A/HRC/17/30 appropriate.15 The Convention is therefore an essential instrument to ensure gender equality and that the administration of justice is free from discrimination. 29. Despite the comprehensive legal framework and some progress made, major genderspecific obstacles remain to ensuring women’s effective protection and the realization of women's right to access to justice. These include laws that discriminate against women; policies, plans and programmes that disregard the goal of gender equality; and the persistence, in some countries, of practices that discriminate against or are harmful to women. 30. In certain countries, laws, policies, plans and programmes disregard the goal of gender equality and exclude, or seek to exclude women (and not men in similar conditions) from entitlements, opportunities, or benefits, for example, when laws or policies give the right of final decision in the exercise of parental rights and duties to fathers but deny this to mothers. 31. Some areas where the achievement of equality appears to be a challenge still today include education, labour, land property, inheritance and family law (e.g. alimony, child custody, the right to divorce, and property division rights). Some examples of laws that discriminate against women include those that prohibit women from entering certain occupations or professions, such as performing jury duty or certain duties within the military. 32. In certain countries, the lack of recognition of equal rights of women and men, or even the institutionalization of inequality, seriously hampers women’s access to justice. This is the case of male guardianship, when women must have the backing of a male member of their family in order to have access to justice.16 In some cases women are not allowed to file a complaint, serve as witnesses or appear in court without the agreement of a male member of the family, or being accompanied by a male guardian. This is of particular concern, for example, in cases of domestic violence where the guardian and the alleged perpetrator may be one and the same. This is also a serious concern in cases of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), mainly affecting women, which are connected with shame for the family, and may result in a male guardian not facilitating access to justice. 33. In other countries, gender equality is recognized by law but is not reflected in practice. Sometimes harmful practices and prejudices continue to be at the root of the most serious, routine violations of women’s right to equality before the courts and the principle of non-discrimination. For example, crimes against women committed in the name of “honour” are sometimes not effectively sanctioned as they are sometimes wrongly considered a cultural or institutionalized practice and therefore mildly penalized or not sanctioned by criminal law). In other countries, crimes against women are not prosecuted or suspects can easily be exonerated of penal liability, for example when a rapist marries, or offers to marry, the victim (in some extreme cases even when the victim is a minor). 34. While acknowledging progress made in addressing SGBV17, the Special Rapporteur wishes to recall that under international law and human rights standards, States are obliged to protect women from violence, which is a violation of human rights.18 In her view, 15 16 17 18 Ibid., art. 2 (b). See for example, CEDAW/C/SAU/CO/2, para. 21; CEDAW/C/ARE/CO/1, para. 47. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Handbook on effective police responses to violence against women, Criminal Justice Handbook Series (New York, 2010), p. 2. See, inter alia. A/HRC/7/4, paras. 55-58 and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No.19, on violence against women, 1992. 7