A/HRC/4/104
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concern that they are further penalized on charges of prostitution instead of receiving assistance.
The Special Rapporteur reiterated this concern in her report to the sixty-second session of the
Commission (E/CN.4/2006/62) and stressed that domestic laws and policies that penalize
prostituted women and children contribute to their vulnerability and make women and
children more susceptible to being victimized by sex trafficking. She further underlined that
socio-economic, political and cultural conditions in many parts of the world make women and
children particularly susceptible to being trafficked. The Special Rapporteur undertook country
visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lebanon in 2005. She has attended and contributed to
various discussions globally addressing the particular human rights concerns of trafficked
women and girls, including before the Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of
the Review and Appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2005.
34.
In his report to the sixty-first session of the Commission (E/CN.4/2005/78 and Corr.1
and 2), the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution
focuses on child pornography on the Internet. The Special Rapporteur’s report to the
sixty-second session (E/CN.4/2006/67) dealt with the question of the demand factor in the
commercial sexual exploitation of children. He noted that demand for sexual exploitation comes
overwhelmingly from men. Girls remain in the vast caseload of the sexually exploited.
Therefore, any intervention should address fundamental and systemic values and beliefs that
accommodate and sustain sexual violence and exploitation of children: patriarchy, beliefs
surrounding sexual dominance and machismo, male power and control, the view of children
(especially girl children) as objects of possession, and perverted cultural beliefs. It is only
through the empowerment of women that the demand for child sexual exploitation can be
reduced. The Special Rapporteur noted that current prevention strategies typically address
women and children as victims or potential victims and focus on how women and girls can avoid
sexual abuse. So far, men have not been sufficiently offered the opportunity to join prevention
efforts and it is now necessary to develop strategies involving men.
35.
The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance undertook country missions to Japan and Brazil in 2005. In
his report of his mission to Japan (E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2 and Corr.1), the Special Rapporteur
recommended the creation of a national commission for equality and human rights whose
mandate would include addressing discrimination on the basis of gender. He further
recommended that all communities, and specifically the Buraku and Ainu communities, ensure
that women can exercise their rights in equality as guaranteed by human rights treaties, including
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In his report
of his mission to Brazil (E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.3), the Special Rapporteur paid attention to the
situation of black women, indigenous women, and women from quilombos who suffer the most
from inequalities deriving from racial discrimination. In his recommendations, he called for the
establishment of a national commission for equality and human rights, and proposed that
domestic workers, 90 per cent of whom are black women, benefit from legal recognition and
protection, including by labour legislation. In November 2006, the Special Rapporteur
participated in the International Conference on the Human Rights of Dalit Women in The Hague.
He stressed the importance of taking account of the gender dimensions of caste discrimination
and the need to take gender-sensitive legislative, judicial, information and education measures,
along with securing clear political will and determination to abolish caste-based discrimination.
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