A/HRC/13/39/Add.5 threat of death or serious injury. In this regard, strict rules on the use of force for police and security forces should be applied. Furthermore, ways to improve the recording and monitoring of arrests and the control of demonstrations should be explored. C. 1. Domestic violence The protection of women and children from torture and ill-treatment by private individuals 195. Women and children who are victims of domestic violence, trafficking or female genital mutilation (FGM) have to deal with the same or similar grave effects to their physical and mental health as victims of torture and ill-treatment in detention. I therefore decided to raise this topic in one of my general reports to the Human Rights Council.137 196. In 1992, the Human Rights Committee stated in its General Comment No. 20 on article 7 of the Covenant that “The aim of the provisions of article 7 of the [ICCPR] is to protect both the dignity and the physical and mental integrity of the individual. It is the duty of the State party to afford everyone protection through legislative and other measures as may be necessary against the acts prohibited by article 7, whether inflicted by people acting in their official capacity, outside their official capacity or in a private capacity”.138 Consequently, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, like any other human right, creates corresponding obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil.139 Articles 1 and 16 CAT include in their definitions of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment “acquiescence by a public official”, which clearly extends State obligations into the private sphere and which should be interpreted to include State failure to protect persons within its jurisdiction from torture and ill-treatment committed by private actors. I consider that the concept of “acquiescence” contained in the CAT, goes beyond the protection obligations and entails a duty for the State to prevent acts of torture in the private sphere, and recall that the concept of due diligence should be applied to examine whether States have lived up to their obligations.140 2. The protection of women from trafficking 197. In recognition of the fact that victims of human trafficking are often subjected to severe forms of physical and mental violence, including being beaten, raped, and sometimes killed, and since the Republic of Moldova is widely considered to be a major country of origin for trafficking, I undertook my fact-finding mission to the country together with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Yakin Ertürk. We visited shelters and other facilities for victims of trafficking and domestic violence in Chişinău, where we spoke to a number of women. Women constitute the majority of trafficked persons in Moldova and more than half of them are between the ages of 19 and 24.141 198. In one of the shelters, I spoke to a young blind woman who reported of her ordeal. She had accepted the offer of a stranger to go abroad and work as a housekeeper and caretaker of elderly people. She suffered from diabetes and decided to take the offer because insulin was very expensive and she wanted to support her family by working 137 138 139 140 141 A/HRC/7/3. CCPR General Comment No. 20, para. 2. See the discussion in the introduction to this study. See also Nowak, Introduction to the international human rights regime, Nijhoff, 2003, 27. A/HRC/7/3, para. 68. A/HRC/10/44/Add.3, paras. 49–52. 53