}

3 (2016), Article 6: Women and girls with disabilities, 2 September 2016, CRPD/C/GC/3, Paragraphs 28-46.

436 _{Ibid. paragraph 42(h).}

437 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW, General}

Recommendation No. 35, of the 67th session on gender-based violence against women, CEDAW/C/GC/35, 26/ July/2017. Paragraphs. 1-2.

438 _{Ibid. Paragraph 29(c) (i).} 439 _{Ibid. Paragraph 29(c) (iii).}

109 resolutions of the CEDAW Committee where it suggests modifications to make complaint mechanisms more accessible and appropriate for supporting women with disabilities. A case in point is where this Committee suggests the removal of

communication barriers to victims with disabilities as a means of protecting and assisting women complainants or witnesses to gender-based violence during legal proceedings.440 _{The CEDAW Committee identifies women with disabilities as a} group prone to intersecting forms of discrimination hence needing special

consideration when disseminating information of legal sources and compensation availed.441

The CEDAW Committee uses General Recommendation No. 36 for expounding the right of girls and women to education.442 _{Ensuring inclusive}

education for all and promoting lifelong learning is a matter of urgency of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG).443 _{It expects States to eliminate gender inequalities in} education through promotion of equal access to education and vocational training to persons with disabilities at all levels.444 _{The CEDAW Committee also calls upon} States to undertake proactive measures to eradicate various forms of educational discrimination against girls and women through addressing the problem of gender stereotyping. Special consideration to women and girls from minority groups such as women and girls with disabilities could benefit from ensuring that the media projects constructive and non-sexual representations of women.445 _{The CEDAW Committee} observes that according to UNESCO446 _{a third of out-of-school children worldwide} are children with disabilities, and several factors accounting for this trend are illuminated by the Committee such as inaccessibility447 _{and the unwillingness by} teachers to accommodate students with disabilities.448 _{The high prevalence of} violence to girls with disabilities is noted as another that justifies affording them

440 _{Ibid. Paragraph 31(a) (ii).} 441 _{Ibid. Paragraph 31(d).}

442 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW, General}

Recommendation No. 36, 68th session, on the right of girls and women to education, CEDAW/C/GC/36, 27/November/2017. Paragraph 3.

443 _{Ibid. Paragraph 3.} 444 _{Ibid. Paragraph 27.} 445 _{Ibid. Paragraph 27(e).} 446 _{Ibid. Paragraph 43.} 447 _{Ibid. Paragraph 44.} 448 _{Ibid. Paragraph 46.}

110 better protection.449 _{The education rights discussed under this General}

Recommendation apply to states in peacetime and these in post conflict, although the medical is hardly emphasised in relation to this right.

Furthermore, in General Recommendation No. 37 the CEDAW Committee explains the Gender-related Dimensions of Disaster Risk Reduction in the context of Climate Change as a human caused problem,450 _{noting that situations of crisis} worsen gender inequalities faced by women with disabilities.451 _{Gender-sensitive} measures should therefore be used when undertaking measures for disaster preparation. 452 _{The social model is applied by requiring communication of external} disaster to be adjusted in ways that make the warning signs as accessible as

possible to women with disabilities.453 _{There is a higher vulnerability of women with} disabilities to violence and sexual abuse due to physical limitations, barriers to communication, and the inaccessibility of basic services and facilities. The social model concepts of developing protective legal regimes are used by the Committee, where equality and non-discrimination is vital in developing protection for women is disaster related situations.454

In Joint General Recommendation No. 31 of the CEDAW Committee and General comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices, the Committee expresses discontent with harmful practices that it attributes to stereotypes.455 _{A suggestion to ensuring the availability of this joint} recommendation in formats that are accessible to persons with disabilities is encouraged by the Committee. This focus indicates that the Committee is strongly interested in ways of changing external environments to adapt them to the abilities of women with disabilities.

4.1.5. Is the CEDAW changing Models of Disability in Post Conflict Contexts?

449 _{Ibid. Paragraph 66.}

450 _{UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW, General}

Recommendation No. 37, 69th session, on Gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change, CEDAW/C/GC/37, 13/March/2018. Paragraph 1.

451 _{Ibid. Paragraph 2.} 452 _{Ibid. Paragraph 4.} 453 _{Ibid. Paragraph 5.} 454 _{Ibid. Paragraph 26(a).} 455 _{Ibid. Paragraph 9.}