CEDAW/C/49/D/23/2009 7.4 In accordance with article 3 of the Convention and rule 53 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Committee recalls that women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women officers. It further recalls its general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, according to which discrimination against women within the meaning of article 1 encompasses gender-based violence, i.e., “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty” (para. 6). 3 The Committee reiterates that “gender-based violence, which impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms”, including the “right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, constitutes discrimination within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention (para. 7 (b) of the recommendation). 7.5 The Committee recalls that the fact that detention facilities do not address the specific needs of women constitutes discrimination, within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention. Thus, in line with article 4 of the Convention, principle 5 (2) of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988) states that special measures designed to address the specific needs of women prisoners shall not be deemed to be discriminatory. The need for a gender-sensitive approach to problems faced by women prisoners has also been endorsed by the General Assembly by its adoption, in its resolution 65/229, of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). 7.6 In the present case, besides the poor conditions of detention, the author claims that all staff working in the detention facility were exclusively male. As a woman prisoner, she was supervised by male guards, who had unrestricted visual and physical access to her and other women prisoners. The Committee recalls in this respect that, according to rule 53 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners: (1) In an institution for both men and women, the part of the institution set aside for women shall be under the authority of a responsible woman officer who shall have the custody of the keys of all that part of the institution. (2) No male member of the staff shall enter the part of the institution set aside for women unless accompanied by a woman officer. (3) Women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women officers. This important safeguard based on non-discrimination against women in line with article 1 of the Convention has been reaffirmed by the Committee in its concluding observations on States parties’ reports, 4 as well as by the Human Rights Committee in paragraph 15 of its General Comment No. 28 (2000) on the equality of rights __________________ 3 4 11-51730 See also general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, para. 19. See, for example, concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the sixth periodic report of Yemen (CEDAW/C/YEM/CO/6). 11