E/CN.4/1995/34 page 9 the context of custodial detention, interrogators were said to have used rape as a means of extracting confessions or information, to punish, or to humiliate detainees. In some instances, the gender of an individual constituted at least part of the very motive for the torture itself, such as in those where women were raped allegedly for their participation in political and social activism. 19. In addition to being an especially traumatic form of torture for the victim, rape may have insidious correlative consequences. In many situations a woman may be reluctant to seek redress by reporting a rape because of the severe social repercussions that may flow therefrom. The stigma attached in many communities to a woman who has been raped may result in particularly dire consequences for the private and public life of the woman. In addition to social stigma, some victims may be subjected to direct reprisals from relatives. In a few countries, where severe legal sanctions have been adopted against adultery and where the evidentiary requirements to demonstrate rape are stringent, a woman reporting a rape may risk holding herself open to prosecution. Consequently, when rape or sexual assault against a woman constitutes a torture method, the chances of the torturer acting with impunity would appear disproportionately higher than with other torture methods. 20. Torture practised against women may carry with it implications regarding the general violation of rights of women. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in general recommendation No. 19 contained in its report to the General Assembly of 24 June 1992 (A/47/38), enumerated the right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as among those rights impaired by or nullified by gender-based violence under international law and constituting discrimination within the meaning of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. 21. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to torture. A woman facing torture risks miscarriage and other health risks, as well as damage to the foetus. 22. Torture may also be used as a means to punish an exclusively or predominately gender-based crime. In one country, for example, flogging is prescribed for women who fail to conform to strict Islamic dress laws. Flogging and death by stoning of women for adultery are also prescribed in some penal provisions. 23. Finally, women are sometimes tortured as surrogates for the real target, who may be the victim’s spouse or family member or friend. Such an attack may be conducted in order to induce a suspect to come out of hiding, to provide a confession or information if the suspect is already in custody or to inflict punishment. 24. The Special Rapporteur endorses CEDAW’S recommendation, contained in its general recommendation No. 19 for gender-sensitive training of judicial and law enforcement officers and other public officers. In addition, the Special Rapporteur recommends that female security personnel be present during the interrogation of women detainees, as the interrogation and detention of female