A/HRC/15/40 addressing that phenomenon. The Special Rapporteur argued that “States should be held accountable for complicity in violence against women, whenever they create and implement discriminatory laws”, and noted that States could be held liable “if domestic laws fail to provide adequate protection against any form of torture and ill-treatment in the home”.29 33. At the outset of the mandate on the right to education, the Special Rapporteur paid some attention to the role that discriminatory laws might play in denying or restricting girls’ enjoyment of the right to education.30 The Special Rapporteur has since undertaken a detailed study of girls’ right to education, but his sociocultural and economic analysis did not address the role that discriminatory laws may play in impeding girls’ full enjoyment of the right to education in any detail.31 34. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism submitted a report to the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly which, building on material in his earlier reports, addressed, inter alia, the impact on women of counter-terrorism measures, and the impact of both laws and practices, many of which appear to be gender-neutral but which may have a disproportionately negative impact on women.32 35. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health has made consistent references to women’s equality before the law, thus contributing to the recent inclusion by the Human Rights Council of the human rights dimensions of maternal mortality and morbidity in its agenda. Extensive examination of laws and practices that discriminate against women was undertaken by the former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, in a series of reports in the period 2003 to 2006 analysing laws which have an impact on women’s enjoyment of the right to adequate housing.33 His analysis shows the interdependence of various rights, and demonstrates that women’s right to adequate housing is affected not only by laws relating to “housing” in a narrow sense but by “land ownership laws, acquisition laws, title registration laws, slum clearance laws, matrimonial and inheritance laws, laws relating to domestic violence, customary and religious laws, environmental laws and urban regulations”.34 Importantly, the Special Rapporteur also noted that it was not just laws that explicitly discriminated against women that affected their ability to enjoy the right to adequate housing, but also gender-neutral laws applied to the disadvantage of women.35 36. Thus, since the mid-1990s the human rights special procedures have paid significantly increased attention to violations of women’s human rights and the relevance of gender. All have made some effort to incorporate gender perspectives, although in some cases this has been limited in scope, often to interlinkages with violence, or not sustained. In many cases in relation to specific countries or more generally, mandate holders have found that laws and practices that discriminate against women have impeded their enjoyment of the right which is the subject of the mandate. However, with the exception of the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women, the right to health, and adequate 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 10 Ibid, para. 46. See, for example, E/CN.4/2000/6, para 60 and E/CN.4/2004/45. E/CN.4/2006/45 and see para. 9. A/64/211. E/CN.4/2003/55, E/CN.4/2005/48 and E/CN.4/2006/118. E/CN.4/2003/55, para 39. Ibid., para 35.