Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions Treaty bodies can also work on interpreting and clarifying the provisions of their treaties. This is usually done through issuing “general comments” or “general recommendations”. The CEDAW Committee’s general recommendations, discussed below, have been an important source of insight into key provisions of CEDAW. As noted above, some committees have additional functions, usually given to them by the treaty or an optional protocol to the treaty. These can include considering complaints from individuals who claim that their rights have been violated by a State party; initiating confidential inquiries based on well-founded reports of serious, grave or systematic human rights violations of treaty provisions within a State party; and early warning or urgent action procedures that seek to prevent or respond to immediate concerns. While all treaty bodies should – and increasingly do – have a gender dimension to their work, the subject area of some lends itself to more consistent and in-depth examination of the human rights of women and girls. One example is the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which very often considers the situation of girls in relation to the full set of rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Many of the general comments issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child include special consideration of the particular situation and vulnerabilities of girls. Another treaty body whose work has demonstrated a strong understanding of gender is the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which oversees the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Committee has issued a general comment on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.63 It has also included consideration of the human rights of women in other general comments; for example, those dealing with the right to education, the right to adequate food, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to water and the right to adequate housing. The Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has also taken a regular and in-depth interest in the human rights of women. For example, in 2000, the Committee released a general comment on equality of rights between men and women that considered the parameters of the prohibition on sex-based discrimination and detailed how the major rights enshrined in the Covenant are to apply to women.64 65 EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW The right of everyone under article 16 [of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law is particularly pertinent for women, who often see it curtailed by reason of sex or marital status. This right implies that the capacity of women to own property, to enter into a contract or to exercise other civil rights may not be restricted on the basis of marital status or any other discriminatory ground. It also implies that women may not be treated as objects to be given, together with the property of the deceased husband, to his family. States must provide information on laws or practices that prevent women from being treated or from functioning as full legal persons and the measures taken to eradicate laws or practices that allow such treatment.65 28 63 General Comment No. 16; 2005. 64 General Comment No. 28. The Human Rights Committee has often addressed issues related to the human rights of women through its complaint procedure. See, for example: L.N.P. v Argentine Republic, Communication No. 1610/2007, views adopted 16 August 2011; L.M.R. v Argentina, Communication No. 1608/2007, views adopted 28 April 2011; and K.L. v. Peru, Communication No. 1153/2003, views adopted 22 November 2005. 65 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 28 on the equality of rights between men and women, 2000, para. 19.