A/HRC/4/81 page 8 The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 32. On 18 December 2002, the General Assembly adopted resolution 57/199, containing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). Following its twentieth ratification, OPCAT entered into force on 22 June 2006. The Optional Protocol creates a two-pillar system, directed at preventing torture and other forms of ill-treatment in all places of detention, as regular visits are undertaken by international and national bodies. It provides for an international Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture which was established following the election of its first 10 members by the 29 States parties in Geneva on 18 December 2006. Integration of a gender perspective in the work of the treaty bodies 33. The human rights treaty bodies have increasingly integrated a gender perspective into their concluding observations, general comments and general recommendations and days of general discussion. The committees have generally focused on the steps required to ensure that women and girls enjoy the rights enshrined in the treaties, and have highlighted the adverse impact that legislation, policies and programmes developed without a gender perspective may have on the enjoyment of their rights. Particular attention has been paid, inter alia, to the continued prevalence of violence against women, including domestic violence, rape by State agents and harmful traditional practices, and the need for preventive and responsive measures; trafficking in women and children for sexual or economic exploitation; limitations to women’s political participation and to equality in nationality; issues relating to women in detention; sexual and reproductive health concerns such as access to adequate health-care services; and equal access to education and employment opportunities. Several of the committees have underscored the multiple forms of discrimination faced by women, especially women belonging to indigenous communities, ethnic minorities and/or migrant women. The committees have also commended the establishment of NHRIs that monitor the rights of women and have recognized and encouraged ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as a positive measure to protect and promote women’s rights at the national level. 34. Several committees provided input into the in-depth study of the Secretary-General on all forms of violence against women requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 58/185, which was completed by DAW in September 2006 and presented to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session in 2006 (A/61/122/Add.1 and Corr.1). At its thirty-seventh session (2006), CAT noted in its concluding observations that rape constituted torture and that in returning women to their country of origin where they had been raped by State agents, a State party would be in violation of article 3 of the Convention against Torture. In its contribution to the General Assembly’s High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (14-15 September 2006), the Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) recommended that special attention be given to protect the rights of migrant women, in particular domestic workers. At its forty-third session (2006), CRC adopted general comment No. 9 on the rights of children with disabilities, stressing that girls with disabilities are more vulnerable to discrimination. During its day of general discussion in September 2006 on the right of the child to be heard, CRC urged States parties to pay special attention to the rights of the girl-child in order to combat sexist stereotypes and patriarchal values which undermine and place severe limitations on the