A/69/368 26. Violence against women is also manifested in ways that violate women’s right to voluntary and equal marriage. 21 Forced marriages, whether coerced through kidnapping or physical or sexual violence, is a means of forcing women into unwanted and unequal marriages. As the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences, has noted, physical and sexual violence against women is used to force women and girls into servile marriages, where women are treated as commodities purchased from their families, over which any or all the powers of ownership are exercised (A/HRC/24/43, para. 10). 27. International law affords every individual the right to privacy without arbitrary or unlawful interference. 22 Women all too frequently experience violent intrusions of privacy, including through virginity testing and forced sterilization. These forms of violence against women represent grave violations of the right to privacy and reproductive freedom, as well as women’s bodily integrity, and it undermines the ability of women to be recognized as full and equal citizens of their communities. 28. Although the human right to own property has been recognized by international law, 23 many States continue to systematically deny women this right through discriminatory laws on inheritance, land tenure and property ownership (A/HRC/17/26, para. 29). Moreover, even where women are legally permitted to hold property, they are targeted and violence is often used as a mechanism to deprive them of their property. 29. Gender-based violence impedes women’s ability to realize their right to take part in cultural life. 24 This includes the right to access, participate in and contribute to cultural life (E/C.12/GC/21). As the Special Rapporteur with the task of preparing a comprehensive study with a focus on how best to include economic, social and cultural rights in international, regional and bilateral technical cooperation in the field of human rights has explained, participation in cultural life entails meaningful decision-making and women must enjoy the freedom to create new communities of shared cultural values around any markers of identity they want to privilege, new cultural meanings and practices without fear of punitive actions, including any form of violence (A/67/287, para. 28). Violence against women and the lack of adequate responses to it have also denied women the right to choose whether or not to identify with and take part in the cultural life of a particular community or communities (E/C.12/GC/21, para. 7). 30. Violence against women impairs and nullifies the right of wome n and girls to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. 25 __________________ 21 22 23 24 25 14-60186 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 16; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 23; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 10 (1). Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 12; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 17. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 17; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 16; International Convention on the Eliminati on of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 5. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 15 (1) (a); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 13 (c); Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 27; see also the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, “Cultures, traditions and violence against women: human rights challenges ”, available from www.awid.org. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 12 (1). See also the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 12; and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation No. 19, para. 7. 9/21