A/HRC/32/42 III. General context A. Legal and policy framework: gaps in implementing international and regional standards relating to violence against women 25. The work of the current mandate holder will be based on existing international and regional human rights instruments, policy documents and standards to combat and prevent violence against women, with the aim of strengthening synergies among them and thereby helping to prevent and accelerate the elimination of violence against women. 26. The protection of women from violence is addressed in various human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 27. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto are instruments dedicated specifically to women’s rights that provide a gender perspective to all other human rights instruments. The Convention, which has been ratified or acceded to by 189 States, provides a broad definition of discrimination against women, both direct and indirect, including intentional or unintentional forms, before the law or in practice, in all aspects of public and private life, whether perpetrated by the State, its agents, private actors or individuals. 28. Under the Convention, States parties undertake “to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise”. In its general recommendation No. 19, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women clarified the fact that violence against women impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms as a form of discrimination within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention, whether perpetrated by a State official or a private citizen, in public or in private life. Taking into consideration the significant developments witnessed in different global and regional recommendations and jurisprudence on violence against women since its adoption in 1992, the Committee has begun work on an update of its recommendation. As stated above, the Special Rapporteur was invited by the Committee to give her input into the draft on the updated version. 29. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified or acceded to by 106 States, envisages granting women access to justice at the international level. With regard to the communications procedure, the cases considered by the Committee have focused on important women’s rights issues, including violence against women. One of the landmark decisions of the Committee in the area of domestic violence is A.T. v Hungary. Key findings by the Committee in its decision included that States may be held responsible for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence; that protection orders were not available; and that the State party had appeared to afford greater protection to the right to private property than to the petitioner’s right to life and physical and mental integrity. Two other important cases addressing violence against women are the cases of Şahide Goekce (deceased) v Austria and Fatma 9