Annex 1 General Comment Provisions related to Reproductive Rights According to Paragraph 24, “Another factor that may affect ­women’s right to marry only when they have given free and full c­ onsent is the existence of social attitudes which tend to marginalize women victims of rape and put pressure on them to agree to marriage. A woman’s free and full consent to marriage may also be u ­ ndermined by laws that allow the rapist to have his criminal ­responsibility ­extinguished or ­mitigated if he marries the victim. States parties should i­ndicate whether marrying the victim extinguishes or mitigates criminal ­responsibility and, in the case in which the victim is a minor, whether the rape reduces the marriageable age of the victim, ­particularly in societies where rape victims have to endure m ­ arginalization from ­society. (…)It should also be noted that equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry implies that polygamy is incompatible with this principle. Polygamy violates the dignity of women. It is an inadmissible d ­ iscrimination against women. Consequently, it should be defi nitely abolished wherever it continues to exist.” 123