suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty”. Not all violence against women will be gender-based. Deciding whether a particular act of violence is gender-based (and therefore a form of sex-based discrimination) will involve consideration of the two prongs of the definition: first, whether women as women are targeted, and second, whether they are disproportionately affected.43 General recommendation No. 19 makes specific reference to trafficking by identifying it as a form of violence against women that is incompatible with the equal enjoyment of rights by women and with the respect for their rights and dignity, putting women at special risk of violence and abuse. In relation to article 6 of the Convention, general recommendation No. 19 also notes the following: • States parties are required by article 6 to take measures to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of the prostitution of women. • Poverty and unemployment increase opportunities for trafficking in women. • Poverty and unemployment force many women, including young girls, into prostitution. Prostitutes are especially vulnerable to violence because their status, which may be unlawful, tends to marginalize them. They need the equal protection of laws against rape and other forms of violence. • In addition to established forms of trafficking, there are new forms of sexual exploitation, such as sex tourism, the recruitment of domestic labour from developing countries to work in developed countries and organized marriages between women from developing countries and foreign nationals. These practices are incompatible with the equal See further Gallagher, International Law of Human Trafficking, chap. 3. 43 enjoyment of rights by women and with respect for their rights and dignity. They put women at special risk of violence and abuse. • Wars, armed conflicts and the occupation of territories often lead to increased prostitution, trafficking in women and sexual assault of women, which require specific protective and punitive measures. As general recommendation No. 19 makes clear, gender-based violence “impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms under general international law or under human rights conventions”. Importantly, the general recommendation points out that discrimination prohibited under the Convention is not restricted to action by or on behalf of Governments and it requires States to “take appropriate and effective measures to overcome all forms of gender-based violence, whether by public or private act” (emphasis added). This point has been reaffirmed by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on many occasions, including in its consideration of communications under the Convention’s Optional Protocol.44 The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by consensus in the General Assembly, applies to all forms of gender-based violence within the family and the general community as well as violence “perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs”. States are to “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and … punish acts of violence against women, whether these acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons” (emphasis added). As a resolution of the General Assembly, the Declaration does not have 44 See, for example, A.T. v. Hungary, Communication No. 2/2003 (CEDAW/C/32/D/2/2003, para. 9.2); and Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria, Communication No. 6/2005 (CEDAW/C/39/D/6/2005, para. 12.1). COMMENTARY 41