CEDAW/C/GC/32 13. The Committee notes that asylum seekers seek international protection on the basis that they cannot return to their country of origin because they have a wellfounded fear of persecution or are at risk of being ill-treated or subjected to other serious harm. It also notes that under article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees the reasons for persecution must be linked to one of the five grounds listed therein: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Gender-related persecution is absent from the text. The present general recommendation is intended to ensure that States parties apply a gender perspective when interpreting all five grounds, use gender as a factor in recognizing membership of a particular social group for purposes of granting refugee status under the 1951 Convention and further introduce other grounds of persecution, namely sex and/or gender, into national legislation and policies relating to refugees and asylum seekers. It should be noted that, in other international, national and regional contexts, asylum is also provided to persons who cannot be returned to their countries of origin owing to, among other things, threats to their lives or torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. Those forms of complementary protection are also covered herein. 14. There are many reasons why women are compelled to leave their homes and seek asylum in other countries. In addition to aggravated or cumulative forms of discrimination against women amounting to persecution, women experience violations of their rights throughout the displacement cycle. The Committee recognizes that displacement arising from armed conflict, gender-related persecution and other serious human rights violations that affect women compounds existing challenges to the elimination of discrimination against women. It also recognizes the persistence of other forms of exploitation concomitant with displacement, such as trafficking for purposes of sexual or labour exploitation, slavery and servitude. The Committee therefore reiterates the obligation of States parties to treat women with dignity and to respect, protect and fulfil their rights under the Convention at each stage of the displacement 8 cycle, as well as in the enjoyment of durable solutions, including integration and/or resettlement in receiving States and/or voluntary repatriation to their State of origin. 15. Gender-related forms of persecution are forms of persecution that are directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affect women disproportionately. 9 The Committee observes that understanding the way in which women’s rights are violated is critical to the identification of those forms of persecution. The Committee notes that violence against women that is a prohibited form of discrimination against women is one of the major forms of persecution experienced by women in the context of refugee status and asylum. Such violence, just as other __________________ 8 9 14-64766 seriously disturbed public order”. In addition, directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union of 13 December 2011 pertains to standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted. The word “displacement” in the present general recommendation refers to those persons who have fled and crossed their country’s borders. See the definition of gender-based violence in paragraph 6 of general recommendation No. 19 on violence against women. See also UNHCR, “Guidelines on international protection: genderrelated persecution within the context of article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees”, guideline No. 1 (HCR/GIP/02/01), paras. 3, 9, 16 and 17. 5/21