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decision to perform spinal surgery on a minor who had been raped and attempted suicide, severely injuring herself. L.C. was also refused therapeutic abortion. Similar stereotypes operate to restrict access to contraception: pharmacists and health personnel in public dispensing have claimed, for example, their right to conscientious objection in refusing to accept requests for contraceptives and refusing to fill a doctor’s prescription of contraceptives.78 Conversely, involuntary sterilisation goes in the direction of denying women motherhood. The stereotype here sees the
The book explores the relationship between violence against women on one hand, and the rights to health and reproductive health on the other. It argues that violation of the right to health is a consequence of violence, and that (state) health policies might be a cause of – or create the conditions for – violence against women. It significantly contributes to feminist and international human rights legal scholarship by conceptualising a new ground-breaking idea, violence against women’s health (VAWH), using the Hippocratic paradigm as the backbone of the analysis. The two dimensions of violence at the core of the book – the horizontal, ‘interpersonal’ dimension and the vertical ‘state policies’ dimension – are investigated through around 70 decisions of domestic, regional and international judicial or quasi-judicial bodies (the anamnesis). The concept of VAWH, drawn from the anamnesis, enriches the traditional concept of violence against women with a human rights-based approach to autonomy and a reflection on the pervasiveness of patterns of discrimination (diagnosis). VAWH as theorised in the book allows the reconceptualisation of states’ obligations in an innovative way, by identifying for both dimensions obligations of result, due diligence obligations, and obligations to progressively take steps (treatment). The book eventually asks whether it is not international law itself that is the ultimate cause of VAWH (prognosis).
has proved particularly useful in reflecting on the prohibition of FGM/C and in broadening my view in order to include genital cosmetic surgery in the analysis. The descriptive function of the concept of VAWH is not limited, but capable of embracing two dimensions of violence. It was indeed fundamental when I came to reconceptualise states’ obligations. In the treatment, therefore, I placed both the horizontal and the vertical dimensions beneath the same ‘umbrella’ in terms of obligations, without departing from the well-established categories of international law
in filming scenes in which their expert knowledge could be relevant. This contrasts with the practice of seeking advice from medical experts on the veracity of scenes involving surgery, for instance, or from scientists on relevant aspects of film. 14 Second, can an expert in one discipline attain sufficient expertise in another to be recognized as competent by experts in the second discipline, or will she be regarded as an amateur? Film studies scholars and cinematographers can point to the inability of counsel and judges in international criminal trials to notice
were playing in the hills in the municipality of Mitrovica [in Kosovo]. The group included two of Agim Behrami’s sons, Gadaf and Bekim Behrami. At around midday the group came upon a number of undetonated cluster bomb units (“CBUs”) which had been dropped during the bombardment by NATO in 1999 and the children began playing with the CBUs. Believing it was safe, one of the children threw a CBU in the air: it detonated and killed Gadaf Behrami. Bekim Behrami was also seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Pristina (where he later had eye surgery and was released
convictions to put prospective offenders on notice, and the elaboration of statistics on cases of marriage by abduction and rape.198 In setting monetary compensation, the Commission considered the physical, psychological and emotional trauma in deciding to award US$150,000.199 Female genital mutilation/cutting Context and legal background Female circumcision, female genital surgery, female genital mutilation and female genital cutting all describe procedures which affect female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Female circumcision seems the most misleading word, since
customs and traditions, that infringe upon other human rights.’56 Nonetheless, the condemnation of practices such as FGM/C cannot be blind. Other practices widespread in European and American countries, supported by similar stereotyped views of the role of women in society, must be assessed from the perspective of human rights law. Accordingly, this book will explore whether and to what extent genital cosmetic surgery can be compared to FGM/C, in particular in terms of the consent expressed by the girl/woman to the practice.57 As I anticipated, VAW is universal, rooted
judicial remedy is fundamental in cases of abortion, to avoid the exercise of a completely discretionary power by medical personnel. In the landmark L.C. v. Peru case, the CEDAW Committee acknowledged that the medical decision – to delay spinal surgery and deny abortion – had 206 DE VIDO 9781526124975 PRINT.indd 206 24/03/2020 11:02 The treatment been guided by ‘sociocultural pattern based on a stereotypical function of a woman and her reproductive capacity.’182 L.C. had been at the mercy of the medical personnel, because of the lack of legislative measures regulating
One widely debated issue that raises concerns of both cultural relativism and Western essentialism is that of what is termed female circumcision, genital surgery or genital mutilation. 163 Female genital mutilation involves the removal of parts of female genitalia, often without anaesthetic, most commonly when girls are very young. The operation is traditionally performed by an older woman
. 163 M. Lugones, ‘Playfulness, “world-traveling”, and loving perception’, 2 Hypatia (1987) 3 at 18. 164 I. Gunning, ‘Arrogant perception, world-travelling and multicultural feminism: the case of female genital surgeries’, 23 Colombia Human Rights Law Review