A/HRC/20/16 its resolution 17/19, requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a study documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity. B. Some national practices 94. States have sought to comply with their due diligence obligation to prevent violence against women through the adoption of specific legislation, the development of awarenessraising campaigns, and the provision of training for professional groups, including the police, prosecutors and members of the judiciary. 165 Many States have adopted national plans of action on violence against women in an effort to coordinate activities between and within government agencies and to take a multisectoral approach to prevent violence. 95. In Afghanistan, the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women broadly criminalizes violence against women broadly. Despite this, cases of gender-based killings and other serious crimes against women are still being prosecuted under the Penal Code instead of under the new law.166 This is resulting in acquittals of perpetrators, the reduction of charges to less serious crimes, convictions with lighter sentences and women victims themselves being accused of ―moral crimes‖.167 Also, article 398 of the Penal Code mitigates penalties for murder if the victim is a close relative caught in the act of committing adultery, and the killing was not premeditated. 168 96. Legislative advances have been made by Lebanon regarding honour crimes. In August 2011, Lebanon repealed article 562 of its Criminal Code. That article had mitigated the sentences of people who claimed they killed or injured their wife, daughter or other relative to protect the family honour. 169 The Lebanese courts almost invariably refused to accept the alleged notion of honour to justify these crimes, and article 562 was rarely used by the judges.170 Nevertheless, women‘s organizations in Lebanon argued that enacting a comprehensive law for the protection of women from family violence was an effective strategy to prevent killings of women in the first place. 171 97. In 2010, the government of British Columbia established the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, to conduct fact-finding missions and police investigations with regard to reports of missing and murdered women in the city of Vancouver (the Pickton case).172 This initiative does not address the phenomena in other parts of the country. 173 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 24 Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Erturk, The due diligence standard as a tool for the elimination of violence against women (hereinafter The Due Diligence Report), E/CN.4/2006/61, 2006, para. 38. United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Afghanistan, ―A Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law in Afghanistan‖, November 2011. Ibid. Supra note 83. See Human Rights Watch, ―Lebanon: Law Reform Targets ‗Honor‘ Crimes‖, August 2011. Baydoun, A. (2011) ―Killing of women in the name of honour: An evolving phenomenon in Lebanon‖. Paper presented at the Expert Group Meeting on gender-motivated killings of women. Convened by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, New York, 12 October 2011. Ibid. Sharon McIvor and Shelagh Day, ―Gender-Motivated Killings of Aboriginal Women and Girls Canada‖, Prepared for UN Expert Group Meeting on Gender-motivated killings of women, 12 October 2011. Ibid.