PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation includes the “enforcement of criminal laws”.1106 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has addressed violence as a part of the right to health under article 12 of the Covenant.1107 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Gender-based violence is recognized as a form of discrimination that requires a specific, robust and comprehensive legislative response. In its general recommendation No. 19 (1992), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women defines gender-based violence as “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”.1108 In its subsequent general recommendation No. 35 (2017), the Committee noted that such violence can take “multiple forms, including acts or omissions intended or likely to cause or result in death or physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, threats of such acts, harassment, coercion and arbitrary deprivation of liberty”.1109 Under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, States are required to take positive measures to eliminate all forms of violence against women and are responsible for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence.1110 Such measures should include the use of criminal sanctions in situations in which the “physical, sexual or psychological integrity” of a woman is violated; alongside civil remedies.1111 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has deemed a number of States to be in violation of the provisions of the relevant Convention in cases concerning rape,1112 domestic violence,1113 coercive sterilization1114 and other forms of gender-based violence, and it has issued, in all of those decisions, very detailed instructions on remedy. Regional tribunals have followed the Committee’s jurisprudence, inter alia, by identifying systemic discrimination in the response by authorities to gender-based violence.1115 In recent decades, regional tribunals have, in a range of particular cases and scenarios, identified discrimination in relation to the right to life, the ban on cruel and degrading treatment or punishment, and the right to private and family life in cases concerning bias-motivated violence on grounds of race or ethnicity,1116 disability,1117 and sexual orientation or gender identity.1118 168 1106 Ibid. 1107 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000), paras. 10, 21, 35 and 51. 1108 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19 (1992), para. 6. 1109 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35 (2017), para. 14 (footnotes omitted). 1110 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19 (1992), paras. 4 and 9; and general recommendation No. 28 (2010), para. 17. See also Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, V.K. v. Bulgaria (CEDA/C/49/20/2008), para. 9.3; and Jallow v. Bulgaria (CEDAW/C/52/D/32/2011), para. 8.4. 1111 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35 (2017), para. 29 (a). 1112 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Vertido v. Philippines (CEDAW/C/46/D/18/2008). 1113 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A.T. v. Hungary, communication No. 2/2003. 1114 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A. S. v. Hungary, communication No. 4/2004. 1115 See, for instance, European Court of Human Rights, Opuz v. Turkey, Application No. 33401/02, Judgment, 9 June 2009; and Volodina v. Russia, Application No. 41261/17, Judgment, 9 July 2019. 1116 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Acosta Martínez et al. v. Argentina, Judgment, 31 August 2020, paras. 96–103; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Situation of Human Rights in Honduras (OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 42/15) (2015), para. 420; European Court of Human Rights, Kurić and others v. Slovenia, Application No. 26828/06, Judgment, 26 June 2012, paras. 386–396; European Court of Human Rights, Stoica v. Romania, Application No. 42722/02, Judgment, 4 March 2008, para. 117; and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Malawi African Association and others v. Mauritania, Decision, 11 May 2000, para. 131. 1117 European Court of Human Rights, Cînța v. Romania, Application No. 3891/19, Judgment, 18 February 2020, paras. 43–81; European Court of Human Rights, Enver Şahin v. Turkey, Application No. 23065/12, Judgment, 30 January 2018, paras. 67–69; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Impact of the Friendly Settlement Procedure (OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 45/13) (2013), paras. 204–205; and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Purohit and Moore v. the Gambia, communication No. 241/2001, Decision, 15–29 May 2003, para. 61. 1118 European Court of Human Rights, Sabalić v. Croatia, Application No. 50231/13, Judgment, 14 January 2021, paras. 115–116; European Court of Human Rights, X and others v. Austria, Application No. 19010/07, Judgment, 19 February 2013, paras. 100–115; InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons in the Americas; and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, resolution on protection against violence and other human rights violations against persons on the basis of their real or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity (ACHPR/Res.275(LV)2014).