A/HRC/4/62 page 11 attention paid by international law and truth commissions to violations of economic, social and cultural rights confirms that these often serve as instruments of war and are a common feature of conflicts. 30. Violations of economic, social and cultural rights, or indeed any rights, do not take place in a vacuum. Such violations often result from, as well as are the cause of violations of civil and political rights. The different types of violations interact and mutually reinforce each other, often with devastating effects. Systematic discrimination and inequalities in access to health care or housing, sometimes in the context of competition over scarce or dwindling resources, may lead to, or exacerbate, social or political tensions leading to conflict or violent confrontation, which in turn perpetuate cycles of deprivation and exclusion.11 This close interrelationship has been acknowledged by truth commissions as well.12 31. In a similar vein, organizations combating torture have come to the conclusion that there is a continuum between infringements of socio-economic rights and torture or other massive violations of civil and political rights. Research shows that torture and collective violence - on the part of those who control the State in order to serve their own interests and among the victims - emerge in societies in which social injustice, marginalization and unrestrained exploitation thrive.13 A comprehensive strategy to fight torture or prevent violence should therefore address the socio-economic root causes of conflict and promote the respect of economic, social and cultural rights in addition to civil and political rights. 32. No transition to a just peace would be possible without addressing violations of economic, social and cultural rights along with violations of civil and political rights, and putting into place a non-discriminatory framework of access to resources and power. In addition to conceptual and legal arguments about the obligation to promote economic, social and cultural rights, this is also a matter of effectiveness. All sources and aspects of the violence (be it manifested through torture or disappearances, or through an armed conflict) must be addressed and victims of these violations must be offered remedies. C. The realization of economic, social and cultural rights in post-conflict settings 33. There is thus no legal, conceptual or instrumental justification for the comparative neglect of economic, social and cultural rights in conflict and post-conflict societies. An examination of post-conflict situations confirms the functional interaction between factors such as access to justice, political participation, control over economic resources, income, and 11 F. Stewart, “Policies towards Horizontal Inequalities in Post-Conflict Reconstruction”, CRISE working paper 7, March 2005. www.crise.ox.ac.uk. 12 13 See e.g. Commission of Timor-Leste, op. cit., p.10. World Organization Against Torture, Attacking the Root Causes of Torture: Poverty, Inequality and Violence, An Interdisciplinary Study, September 2006. Available at: www.omct.org.