A/HRC/4/WG.3/6 page 33 105. The scope of article 1 of CEDAW is wide enough to embrace instances where women are victims of multiple grounds of discrimination. This view is reinforced by article 2 (c), which places an obligation on States parties to condemn discrimination against women in all its forms and undertake to establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men, and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions, the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination. Regarding article 2 (e) States parties are to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. Further, under article 6 States parties are to suppress all forms of trafficking in women. 106. In its general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women stated that “The definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.”94 The Committee also pointed out that States must take all positive measures to eliminate gender violence, taking into account “the close connection between discrimination against women, gender-based violence, and violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”95 In its General Recommendation 24 (1999) on article 12 of the Convention (women and health), the Committee calls for special attention to be paid “to the health needs and rights of women belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as migrant women, refugee and internally displaced women, the girl child and older women, women in prostitution, indigenous women …”.96 Assessment and recommendations 107. Numerous studies and publications establish that the diversity in manifestations of multiple discrimination seems to demand a further elaboration. The purpose of this endeavour should be to address the phenomenon under discussion from different angles because its complex nature requires diversified and complementary approaches. In this context, there is no justification for restricting protection against multiple discrimination to the grounds that are explicitly mentioned in the DDPA. Here, as in the case of international human rights treaties, the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination is open-ended. Despite the fact that some characteristics, including nationality, age, health status, HIV-positive status, marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity when combined with race render certain categories of persons particularly vulnerable to discriminatory practices, they have not been to date universally recognized as factors aggravating racial discrimination. It is important that international protection against racism embraces these factors which create the phenomenon of multiple discrimination and result in the exclusion of people falling into the combined categories. 94 Paragraph 6. 95 Paragraph 4. 96 Paragraph 6.