Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 61
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In Vertido v. Philippines, which concerned the sexual assault of a woman and the subsequent acquittal of the perpetrator based on gender-based myths and misconceptions about rape, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found the State party in violation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Committee noted the obligations of States parties to the Convention to take appropriate measures to modify or abolish not only existing laws and regulations, but also customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women. In this regard, the Committee stressed that stereotyping affects women's right to a fair and just trial and underlined that the judiciary must take caution not to create inflexible standards of what women or girls should be or what they should have done when confronted with a situation of rape, based merely on preconceived notions of what defines a rape victim or a victim of gender-based violence, in general.
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Non-negotiated soft law
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Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences