xvii women active in politics and in public life impacts all women, discouraging them from exercising their voices and agency, and ultimately deprives them of their civil and political rights. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Sustainable Development Goal 5 calls upon States and private actors to combat and pre­ vent discrimination and violence against women and girls in order to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Accomplishing Goal 5 is integral to the success and implementation of the remaining sixteen Sustainable Development Goals and to achieve their objective of realizing human rights for all. My work in this field and this collection of articles analyzing gender-based violence and vio­ lence against women contributes to the eradication of violence against women by recognizing that specific acts of violence may constitute torture and ill-treatment. Connecting violence against women with torture, a rights violation that is more uniformly rejected, will help to eradicate vio­ lence against women across the health, law enforcement, social services and other sectors within which it permeates. Recognizing that different acts of violence against women may constitute an act of torture is a profound step towards creating a culture that does not perpetrate or tolerate vio­ lence against women as the status quo. Cases of rape, domestic violence, harmful practices, forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, criminalization of abortion, denial or delay of safe abortion and/or post-abortion care, forced continuation of pregnancy, and abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are all forms of gender-based violence that, according to CEDAW General recommendation No. 35, may amount, depending on the circumstances, to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.