A/69/368 women human rights defenders are often the symbolic targets of politically motivated killings during conflicts and transitions ( A/HRC/20/16, para. 54). 20. Gender-based violence negatively affects the right to be free from slavery and servitude. 8 The international community has recognized that trafficking serves forced or bonded labour, including within the sex trade, forced marriage and other slavery-like practices. 9 The trafficking of women is often accomplished by the threat or use of violence against women, and the resulting slavery represents a severe form of physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence perpetrated against women. 21. Violence against women restricts women’s freedom of movement in a number of significant ways. 10 The fear of violence occurring in public spaces, including harassment and sexual assault, intimidates women into avoiding the public arena. Linked to this avoidance is the fear of violence in private spaces, if freedom of movement is exercised, without permission. The unequal acce ss to resources between men and women and laws that restrict the movement of women, further preclude women’s right to freedom of movement and their ability to exercise that right. 22. The prohibition of torture is a jus cogens norm, as torture is widely recognized as a violation of core human rights. 11 The international community has acknowledged that certain manifestations of violence against women are a form of torture. In 1986, the first Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment listed rape as a form of torture, as it is often used as a means of control that meets all of the criteria for torture ( E/CN.4/1986/15, para. 119). In 2013, the Committee against Torture expressed concern over rape used as torture in its periodic reports on different countries (see CAT/C/JPN/CO/2, para. 20, CAT/C/KEN/CO/2, para. 7, CAT/C/MRT/CO/1, para. 23, and CAT/C/EST/ CO/5, para. 12, for Japan, Kenya, Mauritania and Estonia, respectively). In addition, the Human Rights Committee has recognized other manifestations of violence against women as constituting torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including forced sterilization, 12 forced abortion 13 and female genital cutting. 14 __________________ 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 14-60186 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 4; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 8. See “15 Years of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (1994-2009)”. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 13; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 15; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 12. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 5; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7. See for instance CCPR/C/SVK/CO/3, para. 13, in which it is recognized that the forced sterilization of Roma women in Slovakia violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7, on the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. See HRI/GEN/1/Rev.9 (Vol. I), sect. II, General comment No. 28: article 3 (The equality of rights between men and women), para. 11, in which it is explained that the Committee requires information on measures to prevent forced abortion to ascertain whether States have complied with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7. See CCPR/C/TCD/CO/1, para. 15, in which it is recognized that female genital mutilation of girls in Chad violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7. 7/21