A/HRC/30/65 young, illiterate and single mothers who have to take care of their children and other family members.66 53. It has been reported that women who use drugs may, depending on the laws and policies in force, face losing custody of their children, forced or coerced sterilization, abortion or criminal penalties for using drugs during pregnancy. In certain States, women who use drugs may be subject to detention during their pregnancy. Women who use drugs may not receive the appropriate care when they are pregnant. 67 WHO has published guidelines for the identification and management of substance use and related disorders during pregnancy. 54. Discrimination may exist in women’s prisons where harm reduction, including opium substitution therapy, may not be available.68 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended that States provide gender-sensitive and evidence-based drug treatment services, including harm reduction programmes for women in detention, to reduce the harmful effects of drug use (see CEDAW/C/GEO/CO/4-5, para. 31 (e)).It has been reported that women who use drugs are often the targets of violence, including sexual violence, perpetrated by their partners and law enforcement officers. Women may be forced to have sex to avoid arrest or punishment by law enforcement officers.69 Women who use drugs and who are also sex workers are reported to be even more vulnerable.70 V. Rights of the child 55. Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that States parties shall take all appropriate measures to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties, and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances. 56. In its general comment No. 3 (2003) on HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted that, in most countries, children have not benefited from HIV prevention programmes related to substance use and that, where HIV prevention programmes exist, they have largely targeted adults. It observed that injecting practices using unsterilized instruments increase the risk of HIV transmission and that programmes and policies aimed at reducing substance use and HIV transmission must recognize the particular sensitivities and lifestyles of children. In its general comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee endorsed harm reduction as an important approach to minimizing the negative health impacts of substance abuse. It called for children to benefit from harm reduction programmes in its concluding observations (see CRC/C/UKR/CO/4, para. 59, CRC/C/AUT/CO/3-4, para. 51, and CRC/C/ALB/CO/2-4, para. 63 (b)). 57. The Committee has recommended that children receive accurate and objective information on drugs. It has called for children who use drugs not to be subjected to 66 67 68 69 70 14 Count the Costs, “The war on drugs: promoting stigma and discrimination”, pp. 8-9. Submission of the Women’s Harm Reduction International Network, pp. 6-7. Ibid., p. 5. Submission of the Open Society Institute, pp. 49-52. See also UNODC, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), WHO and the International Network of People Who Use Drugs, “Women who inject drugs and HIV: addressing specific needs” (2014). Submissions of the Women’s Harm Reduction International Network, p. 8; and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, pp. 4-5.