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The 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners requires "no discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."
Other provisions apply to sleeping accommodations, sanitation, personal hygiene, clothing and bedding, food, exercise, medical services, discipline and punishment, instruments of restraint, information to and complaints by prisoners, contact with the outside world, books, religion, retention of prisoners' property, notification of death, illness, or transfer, among other provisions to provide humane and proper treatment.
The 1974 UN General Assembly Declaration of the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, requires all states engaged in armed conflicts and military occupiers:
"to spare women and children from the ravages of war. All the necessary steps shall be taken to ensure the prohibition of measures such as persecution, torture, punitive measures, degrading treatment and violence, particularly against women and children."
The 1977 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions....and relating to the Protections of Victims of International Armed Conflicts - supplements the four Geneva Conventions.
The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women protects them with regard to discrimination, human rights, judicial fairness, equality, reproduction, health, education, employment, and "fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."
The 1988 Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under any Form of Detention or Imprisonment affirms their human rights and obligation for authorities to enforce them - especially for women, children, the aged, sick, or handicapped.
The 1999 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women puts this measure "on an equal footing with International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment."
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