A/HRC/20/5 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 17/11, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a thematic analytical study on the issue of violence against women and girls and disability in consultation with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development of the Economic and Social Council, other relevant special procedure mandate holders, States, United Nations entities, regional organizations, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders, and to report to the Council at its twentieth session. The present report is submitted pursuant to that request. 2. In the preparation of the study, consultations were held with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development of the Economic and Social Council the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, OHCHR transmitted a questionnaire to Member States and other relevant stakeholders requesting information for the study. At 7 March 2012, 78 replies had been received from 45 Member States, nine United Nations agencies and programmes, eight national human rights institutions and 16 nongovernmental and other organizations. 1 3. For the purpose of the present report, persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, intellectual or sensory impairments, which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.2 4. Violence against women is defined by the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.3 In the present study, OHCHR adopts a comprehensive definition of what constitutes violence against women and girls with disabilities in accordance with international human rights standards and as articulated by disability organizations; it thus encompasses “violence accomplished by physical force, legal compulsion, economic coercion, intimidation, psychological manipulation, deception, and misinformation, and in which absence of free and informed consent is a key analytical component.” 4 While OHCHR recognizes that all persons with disabilities, including men, may experience some of these forms of violence, it only analyses the specific situation of women and girls. 5. In analysing violence against women with disabilities, OHCHR adopted the approach developed by the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences. Since the creation of the mandate, mandate holders have questioned approaches that treat violations in isolation from the overall subordination of women within a patriarchal system and viewed violence against women as an outcome of gender discrimination that shapes social, economic, cultural and political structures. The need to address the root causes of violence against women has also brought the mandate holders, over the years, to focus on the indivisibility of rights and to a shift from a 1 2 3 4 All submissions are available on the OHCHR website at www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 1(2). General Assembly resolution 48/104, art. 1. International Disability Alliance contribution dated 18 November 2011. 3