A/HRC/11/6 page 18 are socially ostracized, and get less medical attention and nutrition therein increasing their chances of experiencing violence.41 Chemical saturation of the water supply on the United States/Mexican border poisons babies in their mothers’ wombs while more women are diagnosed with breast cancer.42 Women face spousal abuse and social censure when fighting for access to clean water, as has been documented in Coporaque, Peru.43 The struggle for clean water also affects intergenerational violence, as within the Native American culture resulting from the flooding of the Cree lands in Canada by the James Bay hydroelectric dam.44 56. The privatization of water, often encouraged by World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies in developing countries, has created natural monopolies leading to price rises, particularly burdening the urban poor in accessing water. 57. Easy access to clean water on the other hand has been associated with girls’ and women’s empowerment and their protection from violence. Equitable access to water for productive use can address some of the root causes of poverty and gender inequality that fuel VAW. It frees up girls so they can improve their school attendance, and improves income-generating opportunities and access to economic resources that are known to lessen women’s vulnerability to violence.45 5. Right to health 58. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified VAW as an underlying determinant of health.46 In a multinational study, WHO found that “women who at some time experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, reported health problems with greater probability than those 41 Hassan, M. Manzurul, Aitkins, P. J., Dunn, C.E., “Social implications of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh”, Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 61 (2005), pp. 2201-2211 (see http://www. physics.harvard.edu/~wilson/arsenic/references/Hassan,%20Atkins,%20and%20Dunn.pdf). 42 Sze, Julie, “Boundaries of violence: Water, gender and globalization at US borders”, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 9, No. 4 (2007), pp. 475-84. 43 Delgado J.V. and Zwarteveen, M., “The public and private domain of the everyday politics of water: The constructions of gender and water power in the Andes of Peru”, ibid., pp. 503-511. 44 Ghosh, Nandita, “Women and the politics of water: An introduction”, ibid., pp. 443-454. 45 Interagency Taskforce on Gender and Water, Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief, 2006 (available at http://www.unwater.org/downloads/unwpolbrief230606.pdf). 46 Human Rights, Health and Poverty Reduction Strategies, Health and Human Rights Publication Series, Issue No. 5 (April 2005), p. 23 (available at http://www.who.int/hhr/news/ HRHPRS.pdf).