A/77/502 38. “Discrimination” is one of the explicit purposes in the article 1 (1) definition of torture in recognition of the fact that it is often the reason for torturous behaviour being perpetrated against specific individuals or groups, or why it is neither investigated nor prosecuted and why victims are so regularly left without a remedy. Previous Special Rapporteurs have dealt with discriminatory forms of torture and illtreatment in the context of domestic violence (see A/74/148) and in respect of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons (see A/HRC/31/57). Where abuse is perpetrated by private actors, the State is accountable where it fails in its “due diligence” responsibilities to prevent said harm by failing to take all reasonable steps to protect the victim, or to investigate and prosecute those responsible, and provide redress. 29 States have an obligation to enact legislation that provides “effective protection” against rape and sexual assault, and such legislation must go beyond only investigating or prosecuting crimes where the victim physically resisted. 30 International case law robustly portends that only consent-based rape laws meet the standard of legislative due diligence required for compatibility with the obligations to prohibit and prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. B. International and regional standards 39. There is no State in the world that has not voluntarily accepted the obligation to prohibit, prevent and respond to torture and other ill-treatment, in one or more of the treaties below covering a range of contexts or in respect of particular protected groups. 40. The absolute prohibition of torture is found in and reinforced by a wide number of international treaties and declarations: • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), art. 5 • Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), art. II (b) and (c) • Geneva Conventions (1949), various articles (1977) 32 31 and Additional Protocols • The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956), art. 5 • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), art. 5 (b) • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), art. 7 __________________ 29 30 31 32 12/17 Committee against Torture, general comment No. 2 (2007), para. 20. See Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras, series C, No. 4, Judgment of 29 July 1988, para. 172; European Court of Human Rights, M.C. v. Bulgaria, Application No. 39272/98, Judgment of 4 December 2003, para. 166; European Court of Human Rights, Opuz v. Turkey, Application No. 33401/02, Judgment of 9 September 2009, para. 129; Inter-American Court of Human Rights, González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico, series C, No. 205, Judgment of 16 November 2009; A.T. v. Hungary (CEDAW/C/36/D/2/2003), para. 9.2. European Court of Human Rights, M.C. v. Bulgaria, Application No. 39272/98, Judgment of 4 December 2003, para. 166; see the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (A/HRC/47/26). Geneva Convention I, art. 12; Geneva Convention II, art. 12; Geneva Convention III, arts. 13, 17 and 87; Geneva Convention IV, arts. 27 and 32; and Geneva Conventions I to IV, common art. 3 and arts. 50, 51, 130 and 147, respectively. Additional Protocol I, art. 75 (2)(a)(ii)–(iv), (b) and (e); and Additional Protocol II, art. 4 (2)(a), (e) and (h). 22-22673