E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 20 69. Positive advances were subsequently achieved, in particular with general recommendation No. 19, adopted at the eleventh session of CEDAW in 1992. That text, whose heading is the same as that of recommendation No. 12 (“Violence against women”), which was adopted four years previously, represents, like the work of the Human Rights Committee on article 3 of the Covenant, an actual re-reading of the entire Women’s Convention. It contributes several points of interest to the subject of the present study. 70. Even though article 1 of the Women’s Convention does not expressly refer to violence, the Committee includes gender-based violence in the definition of prohibited discrimination as provided for in that article and in relevant customary or treaty-based human rights norms, which are thus extended to women.67 The Committee goes on to recognize that violence can arise from private acts and not necessarily from action by the State, but the latter remains responsible if it fails to act with due diligence to prevent, punish and provide compensation.68 In a third section, the Committee extends violence against women to encompass “[t]raditional attitudes by which women are regarded as subordinate to men or as having stereotyped roles perpetuat[ing] widespread practices involving violence or coercion”.69 71. Going beyond an abstract and sectoral approach, the Committee specifically mentions a large number of traditional practices that impair women’s status and not solely their health, as had been the case in many previous instruments. Most of the practices referred to are based on religion or imputed to religion or to customs which it is difficult to separate from religion in the broad sense of the term. The Committee considers that their effect “on the physical and mental integrity of women is to deprive them of the equal enjoyment, exercise and knowledge of human rights and fundamental freedoms”. They include forced marriage, dowry deaths, acid attacks and female excision (para. 11). Alluding to article 12 of the Convention, the Committee refers to forms of violence which put women’s health and lives at risk: dietary restrictions for pregnant women and female genital mutilation (para. 12); honour killings (para. 24 (q) (ii)); and cultural situations which place women in an environment that is a potential source of violence: economic dependence on their husbands (para. 23). It is probably the positive developments in perceptions of women’s rights and also the persistence of negative religious and cultural practices affecting women which explain CEDAW’s establishment of a causal link between the three factors of discrimination, violence and traditional religious and/or cultural practices, which accordingly call for measures in line with those developments.70 72. The approaches adopted by the Human Rights Committee and CEDAW complement one another since, as will be seen in the factual part of the present study, while many religiously or culturally based practices and norms affecting women’s status cannot be regarded—at least directly—as a form of violence against women, they impair women’s status in the light of religion and traditions. That applies to polygamy, inheritance discrimination and certain practices related to marriage. CEDAW’s general recommendation No. 21 on equality in marriage and family relations takes this aspect into account while emphasizing that the Women’s Convention recognizes “the importance of culture and tradition in shaping the thinking and behaviour of men and women and the significant part they play in restricting the exercise of basic rights by women”.71 Alluding to certain provisions of the Convention, including articles 5, 9, 15 and 16, CEDAW refers to discrimination in relation to giving evidence (para. 7); restrictions on choice of domicile (para. 9); polygamy (para. 14);72 forced marriages or remarriages arranged for payment or preferment (para. 16); family responsibilities (para. 17); women’s control over their fertility (para. 21); choice of family name (para. 24); discrimination and inequality in the