Tag: metodo femminista

Gynaecological and Obstetric Violence: meeting the threshold of ill-treatment? A feminist reading of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Sara Dal Monico

Postdoctoral Researcher in International Law, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

(Contributo pubblicato online first)

Abstract

The phenomenon of gynaecological and obstetric violence (GOV) is a growing yet underreported practice which affects women disproportionately worldwide. It has already been addressed by the jurisprudence of Human Rights Courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as well as treaty bodies, despite lacks in the international legal framework of a formal legal recognition. The contribution offers a reading of Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) with a feminist approach, focusing on GOV as example of an experience disproportionately targeting women and a form of gender-based violence, and assess whether the phenomenon – not only limited to the most serious violations, such as forced sterilizations – should be approached by the ECtHR as meeting the threshold of inhuman or degrading treatment, thus triggering Article 3 ECHR.

La violenza ostetrica e ginecologica (VOG) è una pratica in crescita, poco denunciata, che colpisce le donne in modo sproporzionato in tutto il mondo. Casi di VOG sono già stati affrontati dalla giurisprudenza dei tribunali per i diritti umani, come la Corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo (Corte Edu), e dai comitati internazionali, nonostante manchi nel quadro giuridico internazionale un riconoscimento formale. Il contributo offre una lettura dell’articolo 3 della Convenzione europea dei diritti dell’uomo (Cedu) alla luce del metodo femminista, concentrandosi sulla VOG come esempio di esperienza che colpisce in modo sproporzionato le donne e di forma di violenza di genere, indagando se il fenomeno – non solo limitatamente alle violazioni più gravi, come le sterilizzazioni forzate – debba essere affrontato dalla Corte Edu quale condotta che supera la soglia prevista dall’articolo 3 Cedu.

Table of content

1. Introduction. – 2. Going beyond patterns of oppression: a brief appraisal of the feminist method to international legal analysis. – 3. Women’s experiences left outside ill-treatment. – 3.1. Gynaecological and obstetric violence as a case study – 4. Ill-treatment and the ECtHR’s approach to cases concerning GOV. – 5. Widening the parameters of ill-treatment through the feminist method: considerations de lege lata and de lege ferenda. – 5.1 Considerations de lege lata. – 5.1.1. GOV as torture. – 5.1.2. GOV as inhuman or degrading treatment. – 5.2 Considerations de lege ferenda. – 6. Conclusion.