Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 8 May 2017 5.4 Prisoners and mental health (ICESCR Articles 12(1) & 12(2)(d); LOI 25) 35. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics,15 the Commission’s Equal Before the Law report,16 and other studies17 show that people with disabilities have higher rates of interaction with the criminal justice system than other Australians. The Commission also noted with concern the high rate of disability among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and that they are over-represented in Australian prisons, particularly those with mental health disorders and cognitive disability. 36. Commission research has found that necessary supports and adjustments for people with disabilities were frequently not provided in the criminal justice system.18 37. Recommendation: That Australian governments develop appropriate support for people with disabilities, particularly those with mental health disorders and cognitive disability including national guidelines on ‘fitness to plead’. 6 Women 6.1 Women and Work (ICESCR Articles 3 & 10; LOI 11 & 14) 38. There are a range of gender equality gaps in Australia that impact on women’s right to work, right to just and favourable conditions of work and right to adequate standard of living for themselves and their family. The inequality of women in the Australian workforce is well-documented. There have been no significant changes since the Commission’s August 2016 Submission the ICESCR Committee List of Issues (paras 61-70). 39. Recommendation: That the Australian Government further strengthen efforts to support women in paid work, unpaid caring roles and to reduce gender gaps in workforce participation, wages and retirement incomes and savings. 6.2 Violence against women and children (ICESCR Article 10; LOI 19 & 20) 40. Gender-based violence against women and children in Australia remains endemic and continues to negatively impact on the realisation of women’s and children’s economic social and cultural rights. 41. The Commission acknowledges the Government’s National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-22 (National Plan).19 Concerns remain at the under-resourcing of accommodation and support services and the inadequate levels of support for women in rural and remote areas, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women with disabilities, older women, and lesbian, trans and intersex women.20 8