Minority rights focus in the United Nations 53 Article 31 calls upon States to respect and promote a child’s right to participate in cultural and artistic life. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has adopted a number of general comments and regularly holds discussions on relevant issues. While no general comment has been devoted to minority children per se, general comment No. 11 (2009) concerns indigenous children. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women This Convention, which entered into force in 1981, deals with the rights of women, including the right to equal treatment under the law; equality in education, political participation, employment, health and the economy; freedom from sexual exploitation; and the possibility of temporary special measures to overcome inequality. In addition to agreeing to eliminate discrimination against women by “any person, organization or enterprise”, States parties agree to take appropriate measures “to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices” which discriminate against women (emphasis added). The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has consistently spoken out about the situation of women during armed conflict and about gender-based violence. In 1992, the Committee adopted general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, reflecting a major international concern that women continue to suffer multiple discrimination because of their gender. General recommendation No. 26 (2008) concerns the rights of women migrant workers, who are often members of a minority. Certain articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women may be of particular relevance to minority women. Article 5 obliges States parties to take “all appropriate measures ... [t]o modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women” in order to eliminate “prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”. Article 7 concerns the right of women to participate in public life and to hold public office (see general recommendation No. 23 (1997)). Article 10 requires that educational programmes eliminate stereotyped concepts of the roles of men and women. Article 14 concerns the particular problems faced by rural women, many of whom may be members of minorities (see general recommendation No. 16 (1991)). Article 16 reiterates that women and men shall be equal in all matters related to marriage and family, including the right to marry freely and only with full and free consent. It also provides that no legal effect may be given to the betrothal or marriage of a child (see general recommendation No. 21 (1994)). Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment entered into force in 1987 and its Optional Protocol in 2006. The principle of non-discrimination is a basic and general principle in the protection of human rights, and fundamental to the interpretation and application of the Convention. Non-discrimination is included within the Convention’s definition of torture itself; article 1.1 explicitly prohibits specified acts when carried out for “any reason based on discrimination of any kind ….”