A/RES/65/229
international human rights obligations, commitments and principles, including the
principle of non-discrimination; to take positive measures to address structural
causes of violence against women and to strengthen prevention efforts addressing
discriminatory practices and social norms, including with regard to women in need
of special attention, such as women in institutions or in detention; and to provide
training and capacity-building on gender equality and women’s rights for law
enforcement personnel and the judiciary. The resolution is an acknowledgement of the
fact that violence against women has specific implications for women’s contact with
the criminal justice system, as well as their right to be free of victimization while
imprisoned. Physical and psychological safety is critical to ensuring human rights and
improving outcomes for women offenders, of which the present rules take account.
10. Finally, in the Bangkok Declaration on Synergies and Responses: Strategic
Alliances in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, adopted by the Eleventh United
Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice on 25 April 2005,9
Member States declared that they were committed to the development and
maintenance of fair and efficient criminal justice institutions, including the humane
treatment of all those in pretrial and correctional facilities, in accordance with
applicable international standards (para. 8); and they recommended that the
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice should give consideration to
reviewing the adequacy of standards and norms in relation to prison management
and prisoners (para. 30).
11. As with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, in view
of the great variety of legal, social, economic and geographical conditions
worldwide, it is evident that not all of the following rules can be equally applied in
all places and at all times. They should, however, serve to stimulate a constant
endeavour to overcome practical difficulties in how they are applied, in the
knowledge that they represent, as a whole, the global aspirations considered by the
United Nations as leading to the common goal of improving outcomes for women
prisoners, their children and their communities.
12. Some of these rules address issues applicable to both men and women
prisoners, including those relating to parental responsibilities, some medical
services, searching procedures and the like, although the rules are mainly concerned
with the needs of women and their children. However, as the focus includes the
children of imprisoned mothers, there is a need to recognize the central role of both
parents in the lives of children. Accordingly, some of these rules would apply
equally to male prisoners and offenders who are fathers.
Introduction
13. The following rules do not in any way replace the Standard Minimum Rules
for the Treatment of Prisoners and the Tokyo Rules. Therefore, all provisions
contained in those two sets of rules continue to apply to all prisoners and offenders
without discrimination.
14. Section I of the present rules, covering the general management of institutions,
is applicable to all categories of women deprived of their liberty, including criminal
or civil, untried or convicted women prisoners, as well as women subject to
“security measures” or corrective measures ordered by a judge.
15. Section II contains rules applicable only to the special categories dealt with in
each subsection. Nevertheless, the rules under subsection A, applicable to prisoners
under sentence, shall be equally applicable to the category of prisoners dealt with in
subsection B, provided they do not conflict with the rules governing that category of
women and are for their benefit.
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