A/HRC/45/CRP.7 183. Gender-based violence is a form of prohibited discrimination.256 States are obliged to take all appropriate measures to eliminate gender-based violence and act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, mediate, punish and redress gender-based violence, including that perpetrated by non-State actors. 184. Rape and other forms of sexual violence violate international human rights law’s prohibition on torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.257 Sexual violence also impairs other human rights including the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health under the ICESCR. International humanitarian law also contains express prohibitions in relation to rape and other forms of sexual violence when committed against persons taking no active part in hostilities.258 Rape, along with sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, and other forms of sexual violence of similar gravity constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute259 and may constitute a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians.260 185. In resolution 1325 (2000), the Security Council called upon all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and in resolution 1820 (2008), drew attention to the fact that “sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict”. 186. The right to enjoy human rights on an equal basis and to not be discriminated against on a prohibited ground is part of the bedrock of international human rights law. The right of non-discrimination includes the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics. Sex discrimination is explicitly prohibited in a range of treaties, and sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics have been recognised as grounds of prohibited discrimination by all treaty bodies. 261 Further guidance is available in the form of the Yogyakarta Principles262 elaborated by a number of United Nations and other human rights experts. Factual findings 256 See CEDAW Committee General Recommendation No 19 (1992) on violence against women and No 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations. See also Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 16, The equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (2005). 257 ICCPR, art. 7. For recent consideration, see A v Bosnia and Herzegovina, Views adopted by the Committee Against Torture on 2 August 2019, CAT/C/67/D/854/2017. 258 Additional Protocol II, art. 4(2)(e). Such acts would also be covered by common art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions’ reference to “violence to life and person, in particular … cruel treatment and torture, and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment’. See also ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian law, rule 93 259 Rome Statute, art. 8(2)(e)(vi). 260 Rome Statute, art. 7(1)(g). 261 International instruments such as the ICCPR and ICESCR refer to specific grounds of prohibited discrimination and “sex” is one of those specified grounds. However, the grounds for discrimination are not closed – hence the language of ICCPR art 2(1) referring to States needing to respect and ensure rights “without distinction of any kind such as…”. Either on the basis of this, or a broad reading of “sex”, it has been recognised that the prohibited grounds of discrimination include also sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics: See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 22 on the right to sexual and reproductive health (2016) at paras. 9, 23; Toonen v. Australia, Human Rights Committee, Communication No. 499/1992 (CCPR/C/50/D/499/1992), para. 8.7; Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 4 on adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (2003), para. 6; Committee against Torture, General Comment No. 2 on Implementation of article 2 by States Parties (2008), para. 21, and No. 3 on Implementation of article 14 by States Parties (2012), paras. 32, 39. 262 Yogyakarta Principles, 2006 and Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, 2017. 51