A/HRC/40/27 social insurance for parents who have children with disabilities, in addition to the regular financial support provided under the social insurance system. B. Freedom from abuse, exploitation and violence 26. Children with disabilities face a heightened risk of abuse, exploitation and violence as much in times of peace as in situations of humanitarian emergency. This is due to a number of factors, including widespread stigma and discrimination, lack of accessible information or support with regard to theirs right and due assistance, lack of legal standing, and lack of access to justice. The result is a vicious circle of harm and impunity that disempowers children with disabilities and impedes their participation and exercise of rights. 27. While data remain scarce and unsystematic, there is widespread evidence that women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be subjected to violence, including sexual violence.19 Children with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are among the most vulnerable, with almost five times the risk of sexual violence than their non-disabled peers.20 Girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable, as they are often the target of violence and other harmful practices adopted within the family, communities and institutions. In many countries, girls with disabilities are at greater risk of infanticide, and vulnerable to other intersecting forms of risk associated with their specific situation or identity, such as in the case of girls living in institutions, in situations of conflict or migration, or those with albinism. 21 28. In some cases, girls and boys with disabilities become the object of “correction” or treatment by families, caregivers or within institutions, made to undergo traumatic or abusive procedures without their consent, such as electroconvulsive therapy, psychosurgery, experimental mercury detoxification treatment, harsh behavioural modification regimes (including packing for autistic children), conductive education for children with cerebral palsy, and limb-lengthening for children with restricted growth. Measures may also be taken to halt a girl’s sexual and reproductive development, such as in the case of growth attenuation treatment, forced sterilization or forced contraception, which violate the right to health, the right to family, the protection of personal and physical integrity, protection from violence, abuse and exploitation. Such interventions are invasive, painful and irreversible, and may amount to torture or ill-treatment, particularly when applied against the subject’s will (A/73/161, para. 41). In addition, these practices are inherently disempowering and violate the principle of respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and their right to preserve their identity, as stipulated in article 3 (h) of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 29. Article 16 of the Convention requires States to take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and education measures to protect persons with disabilities from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, including their gender-based aspects, both within and outside the home, and specifically calls for women- and child-focused legislation to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted. 22 In its general 19 20 21 22 8 United Nations, UN Flagship Report, pp. 290–294. World Health Organization (WHO), “Violence against adults and children with disabilities”, available from www.who.int/disabilities/violence/en. Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices, para. 9. This provision is complemented by article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comments No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, and their joint general recommendation No. 31/general comment No. 18, in which each Committee highlights the need to take targeted measures to prevent and respond to violence against children with disabilities.