A/HRC/29/20 measures to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women. 9. The above-mentioned joint general recommendation/general comment also notes that sex and gender-based discrimination intersect with other factors that affect women and girls, in particular those who belong to or are perceived as belonging to disadvantaged groups and who are therefore at a higher risk of becoming victims of harmful practices. 10. Human rights mechanisms have indicated that female genital mutilation may amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as set forth in articles 1 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment6 and violates the right to life when it results in death. 11. The practice also violates the right to health.7 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Committee have all expressed concern about the medicalization8 of female genital mutilation and have urged States not to limit criminalization of the practice only to those who perform the practice outside of hospitals and without medical qualifications. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has raised concerns about the conflation and description of the practice as female circumcision. There are fundamental differences both in the harmful effect, intent, purpose and consequences associated with female genital mutilation and “circumcision” performed on boys and men. For example, female genital mutilation is often used to primarily control women’s and girls’ sexual desires, while male circumcision does not have this intent or result. 6 7 8 In its general comment 2 (CAT/C/GC/2), the Committee against Torture explained that States have an obligations regarding the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment to address the activities, such as female genital mutilation, of private persons or entities. The Committee noted that female genital mutilation violates the physical integrity and human dignity of women and girls and has called on Governments to enact legislation prohibiting the practice, to punish perpetrators and to adopt necessary measures to eradicate it (see, for example, CAT/C/CR/31/6, CAT/C/KEN/CO/1, CAT/C/TGO/CO/1, CAT/C/TCD/CO/1and CAT/C/MRT/CO/1). In his 2008 report (A/HRC/7/3), the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment recognized that, like torture, female genital mutilation involved the deliberate infliction of severe pain and suffering, and considered that it constituted a violation falling within his mandate. According to article 24, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, States are obliged to take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children. Medicalization refers to any act of female genital mutilation that is condoned by a State and performed in both public and private hospitals by trained medical personnel. This includes the performance of excisions by health workers and the use of modern medication to relieve pain and fight infection. Trained health professionals who perform female genital mutilation violate the human rights of women and girls. They also violate the fundamental medical ethic to do no harm. See WHO and others, Eliminating female genital mutilation: an interagency statement. In his 2008 report (A/HRC/7/3), the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment made it clear that, even if a law authorizes the practice, any act of female genital mutilation would amount to torture and the existence of the law by itself would constitute consent or acquiescence by the State. Also, in cases where acts of female genital mutilation are performed in private clinics and the physicians who carry out the procedure are not prosecuted, the State de facto consents to the practice and is therefore accountable. Art. 5 (b) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) prohibits, through legislative measures backed by sanctions, all forms of female genital mutilation, scarification, medicalization and para-medicalization of female genital mutilation and all other practices, in order to eradicate them. 5