{"id":33996,"date":"2013-09-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ready-for-feedback3.com\/shape-history\/fmr\/mcginley\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T14:45:00","slug":"mcginley","status":"publish","type":"fmr_content","link":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/ar\/mcginley\/","title":{"rendered":"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Non-discrimination is a founding principle of international human rights law. It is enshrined in a range of international treaties including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which states that discrimination against women is the \u201cdistinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex\u201d that results in the curtailing of women\u2019s human rights and fundamental freedoms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The UN Rules on the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\" title=\"\">[1]<\/a>) recognise the distinct needs of women in the criminal justice system and also introduce safeguards to protect women from ill-treatment. Although immigration detention settings are not covered by the Bangkok Rules, these same principles are very relevant to them; the UNHCR Guidelines on Detention, for example, refer to the Bangkok Rules in their guidance on asylum seeking women in detention<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\" title=\"\">[2]<\/a>. Considering places of detention from a gender perspective, Penal Reform International and the Association for Prevention of Torture state that women face heightened vulnerability and risk, and that while the \u2018root causes\u2019 of both are often external to the physical environment of detention, vulnerability and risk become \u201cintensified significantly in places of deprivation of liberty\u201d<a href=\"#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\" title=\"\">[3]<\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the UK, the Equality Duty which came into force in April 2011 places a duty on public bodies to have \u2018due regard\u2019 for protected characteristics including gender. However, there is still no dedicated gender-sensitive policy for female detainees in the UK \u2013 unlike in the prison system \u2013 and in many areas the immigration detention operating standards fall short of prison standards. For example, in the UK\u2019s short-term holding facilities, men and women are held in the same facility, something which would not happen in the prison system. The prison system has a Prison Service Order on \u2018Establishing an appropriate staff gender mix in establishments\u2019 (PSO 8005) which outlines appropriate staffing considerations with due regard to gender and particular tasks in the prison which are gender-specific. There is no equivalent published policy guidance in the UK\u2019s immigration removal centres which detain women, and the facilities do not make public the proportion of female staff they employ. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In light of international and domestic standards, it is of concern that the particular needs of detained women \u2013 in the UK and elsewhere \u2013 are not taken into account and that their daily realities often fall far short of these fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Ali McGinley ali.mcginley@aviddetention.org.uk is Director of AVID (Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees)<a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\" title=\"\"><strong>[4]<\/strong><\/a> in London, UK. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aviddetention.org.uk\">www.aviddetention.org.uk<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr align=\"left\" size=\"1\" width=\"33%\" \/>\n<div id=\"edn1\">\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\" title=\"\">[1]<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.penalreform.org\/publications\/bangkok+rules\">www.penalreform.org\/publications\/bangkok+rules<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"edn2\">\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\" title=\"\">[2]<\/a> UNHCR (2012) <em>Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum seekers an Alternatives to Detention <\/em><a href=\"..\/3%20edited%20articles\/www.unhcr.org\/refworld\/docid\/503489533b8.html\">www.unhcr.org\/refworld\/docid\/503489533b8.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"edn3\">\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\" title=\"\">[3]<\/a> Penal Reform International and Association for Prevention of Torture (2013), <em>Women in Detention: a guide to gender-sensitive monitoring <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/PenalReform-wid-2013\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/PenalReform-wid-2013<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"edn4\">\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref4\" name=\"_edn4\" title=\"\">[4]<\/a> In 2010 AVID secured an agreement for the UK Border Agency to carry out a comparison of the UK prison service policies concerning women, and to identify learning points which could be applied to women in the detention system. Publication of the results has been put on hold as a result, according to the UKBA, of pressures of competing priorities and workloads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Non-discrimination is a founding principle of international human rights law. It is enshrined in a range of international treaties including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which states that discrimination against women is the \u201cdistinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex\u201d that results in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","fmr_themes":[],"fmr_region":[],"fmr_issue":[92],"fmr_year":[],"fmr_content_type":[27],"fmr_languages":[36],"fmr_list_years":[562],"class_list":["post-33996","fmr_content","type-fmr_content","status-publish","hentry","fmr_issue-92","fmr_content_type-article","fmr_languages-english","fmr_list_years-562","entry","no-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination - Forced Migration Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ar_AR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination - Forced Migration Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Non-discrimination is a founding principle of international human rights law. It is enshrined in a range of international treaties including the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which states that discrimination against women is the \u201cdistinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex\u201d that results in&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Forced Migration Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T14:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/\",\"name\":\"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination - Forced Migration Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-19T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T14:45:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ar\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/ar\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/\",\"name\":\"Forced Migration Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ar\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Forced Migration Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ar\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/FMR_logo1.svg\",\"width\":53,\"height\":62,\"caption\":\"Forced Migration Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination - Forced Migration Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fmreview.org\/mcginley\/","og_locale":"ar_AR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Detention of women: principles of equality and non-discrimination - Forced Migration Review","og_description":"Non-discrimination is a founding principle of international human rights law. 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