Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 2 • The concept of equality means more than treating all persons in the same way. Genuine equality will usually only result from efforts that seek to address and correct existing obstacles that create or exacerbate disadvantage and discrimination. This broader view of equality has become the underlying principle and the ultimate goal in the struggle for recognition and acceptance of the human rights of women. • Under CEDAW, discrimination against women encompasses any difference in treatment on the grounds of sex which: intentionally or unintentionally disadvantages women; prevents society as a whole from recognizing women’s rights in both the domestic and public spheres; or prevents women from exercising the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are entitled. • States parties to CEDAW accept obligations to respect, protect and fulfil women’s rights to non-discrimination and to the enjoyment of equality. They also commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls. • The Optional Protocol to CEDAW sets out two procedures for dealing with complaints of violations of women’s rights: a communications procedure and an inquiry procedure. • International law places an obligation on States to protect, respect and fulfil human rights. A State will generally be held responsible for a harmful outcome if it can be shown that: the State could have acted to prevent the violation and did not do so; the State failed to respond to the violation; or the State failed to provide victims with access to remedies. • All women and girls who have experienced violation of their human rights have an internationally recognized legal right to access fair and adequate remedies. Remedies are a practical means by which victims can both access and receive justice. Forms of remedy include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and the guarantee of nonrepetition. • In addition to binding international law, non-treaty instruments can be important sources of guidance and interpretation on the human rights of women and girls. 24