CEDAW/C/57/D/39/2012 5.4 With regard to the merits of the case, the author disagrees with the State party ’s arguments that she failed to demonstrate that she could not seek effective protection from the Mongolian authorities; that her submission of two criminal complaints did not suffice to conclude that there was no point in seeking protection upon her return to Mongolia; and that she could have sought protection from a higher authority. 5.5 The author points out that the authorities of the Netherlands found her statements credible and that the facts of the case were not disputed by the State party. The authorities of the Netherlands therefore had to assess the case in the light of the situation in Mongolia. Insofar as the State party claims that the author alleges discrimination by a person rather than the authorities in her country of origin, the author submits that discrimination by a person falls within the scope of the Convention. 25 5.6 Furthermore, the author recalls that the State party acknowledges that domestic violence against women is common in Mongolia. The Committee also expressed concern about a high incidence of domestic violence there, which continued to be seen a private matter; about a very low prosecution rate under the Law on Fighting against Domestic Violence (20 cases prosecuted since its enactment); and about the failure of Mongolia to criminalize marital rape. 26 Although the State party, in order to show that the Mongolian authorities will offer her protection upon return, asserts that there have been a number of convictions in cases of violence against women, the author considers that the sources quoted do not demonstrate that the situation has improved. Conversely, the incidence of violence against women remains high, perpetrators enjoy impunity and effective remedies are unavailable. 5.7 For example, the Department of State of the United States of America indicated in a report referred to by the State party in its observations 27 that, according to non-governmental organizations, many rape cases were underreported; the police prosecuted only a small number of such cases owing to lack of evidence or funding; and victims were discouraged from reporting owing to social stigma, stress or the public character of the proceedings. Domestic violence remained a serious problem, in particular with regard to women from low-income rural families, and was viewed as an internal family matter in which the police were reluctant to intervene. There were no domestic violence convictions because there was no specific implementing provision in the Criminal Code. 28 The findings are confirmed __________________ 25 26 27 28 14-26326 Reference is made to paragraph 9 of general recommendation No. 19, which reads: It is emphasized, however, that discrimination under the Convention is not restricted to action by or on behalf of Governments (see articles 2 (e), 2 (f) and 5). For example, under article 2 (e) the Convention calls on States parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. Under general international law and specific human rights covenants, States may also be responsible for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence, and for providing compensation. Reference is made to paragraph 25 of the Committee’s concluding observations on the combined fifth, sixth and seventh periodic report of Mongolia (CEDAW/C/MNG/CO/7). See para. 4.9. With reference to the country report on human rights practices in Mongolia issued by the United States Department of State in 2011 (see footnote 20), the author submits that , in 2010, there were 237 rape cases, in which 336 persons were convicted, according to the research centre of the Supreme Court. She underlines, however, that, according to non-governmental sources, police referred only a small number of rape cases for prosecution, generally invoking insufficient evidence. In addition, non-governmental organizations alleged that many rapes were not reported and claimed that police and judicial procedures were stressful to victims and tended to discourage reporting, as did social stigma. 11/16