A/55/290 7. The Optional Protocol provides, inter alia, that either individuals or groups of individuals may submit individual complaints to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Its criteria for receiving complaints and its functions are modelled on comparable existing procedures or practices of other international human rights instruments such as the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will consider complaints admissible if all available domestic remedies have been exhausted and if the complaint has not already been examined by the Committee or has been or is being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. The Special Rapporteur also notes the possibility for the Committee to take interim measures. After receipt of a communication and prior to its final decision on the merits of the case, the Committee will have the option of sending urgent communications requesting States parties to take the necessary steps to protect the alleged victim or victims from irreparable harm. Similarly, the Special Rapporteur notes with appreciation the inclusion of article 11 which requires a State party to ensure that all individuals under its jurisdiction are not subjected to ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of communicating with the Committee. He notes that a similar provision is contained in the Convention against Torture (see article 13). 8. The Special Rapporteur would like to recall that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in its general recommendation No. 19, entitled “Violence against women” (see A/47/38), enumerated the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment among those rights impaired or nullified by genderbased violence under international law and constituting discrimination within the meaning of the Convention. It stated that the definition in article 1 of the Convention 1 should be interpreted as encompassing gender-based violence, that is, 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. While mechanisms established under other international human rights instruments are available to men and women alike, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the forthcoming opportunity given to women and advocates of women’s rights to use the specific mechanism provided by the Optional Protocol. 9. Finally, the Special Rapporteur notes the adoption on 29 March 2000 by the Human Rights Committee of general comment No. 28 on equality of rights between men and women (article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) (see A/55/40). In the general comment (para. 11), the Committee requests that, in order to be in a position to assess compliance with article 7 of the Covenant (prohibition of torture), as well as with article 24 (special protection for children), States parties provide it with “information on national laws and practice with regard to domestic and other types of violence against women, including rape. It also needs to know whether the State party gives access to safe abortion to women who have become pregnant as a result of rape. The States parties should also provide the Committee with information on measures to prevent forced abortion or forced sterilization. In States parties where the practice of genital mutilation exists information on its extent and on measures to eliminate it should be provided. The information provided by States parties on all these issues should include measures of protection, including legal remedies, for women whose rights under article 7 have been violated.” Similarly, the Special Rapporteur would welcome information on these issues from governmental and non-governmental sources. B. Torture and children 10. The Special Rapporteur has continued to receive information regarding a significant number of instances where the victims of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are children. The conditions of detention for children in pre-trial centres and prisons continue to be of concern to the Special Rapporteur. Severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and inadequate and/or insufficient food and clothing are often exacerbated by a shortage or absence of adequately trained professionals. The resulting lack of appropriate attention to the medical, emotional, educational, rehabilitative and recreational needs of detained children can result in conditions that amount to cruel or inhuman treatment. The Special Rapporteur 3