CEDAW/C/GC/32 46. States parties should establish adequate screening mechanisms for the early identification of women asylum seekers with specific protection and assistance needs, including women with disabilities, unaccompanied girls, 45 victims of trauma, victims of trafficking and/or forced prostitution, victims of sexual violence and victims of torture and/or ill-treatment. 46 47. States parties should ensure that interviewers and decision makers at all levels have the necessary training, tools and guidance on the adjudication of genderrelated asylum claims. In recognition of the relevant provisions of the Convention, States parties should develop policies in line with the present general recommendation and with the UNHCR “Guidelines on international protection: gender-related persecution within the context of article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees”. 48. States parties should ensure, throughout the asylum procedure and during the integration process for women granted refugee status, an adequate standard of living, including safe accommodation, sanitary and health facilities, food, clothing and necessary social services, in addition to sources of livelihood and employment opportunities for women asylum seekers and refugees, and provide for appropriate monitoring and complaints mechanisms at reception facilities. 47 49. States parties should recognize in their legislation that seeking asylum is not an unlawful act and that women asylum seekers should not be penalized (including by means of detention) for their illegal entry or stay if they present themselves to the authorities without delay and show good cause for their illegal entry or stay. 48 As a general rule, detention of pregnant women and nursing mothers, who both have special needs, should be avoided, while children should not be detained with their mothers unless doing so is the only means of maintaining family unity and is determined to be in the best interest of the child. Alternatives to detention, including release with or without conditions, should be considered in each individual case and especially when separate facilities for women and/or families are not available. 50. States parties should institute gender-sensitive procedural safeguards in asylum procedures to ensure that women asylum seekers are able to present their cases on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. States parties should ensure: (a) That women asylum seekers have the right to an independent claim to asylum and, in this respect, to be interviewed separately, without the presence of male family members, so that they have the opportunity to present their case; (b) That women asylum seekers are provided with information about the status of the determination process and how to gain access to it, in addition to legal advice, in a manner and language that they understand. They should be informed of the right to and, upon request, be provided with, a female interviewer and interpreter; __________________ 45 46 47 48 14-64766 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 6 on treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin, para. 31 (i). Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, conclusion No. 93 (LIII) on reception of asylum seekers in the context of individual asylum systems, para. (b) (iii). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, arts. 2 (c) and (f) and 3. 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, art. 31. 15/21