A/HRC/41/47 56. When asked if these traditional beliefs have a more adverse impact on children affected by leprosy, respondents identified the following discriminatory practices against this group: expulsion from schools; separation at school from other students; peer rejection; and segregation. 57. Harmful stereotypes and wrongful stereotyping produce and reproduce symbolic violence that, by enacting dehumanizing labelling and accompanying harmful practices, 32 sustain informal segregation from community life and denial of fundamental human rights. Harmful stereotypes and wrongful stereotyping have a stronger impact on women and children affected by leprosy due to the low social status attributed to both groups in many societies and to the subordinated position ascribed to them by pervasive and unequal power relations. Interpersonal, institutional and structural violence 33 2. 58. When asked if, as a result of discrimination on the grounds of leprosy, women affected by leprosy experience low self-esteem and isolate themselves, 56.3 per cent of the respondents confirmed that they did, 27 per cent said that they did not and the remaining respondents did not know. The same question applied to children received 40.1 per cent positive responses and 33.1 per cent negative responses. When asked if, also as a result of discrimination on the grounds of leprosy, women experience depression and/or suicidal thoughts, 48.7 per cent of respondents answered positively and 37.4 per cent negatively. The same question applied to children received 41 per cent negative responses and 35.3 per cent positive ones. Such data suggest the internalization of stigmatization as a result of extreme psychological violence. 59. Regarding violence against women on the grounds of leprosy, responses pointed to an intersection of leprosy and gender that amounts to the already ascribed subordinated position of women. The following practices were described: separation from children and not being allowed to feed them; verbal abuse from family and community members; beatings perpetrated by family members who regard women affected by leprosy as sinners and/or indolent due to the difficulties they face in fulfilling household activities when living with chronic pain and physical impairments; sexual abuse and violence perpetrated by the spouse and family members; abuse from medical workers; and suicide attempts. 60. Children affected by leprosy also experience violence on the grounds of leprosy as a result of the intersection of harmful stereotypes about leprosy and the low social status attributed to children. The former reflects, and is strengthened by, the non-recognition of children as autonomous social beings and the bearers of rights. According to the majority of the responses, children affected by leprosy are subjected to bullying; verbal and physical abuse from family members, neighbours and schoolteachers; physical punishments for going into public spaces; sexual abuse; and isolation (mainly driven by their parents and community members). There are many reports of attempted suicide among adults who were diagnosed with leprosy in childhood and who experienced multilayered stigmatization from a very early age, demonstrating how stigmatization impacts the overall life course of children.34 61. Children of persons affected by leprosy can also experience similar patterns of violations. In fact, some of the children of persons affected by leprosy who were forcibly segregated by State policies were also segregated by State policies that were stricter than those applied to their parents and had a greater impact in the overall life course of these 32 33 34 The Special Rapporteur grounds her analysis on joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices. For the concepts of interpersonal, institutional and structural violence, see A/HRC/17/26. Children who have been abused or neglected are often hampered in their development, as described in United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Hidden in Plain Sight: A Statistical Analysis of Violence against Children (New York, 2014). That is one of the main reasons why the Special Rapporteur considers interpersonal discrimination against children as a violent act. 11