A/HRC/37/28 5, on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, and Goal 10, on reducing inequality within and among countries. The Deputy High Commissioner importantly noted that development could not be sustainable when not enjoyed by all, and when social and economic systems created societies stratified not by effort, contribution or achievement but by nationality, race and gender. She argued that the 2030 Agenda was grounded in human rights for a good reason, namely because human rights violations that drove marginalization and exclusion had no place in a peaceful and prosperous world. III. Summary of interventions by panellists 7. The moderator noted that multiple and reinforcing grounds of discrimination led to poverty and violence and denied women and girls their human rights. She encouraged Member States to come up with solutions to address those challenges. 8. Reflecting on the definition of “intersectional discrimination”, Ms. Gbedemah explained that it was understood by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as the consequences of two or more combined systems of discrimination that contributed to create layers of inequality. She referred to some of the Committee’s findings, recommendations and jurisprudence on women migrant workers, stateless, refugee and asylum-seeking women, women belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities and rural women, as well as on women living in humanitarian settings. In conflict situations, women and girls were at particular risk of violence, especially sexual violence. In such contexts, internally displaced and refugee women from particular castes, ethnicities, nationalities or religions would often be attacked as symbolic representatives of their community. Stateless women and girls also faced heightened risks of abuse in times of conflict on the basis of their status as undocumented and belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minority groups. 9. Ms. Gbedemah further analysed some of the compounding factors that underwrote intersectional discrimination and violence. These included (a) the lack of awareness of the problem and its extent; (b) poverty; (c) the absence of statistical information related to the situation of women from specific groups, including the prohibition of collection of data on the basis of ethnicity; (d) the absence of legislation and other measures; and (e) inadequate allocation of resources. The lack of involvement of women in decision-making processes, patriarchal practices and norms, and barriers in accessing justice and services such as education, health care, credit facilities and community services were also identified as key factors that enable intersectional discrimination. 10. Mr. Viáfara López explained how cumulative discrimination could affect the social and economic rights of women and girls. Referring to his research on discrimination against women and girls of African descent in Colombia, he argued that discrimination based on gender was one of the leading causes of social inequality, but that racial or ethnic origin exacerbated gender inequality. Afro-Colombian women and girls were victims of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including gender and racial discrimination, which had a compounding negative effect on their enjoyment of social and economic rights. He emphasized the importance of individual factors, such as ethnic status, social background and education, on socioeconomic status and social mobility. Individual factors had a great impact on educational opportunities and hence occupational attainment. For example, the rate of school dropout among women and girls varied depending on racial origin. Women and girls of African descent were 66 per cent more likely to drop out of school compared to the rest of the population in Colombia. Afro-descendent women were also 13 per cent more likely to do unskilled work than white men and 8.6 per cent more likely than white women. Women of African descent were 58 per cent less likely to get a university degree than white men and 32 per cent less likely than men of African descent. Unequal opportunities resulting from racial discrimination were likely to affect women and girls’ access to other socially valued goods and services, for instance health care and employment, which restricted their effective enjoyment of human rights overall. 11. Affirmative action policies or special measures to tackle cumulative disadvantages on the basis of race and gender were identified as adequate approaches for achieving 3