IV • Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls
instrument of war. Women’s and minority rights should be mainstreamed in the
constitution-making processes in conflict or post-conflict areas. Minority women
should be included in all processes of conflict settlement and post-conflict
reconstruction. Measures should also be taken to ensure access to justice for minority
women and girls and accountability for those guilty of violating their rights.
29. Minority women may be particularly vulnerable to trafficking in persons,
particularly those living in situations of poverty or conflict, or in remote and border
regions. Governments should strengthen bilateral, regional and international
cooperation aimed at the elimination of trafficking in persons, especially women and
children. Regional institutions should be established with concrete plans of action to
combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking in persons and, which should include
explicit attention to minority women and girls, as well as protection measures, in
order to prevent their return to their country of origin where they might be at risk of
further violence from traffickers or of re-trafficking. Such institutions should pay
particular attention to ensuring the recruitment of minority women within all of their
programmes and to the several factors that might make minority women particularly
at risk of trafficking in some situations. Counselling and support programmes should
be culturally sensitive and accessible for minority women who are victims of
trafficking.
30. Disadvantaged minority women and girls may also be particularly vulnerable
to other contemporary forms of slavery, including forced labour, debt bondage, child
labour, the sale of children, forced prostitution and forced and early marriage.
Governments should put in place systematic measures to identify such practices and
take robust action to eradicate violations.
31. All women have the right to protection from harmful practices, which may be
found in all communities - majority or minority. Governments should take measures to
eliminate all harmful practices, including those that discriminate against minority
women and girls, or subject them to violence or physical injury. This process should
seek and involve the collaboration of minority, traditional and religious leaders, and
especially of minority women themselves and women’s organizations. Minority
women frequently work on eradicating harmful practices and their efforts should be
Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011
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WOMEN AND GIRLS
28. Evidence demonstrates that minorities in all regions experience denial or
deprivation of citizenship, which affects their full enjoyment of their rights and
frequently leaves them stateless. The consequences of denying or depriving minority
groups of citizenship are considerable. It can have a negative impact on affected
persons’ living conditions and the degree of their integration in all aspects of society.
These situations are sometimes compounded by discrimination against minority
women, for example, with regard to the acquisition, change or retention of
nationality and the conferral of nationality on their children. States are urged to
review national laws or policies that may deny or deprive minority women and their
children of their legitimate right to citizenship.