A/HRC/29/23 orientation and/or gender identity reportedly faced sexual assault by other inmates while in detention.60 36. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences has highlighted similar cases, noting that those with a non-heterosexual orientation, or whose gender expression did not fall into exact categories of female and male, were vulnerable to targeted abuse both by staff and by other prisoners. She expressed concern about lesbian women being placed in cells with men if they refused the sexual advances of prison staff. Female prisoners whom guards viewed as “masculine” in appearance were subjected to harassment, physical abuse and “forced feminization”. Transgender prisoners face particularly harsh circumstances. In one case, in Guatemala, a transgender woman was allegedly raped more than 80 times while in detention. 61 37. Some States continue to subject men suspected of homosexual conduct to anal examinations in order to “prove” their homosexuality. Such examinations have been described as “medically worthless” and condemned by the Committee against Torture, the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; all have held that the practice contravenes the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment.62 38. Other medical procedures that can, when forced or otherwise involuntary, breach the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment include “conversion” therapy, sterilization, gender reassignment, and unnecessary medical interventions involving intersex children (see paras. 14 above and 52, 53 and 70 below). E. Positive developments since 2011 39. States have adopted a range of measures with a view to addressing homophobic and transphobic violence, including some highlighted in responses to the note verbale soliciting inputs for the present report. New or strengthened anti-hate crime laws have been enacted in several States, including Albania, Chile, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Honduras, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal and Serbia. Such laws can play an important role in facilitating the prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of hate-motivated violence and in establishing homophobia and transphobia as aggravating factors for the purposes of sentencing. 40. Other notable initiatives include the establishment of specialized hate crime prosecution units (Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Spain), and an interagency working group on urgent cases (Colombia); improved police training and sensitization (Canada, Denmark, France, Montenegro, Philippines) and new policing guidelines (Spain, United Kingdom); national hotlines to report homophobic incidents (Brazil, Netherlands) and surveys to improve hate-crime data collection (Belgium (Flanders), Canada); a national task force on gender- and sexual orientation-based violence (South Africa); policies and protocols for ensuring the dignity and safety of transgender prisoners (Brazil, Canada); training materials on the rights of LGBT prisoners (Ecuador); and investigations by the human rights commission of allegations of torture and ill-treatment of LGBT and intersex detainees (Nepal). 60 61 62 A/HRC/27/72, EGY 4/2014. A/68/340, paras. 58, 59, 63. A/HRC/22/53, paras. 76, 79. 11