E/C.12/GC/22 Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN–Women), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other United Nations entities provide technical guidance and information, as well as capacity-building and strengthening. They should cooperate effectively with States parties, building on their respective expertise in relation to the implementation of the right to sexual and reproductive health at the national level, with due respect to their individual mandates, in collaboration with civil society.41 V. Violations 54. Violations of the right to sexual and reproductive health can occur through the direct action of States or other entities that are insufficiently regulated by States. Violations through acts of commission include the adoption of legislation, regulations, policies or programmes that create barriers to the realization of the right to sexual and reproductive health in the State party or in third countries, or the formal repeal or suspension of legislation, regulations, policies or programmes that are necessary for the continued enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. 55. Violations through acts of omission include the failure to take appropriate steps towards the full realization of everyone's right to sexual and reproductive health and the failure to enact and enforce relevant laws. Failure to ensure formal and substantive equality in the enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health constitutes a violation of this right. The elimination of de jure as well as de facto discrimination is required for the equal enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. 42 56. Violations of the obligation to respect occur when the State, through laws, policies or actions, undermines the right to sexual and reproductive health. Such violations include State interference with an individual’s freedom to control his or her own body and ability to make free, informed and responsible decisions in this regard. They also occur when the State removes or suspends laws and policies that are necessary for the enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. 57. Examples of violations of the obligation to respect include the establishment of legal barriers impeding access by individuals to sexual and reproductive health services, such as the criminalization of women undergoing abortions and the criminalization of consensual sexual activity between adults. Banning or denying access in practice to sexual and reproductive health services and medicines, such as emergency contraception, also violates the obligation to respect. Laws and policies that prescribe involuntary, coercive or forced medical interventions, including forced sterilization or mandatory HIV/AIDS, virginity or pregnancy testing, also violate the obligation to respect. 58. Laws and policies that indirectly perpetuate coercive medical practices, including incentive- or quota-based contraceptive policies and hormonal therapy, as well as surgery or sterilization requirements for legal recognition of one’s gender identity, constitute additional violations of the obligation to respect. Further violations include state practices and policies that censor or withhold information, or present inaccurate, misrepresentative or discriminatory information, related to sexual and reproductive health. 59. Violations of the obligation to protect occur when a State fails to take effective steps to prevent third parties from undermining the enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. This includes the failure to prohibit and take measures to prevent all forms of violence and coercion committed by private individuals and entities, including 41 42 14 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 14, paras. 63-65. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 16, para. 41.