A/HRC/20/16 78. Female infanticide has been practiced throughout history, on all continents, and by persons from all backgrounds.134 It remains a critical concern in a number of countries today. It is closely linked to the phenomenon of sex-selective abortion, which targets female foetuses. Female infanticide has been known to take such forms as the induced death of infants by suffocation, drowning, neglect and exposure to danger or other means.135 79. In recent decades, sex-ratio imbalances in favour of boy children have grown in a number of Asian countries, and there is broad agreement concerning the problem of genderbiased sex selection.136 In a context of son preference, the recent availability of technologies that can be used for sex selection has compounded the problem. The rise in sex-ratio imbalances and the normalization of the use of sex selection is caused by deeply embedded discrimination against women within marriage systems, family formation and inheritance laws.137 80. In the case of India, international attention has been drawn to the vast divergence in the country‘s natural gender ratio, with estimates that in 2003 100 million women were ―missing‖ from its population.138 It is estimated that one million selective female foetal abortions occur annually in India.139 There is no official statistical data available on female infanticide, but in the state of Kerala, it is estimated that about 25,000 female newborns are killed every year.140 The preadolescent mortality rate of girls under 5 years old was 21 per cent higher than for boys of the same age in India. Violence, as well as nutritional and deliberate medical neglect by girls‘ parents, was cited as the main causes of death.141 81. Female infanticide in China goes back as far 2000 B.C. Girls were the main victims of infanticide, especially so in times of poverty and famine.142 A study suggested that the estimated number of missing girls in the twentieth century in China between 1900 and 2000 is 35.59 million, representing 4.65 per cent of its population. An analysis of the most recent data from China shows that while the sex ratio at birth is more skewed in rural areas, the ratios in large cities increased in 2005 compared to 2000.143 These findings suggest that son preference is still a strong influence, and is increasingly being acted upon by those living in cities. IV. International and national developments A. International human rights law and jurisprudence 82. Violence against women has been affirmed, in many human rights instruments and by human rights bodies, as a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women. 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 20 Williamson, L. (1978) ―An anthropological analysis‖. In Marvin Kohl (ed.), Infanticide and the value of life, pp. 61-75. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. Hom, S. (1992) ―Female infanticide in China: the spectrum of human rights and reflections towards another vision‖. In Harmes, R. and D. Russell (eds.) (2001) ―Femicide in Global Perspective”, New York: Teachers College Press. Preventing gender-biased sex selection. An interagency statement by OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN-Women and WHO. 2011. Ibid. Sen, A. (2003) ―Missing Women Revisited‖, British Medical Journal 327:1297-8. UK Allahbadia, G. (2002) ―The 50 million missing women” Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, vol. 19, no. 9: 411–16. Aravamudan, G. (2007) ―Disappearing Daughters: The Tragedy of Female Foeticide‖, New Delhi: Penguin Books, pp. 157–59. Moccia, P., Anthony, D., and A. Orlandi (eds) (2007) ―The State of the World's Children”, South Asia Edition. Women and Children. The Double Dividend for Gender Equality. UNICEF. Croll, E. (1980) ―Feminism and socialism in China”. New York, Schocken Books, pp. 24. Ibid.