RISK FACTORS AND MEASURES TO REDUCE RISK the re-victimisation of women, in order for such extreme measures not to be necessary.98 are at higher risk of harming themselves or attempting suicide in comparison to boys or adults.104 In countries where such practices exist, monitoring bodies can be instrumental in identifying such women, especially those who have been detained for prolonged periods, examining their circumstances, and assisting with measures to enable their protection in other ways, by facilitating links between NGOs and women’s groups who run shelters, by developing recommendations to change specific laws which allow perpetrators to avoid justice, while their victims seek protection. As prison systems have been primarily designed for men, girls’ health needs are often not even addressed by prison policy and procedure. This can result, for instance, in infrequent or absent health services, including gynaecological provision for pregnant girls who are one of the most vulnerable groups in detention, due to the social stigmatisation to which they may be subjected and their inexperience in dealing with pregnancy.105 4. Certain categories of women who are at heightened risk a. Girls Girls comprise one of the most vulnerable groups in detention, due to their age, gender and small numbers. Studies have found that the vast majority of girls in detention have experienced abuse prior to their involvement with the criminal justice system.99 Due to the small numbers of girls in detention, ‘many countries do not make special arrangements or provide segregated facilities for them’,100 but often girls are held alongside boys and/or in facilities with mixed staff, resulting in a risk of exposure to violence, including sexual violence.101 In police stations, this risk is generally high – and regulations on the separation sometimes only cover prisons but not police stations. Girls may also be abused by older women and female staff. Alternatively, ‘to ensure their segregation from men and boys, girls risk being held in isolation or detained far away from home’.102 The impact of separation from family and community can severely harm a girl’s mental health, emotional well-being, self-esteem, social and life skills and abilities to varying extents, yet mental health issues are rarely addressed. Available studies confirm that girls are far more likely than boys to suffer with affective disorders (like depression) as well as anxiety disorders.103 As a consequence, girls Girls are even more ‘unaware of their rights, and even fewer have access to safe, effective and child- and gender-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaints mechanisms to address incidents of violence’.106 Rules 36 to 39 of the Bangkok Rules specifically address juvenile female prisoners, recognising the need for special protection of girl prisoners, the obligation of equal access to education and vocational training, the need for age- and gender-specific programmes and services, the relevance of health care including regular access to gynaecologists, and the special challenges for pregnant juvenile female prisoners. Monitoring groups should assess whether special measures are in place to protect girls from illtreatment and torture, which include: ensuring that the accommodation of girls is strictly separated from boys and from adult male and female prisoners; that they are supervised by women staff who are carefully selected and who have received special training; that they are properly supervised, to prevent abuse by other prisoners or members of staff and have access to a confidential and independent complaints’ mechanism.107 b. Victims of human trafficking and sex workers In many countries victims of human trafficking are imprisoned, on charges of prostitution, illegal entry, illegal residence or work, despite international conventions which require States to protect and not to re-victimise victims of human trafficking.108 Such women are particularly vulnerable in detention due to 98. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, Article 4 (f). 99. PRI/IPJJ, Neglected Needs: Girls in the criminal justice system, p10. 100. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children, Safeguarding the rights of girls in the criminal justice system, 2015, p5. 101. See for example, ‘Custody and Control, Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls,’ Human Rights Watch, American Civil Liberties Union, September 2006. 102. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children, Safeguarding the rights of girls in the criminal justice system, 2015, p6, quoting A/HRC/21/25, Joint report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system, 27 June 2012, para. 45. 103. Teplin L A et al., ‘Psychiatric Disorders in Youth in Juvenile Detention’, Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol 59, No 12, Cited in F T Sherman, Making Detention Reform Work for Girls, A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Practice Guides 5, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2013. 104. See, for example, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, Annual Report 2006-7. 105. PRI/IPJJ, Neglected Needs: Girls in the criminal justice system, p13. 106. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children, Safeguarding the rights of girls in the criminal justice system, 2015, p4. 107. See PRI, Guidance Document on the United Nations Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), 2013, p96. 108. UN General Assembly, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 15 November 2000, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4720706c0.html <accessed 20 October 2012> Articles 6-8 and 9 (b) Penal Reform International | Women in Detention: a guide to gender-sensitive monitoring | 17