III. Torture and ill-treatment of children deprived of their liberty

B. Torture and other ill-treatment of children deprived of their liberty in law and in practice

1. Children in conflict with the law

48. Girls deprived of their liberty are at a heightened risk of sexual violence, sexual exploitation and underage pregnancies while in detention. The risk of sexual abuse is greater when male guards supervise girls in detention. Girls deprived of their liberty have different needs not only to those of adults but also of boys. Girls in detention are often not only children but also carers, either as mothers or as siblings, and have specific health, hygiene and sanitary needs. Across the globe, girls are rarely kept separately from women in pretrial and post-conviction settings (see A/HRC/16/52/Add.3, para. 54). Similarly, the Special Rapporteur notes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children are at a heightened risk.

IV. Conclusions and recommendations

B. Recommendations

86. With regard to conditions during detention, the Special Rapporteur calls upon all States:

(g) To respond to the specific needs of groups of children that are even more vulnerable to ill-treatment or torture, such as girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, and children with disabilities;

Link to full text of the report: Report-SRTorture-2015-eng