217. Furthermore, even though state liability for acts that amount to torture requires acquiescence, the CAT Committee has noted that such acquiescence need not be granted through acts only but it can be achieved through omissions as well. Therefore, in accordance with General Comment No. 2 (2007) of the CAT Committee,64 whenever States …have reasonable grounds to believe that acts of torture or ill- treatment are being committed by non-State officials or private actors and they fail to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish such non-State officials or private actors consistently with this Convention, the State bears responsibility and its officials should be considered as authors, complicit or otherwise responsible under the Convention for consenting to or acquiescing in such impermissible acts. 218. Moreover, the CAT Committee in General Comment No. 2 (2007) accentuate that discriminatory use of physical or mental violence or abuse is an important element in determining acts that constitute torture. States are therefore mandated to protect the rights of at-risk or vulnerable groups by implementing “…positive measures of prevention and protection.”65 219. Lastly, with regards to the personal suffering, the Court observes that the attacks and persecution of PWA by the Respondent State’s own admission have been on-going for at least ten years, that is, from 2007 to 2017 and have been incremental in terms of number of targeted individuals and the nature of the attacks. The Respondent State therefore had reasonable grounds to believe that acts of cruel treatment of torture was on-going and would be exacerbated but failed to put in place protective measures beyond the enacting of legislations of general application. 220. The Court notes the Respondent State contention that it has taken some initiatives towards the protection of the rights of PWA including setting up the National Committee on Combating Cruelty against Persons with 64 Committee against Torture, General Comment 2, Implementation of article 2 by States Parties, U.N. Doc. CAT/C/GC/2/CRP. 1/Rev.4 (2007). 65 Ibid. 51