WHAT QUALITIES DO MONITORING BODIES NEED TO ENGAGE IN THIS ISSUE? their background in sex work and prejudicial perceptions about their perceived promiscuity. Similar concerns apply to sex workers, for the same reasons. The vulnerability of victims of human trafficking is exacerbated by their foreign nationality and in many cases their lack of knowledge of the language of the country in which they are imprisoned. Their lack of social networks and inability to communicate further isolates them, makes it difficult for them to understand the internal rules and codes, whether formal or informal, of their place of detention and increases their vulnerability to coercion and abuse, including specifically sexual abuse. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking provides for the non-criminalisation of trafficked persons.109 UNHCR has underlined that ‘[t]he prevention of trafficking or re-trafficking cannot be used as a blanket ground for detention, unless it can be justified in the individual case ….. Alternatives to detention, including safe houses and other care arrangements, are sometimes necessary for such victims or potential victims, including in particular children.’110 If and when victims of human trafficking and sex workers are detained, for whatever reason, the detaining authorities need to take measures to protect them against ill-treatment and torture, including gender based violence. They should also ensure that those who do not speak the language most commonly spoken in the prison are provided with interpretation services on admission and when required during their detention, and ensure that they receive all information relating to the place of detention, rules and regulations, their rights and obligations and access to independent complaints’ procedures in a language that they understand. Monitoring bodies can play a key role in identifying such women at risk and taking action to ensure that their safety is protected, while at the same time recommending that their governments ratify the ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime’, and to put into practice its provisions, as required by the Bangkok Rules.111 c. Women with mental healthcare needs Women who are admitted to prison are more likely than men to suffer from mental disabilities, often as a result of domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse.112 Imprisonment generates new mental health problems or exacerbates existing ones, especially where women’s gender specific needs are not met and links with their families are disrupted. In addition, it is not uncommon for women with mental disabilities to be housed in a higher security level than necessary, since their needs may be regarded as risks, which can be extremely harmful to their mental wellbeing, worsening their condition. Women with mental disabilities are highly vulnerable to abuse, since they may not have the psychological makeup to protect or defend themselves, may not be able to determine when certain boundaries are being violated and their complaints may not be believed or taken seriously. Women in psychiatric institutions face similar risks. Monitoring groups should check whether the provisions of the Bangkok Rules on mental health in women’s prisons are being applied to ensure that the risks faced by women with mental healthcare needs are reduced and their mental wellbeing is protected. These include a thorough individual assessment of mental healthcare needs on admission to prison113 and the provision of individualised, gender-sensitive mental health treatment for those in need.114 Women who are diagnosed with mental healthcare needs should be housed in the least restrictive environment possible and should never be placed in solitary confinement.115 Alongside other limitations to the use of this practice, the revised Standard Minimum Rules provide that solitary confinement should be prohibited for ‘prisoners with mental or physical disabilities when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures’.116 During sentencing, alternatives to detention should be preferred wherever possible for women with mental healthcare needs, enabling them to be treated in the community, rather than subjecting them to the harmful impact of imprisonment on mental health.117 d. Other groups that are at heightened risk Other women, who are particularly vulnerable to illtreatment and torture, include women with disabilities, foreign national women, ethnic and racial minorities, Indigenous peoples, transgender women and lesbians.118 109. United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, E/2002/68/ Add.1 (2002), Principle 7. 110. UNHCR, Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention, Guideline 9.4, 2012, p38. http://www.unhcr.org/505b10ee9.html <accessed 24 November 2015>. 111. Bangkok Rules, Rule 66. 112. UNODC, Handbook for Prison Managers and Policymakers on Women and Imprisonment, p10. 113. Bangkok Rules, Rule 6. 114. Bangkok Rules, Rule 12. 115. Istanbul Protocol, op. cit. p24. 116. Revised Standard Minimum Rules, Rule 45 (2); see Chapter 3 f. 117. Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care make clear that persons with mental disabilities should have the right to be treated and cared for, as far as possible, in the community in which they live. (Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care, Principle 7.1). 118. For detailed guidance on the treatment of these groups in prison and alternatives to detention, see UNODC Handbook on Prisoners with Special Needs and UNODC Handbook for Prison Managers and Policymakers on Women and Imprisonment. 18 | Penal Reform International | Women in Detention: a guide to gender-sensitive monitoring