PART 2.1 identified an obligation of due diligence upon Mexico, and provided a detailed series of recommendations to “improve the application of due diligence to investigate, prosecute and punish violence against women … and overcome impunity” of the perpetrators, and “to improve the application of due diligence to prevent violence against women … and increase their security”.127 The Ciudad Juárez situation was also the subject of an inquiry by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The report of that inquiry affirmed the obligation of due diligence and its particular significance in relation to private violence against women.128 In M.C. v. Bulgaria (which concerned the rape of a child), the European Court of Human Rights held that, under the European Convention on Human Rights, States have an obligation to “enact criminal-law provisions effectively punishing rape and to apply them in practice through effective investigation and prosecution”.129 against Women;131 and has been regularly recognized and applied by other United Nations human rights treaty bodies.132 In the specific context of trafficking, both the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights/Human Rights Council have, with increasing specificity, recognized the due diligence standard as applicable.133 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19, para. 9 (“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”). See also the decisions of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Şahide Goekce (deceased) v. Austria, Communication No. 5/2005 (CEDAW/C/39/D/5/2005) and Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria, Communication No. 6/2005 (CEDAW/C/39/D/6/2005). In both these decisions the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found that Austria had breached its obligations of due diligence with respect to preventing and investigating domestic violence. 131 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31: Nature of the General Legal Obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 8 (“There may be circumstances in which a failure to ensure Covenant rights as required by article 2 would give rise to violations by States Parties of those rights, as a result of States Parties' permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities”); Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, L.K. v. Netherlands, Communication No. 4/1991 (CERD/C/42/D/4/1991, para. 6.6) (“When threats of racial violence are made, and especially when they are made in public and by a group, it is incumbent upon the State to investigate with due diligence and expedition”). 132 The due diligence standard has been adopted by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women;130 is repeatedly invoked by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination “The situation of the rights of women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico: the right to be free from violence and discrimination,” Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.117, Doc. 44 (2003). 127 “Report on Mexico produced by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention and reply from the Government of Mexico” (CEDAW/C/2005/ OP.8/MEXICO, especially paras. 273-277). 128 M.C. v. Bulgaria (39272/98) [2003] ECHR 651 (4 December 2003) para. 153. 129 “Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, on trafficking in women, women’s migration and violence against women” (E/ CN.4/2000/68, paras. 51-53). 130 80 See, for example, General Assembly resolution 61/180, preamble (“Member States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent trafficking in persons, to investigate this crime and to ensure that perpetrators do not enjoy impunity”); General Assembly resolution 63/156, preamble, and Human Rights Council resolution 11/3 on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, preamble (“States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish perpetrators of trafficking in persons, and to rescue victims as well as 133 RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING