Part I The human rights of women and girls 36 37 Firstly, States parties’ obligation is to ensure that there is no direct or indirect discrimination against women in their laws and that women are protected against discrimination – committed by public authorities, the judiciary, organizations, enterprises or private individuals – in the public as well as the private spheres by competent tribunals as well as sanctions and other remedies. Secondly, States parties’ obligation is to improve the de facto position of women through concrete and effective policies and programmes. Thirdly, States parties’ obligation is to address prevailing gender relations and the persistence of gender-based stereotypes that affect women not only through individual acts by individuals but also in law, and legal and societal structures and institutions. In the Committee’s view, a purely formal legal or programmatic approach is not sufficient to achieve women’s de facto equality with men, which the Committee interprets as substantive equality. In addition, the Convention requires that women be given an equal start and that they be empowered by an enabling environment to achieve equality of results. It is not enough to guarantee women treatment that is identical to that of men. Rather, biological as well as socially and culturally constructed differences between women and men must be taken into account. Under certain circumstances, non-identical treatment of women and men will be required in order to address such differences. Pursuit of the goal of substantive equality also calls for an effective strategy aimed at overcoming underrepresentation of women and a redistribution of resources and power between men and women.36 Prohibition on discrimination: Sources of obligation37 Treaty source • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 2) • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (articles 2(1), 3 and 26) • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (article 2) • Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 2) • International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (article 7) • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (articles 2(2), 3 and 7) • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (article 6) • European Convention on Human Rights (article 14) • American Convention on Human Rights (article 1) • African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (articles 2 and 18(3)) Non-treaty source Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (article 1) 36 CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 25 on temporary special measures, 2004, paras. 4-8. 37 Adapted from OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking: Commentary, 2010, p. 63. Chapter 2: The international legal framework around women’s and girls’ human rights | 13