CEDAW/C/GC/32 asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected at the national level but who claim that they would be exposed to the risk of sexual and/or gender-based violence and persecution if forcibly returned to their country of origin. In reply, the Committee has noted, 19 among other things, that, under international human rights law, the non-refoulement principle imposes a duty on States to refrain from returning a person to a jurisdiction in which he or she may face serious violations of human rights, notably arbitrary deprivation of life or torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In addition, the Committee recalls that civil and political rights and freedoms, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment, are implicitly covered by the Convention, and thus States parties are under the obligation not to extradite, deport, expel or otherwise remove a person from their territory to the territory of another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm. 22. The Committee further considers that, under article 2 (d) of the Convention, States parties undertake to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with that obligation. That duty encompasses the obligation of States parties to protect women from being exposed to a real, personal and foreseeable risk of serious forms of discrimination against women, including gender-based violence, irrespective of whether such consequences would take place outside the territorial boundaries of the sending State party: if a State party takes a decision relating to a person within its jurisdiction, and the necessary and foreseeable consequence is that the person’s basic rights under the Convention will be seriously at risk in another jurisdiction, the State party itself may be in violation of the Convention. The foreseeability of the consequence would mean that there was a present violation by the State party, even though the consequence would not occur until later. 23. The Committee is therefore of the view that States parties have an obligation to ensure that no woman will be expelled or returned to another State where her life, physical integrity, liberty and security of person would be threatened, or where she would risk suffering serious forms of discrimination, including serious forms of gender-based persecution or gender-based violence. What amounts to serious forms of discrimination against women, including gender-based violence, will depend on the circumstances of each case. 20 C. Comments on specific articles of the Convention 24. Articles 1-3, 5 (a) and 15 establish an obligation on States parties to ensure that women are not discriminated against during the entire asylum process, beginning from the moment of arrival at the borders. Women asylum seekers are entitled to have their rights under the Convention respected; they are entitled to be treated in a non-discriminatory manner and with respect and dignity at all times during the asylum procedure and thereafter, including through the process of finding durable solutions once asylum status has been recognized by the receiving State. __________________ 19 20 8/21 See, for example, communication No. 33/2011, M.N.N. v. Denmark, inadmissibility decision adopted by the Committee on 15 July 2013, paras. 8.5 ff. See ibid., para. 8.9. 14-64766