A/HRC/15/40 laws; employment targets set by equal opportunities legislation; criminalization of sexual harassment in the workplace; discriminatory provisions in civil codes, such as prohibitions on women remarrying in the six months following divorce and provisions providing that the husband is the head of the conjugal union; restrictive definitions of rape in the criminal code and the need to ensure that incest and sexual abuse other than actual sexual intercourse are considered serious criminal offences; eliminating the requirement for women to prove resistance against an assault in order to establish rape; and the need to prosecute rape and other crimes of sexual violence ex officio.40 42. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its forty-second and forty-third sessions held in 2009, recommended that States parties remedy the absence of framework legislation embodying the principle of equal rights of men and women; ensure equal remuneration for women and men and include in legislation specific provision on equal pay for work of equal value; regulate employment conditions of domestic workers to ensure that they enjoy the same legal protection as other workers; remove discrimination in laws relating to the transmission of nationality by women to their children; eliminate discrimination against women in legislation relating to inheritance of immovable property; enact or amend abortion laws to protect women from the effects of clandestine and unsafe abortions; and address the refusal of physicians to perform legal abortions.41 43. The Committee has also addressed these issues in its general comments, in particular in general comment No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights, which notes the importance of addressing both direct and indirect discrimination in laws, policies and practices; the role of legal rules in perpetuating systemic discrimination, and multiple discrimination. It further underlined the importance of adopting specific legislation prohibiting discrimination in the field of economic, social and cultural rights and regularly reviewing laws “in order to ensure that they do not discriminate or lead to discrimination, whether formally or substantively” in relation to the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights.42 44. The Committee on the Rights of the Child consistently addresses the situation of girls and frequently draws attention to the role that legislation plays in perpetuating discrimination against them. It has expressed concern about the low minimum legal age for marriage and its implications for the well-being of girls; the discriminatory nature of customary law; and the fact that, particularly in the context of property rights, this may reinforce discrimination against girls.43 45. The Committee against Torture has increased its attention to the gendered dimensions of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, regularly requesting information to be broken down by gender, and has focused particularly on the treatment of women in detention or other forms of custody.44 46. The Committee against Torture has also gone beyond situations of detention addressed in its general comment No. 2 (2007) on the implementation of article 2 by States parties, and brought domestic violence and the absence or lack of enforcement of relevant laws into its dialogue with States parties, and addressed violations of women’s reproductive rights.45 The Committee has also drawn attention to legislation that “severely restricts access to voluntary abortion, even in cases of rape, leading to grave consequences, 40 41 42 43 44 45 12 See, for example, A/64/40 (vol. I), paras. 85 (13), 86 (10), 85 (10), 88 (9) and 85 (14). See, for example, E/2010/22-E/C.12/2009/3, paras. 415, 200, 166, 374, 377, 252 and 428. Paras. 10, 12, 17 and 37. See, for example, CRC/C/TJK/CO/2, paras. 24-25 and CRC/C/15/Add.172, paras. 25-26. See, for example, CAT/C/UZB/CO/3, para. 28 and CAT/C/USA/CO/2, para. 33. See, for example, CAT/C/BEN/CO/2, para. 24.