CEDAW/C/51/D/19/2008 escape an abusive relationship and seeking protection in a battered women’s shelter. The Committee further notes that the author’s lawyer, who was assigned by the Legal Services Board, advised her to follow the evacuation request made by her partner, and did not challenge the validity of such request. The Committee considers that the combined effect of the above facts led to discrimination against the author as defined by article 1 of the Convention. The Committee considers that the author has established a distinction based on the fact that she was an aboriginal woman victim of domestic violence, which she clearly submitted in her first lawsuit against her partner, and that such violence had the effect of impairing the exercise of her property rights. In its general recommendation No. 28, the Committee states that intersectionality is a basic concept for understanding the scope of the general obligation of States parties contained in article 2 of the Convention. The discrimination of women based on sex and gender is inextricably linked with other factors that affect women, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste, and sexual orientation and gender identity. States parties must legally recognize and prohibit such intersecting forms of discrimination and their compounded negative impact on the women concerned (para. 18). Accordingly, the Committee finds that an act of intersectional discrimination has taken place against the author. 10.3 As to the author’s allegation regarding violations of her rights under article 2, paragraphs (d) and (e), of the Convention, the Committee recalls that the said article calls on States parties to ensure that public authorities and institutions refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. Article 2, paragraph (d), of the Convention establishes an obligation for States parties not only to abstain from engaging in any act or practice of direct and indirect discrimination against women, but to ensure that any laws, policies or actions that have the effect or result of generating discrimination are abolished. 14 Further, article 2, paragraph (e), of the Convention requires the State party to adopt measures that ensure the practical realization of the elimination of discrimination against women, which includes measures enabling women to make complaints about violations of their rights under the Convention and have effective remedies.15 As the author is an aboriginal woman who is in a vulnerable position, the State party is obliged to ensure the effective elimination of intersectional discrimination. 10.4 The Committee takes note of the State party’s submission that several efforts were made by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to rectify the situation faced by the author when it was brought to their attention that her name had been removed from the Assignment of Lease, including offering her other homes in the community or monetary compensation, but that these offers were rejected by the author. It also notes the submission that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation was no longer the registered owner of the property at the time that the settlement negotiations were ongoing, and thus was unable to offer the author a one-half interest in the property. The Committee, however, observes that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation was administering the property when it removed the name of the author from the Assignment of Lease and reassigned the author’s share to her partner, who was not eligible for such accommodation in the first place according to the Corporation’s own rules;16 that the alternative accommodations offered to the author were for rent and not ownership, and smaller in size than the house from which she had been evicted; also that the monetary compensation offers were, according to her, 14 15 16 16 See the Committee’s general recommendation No.28, para. 35. Ibid., para. 36. See the Procedural Directive of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Northern Territorial Rental Purchase Program, para. 6.7, as submitted by the State party.