Human Rights our Collective fiesponsibility destroy the recognition, enjoyment or the exercise by women, regardless of their marital status, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all spheres of life. 208. The Commission noted that this definition is quite similar to the which defines" discrimination" as: CEDAW, [AIny distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equulitu of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. 73 209. The Commission also considered the definition of "discrimination" in the UN General Recommendation No. 19, where the CEDAW Committee affirmed the correlation between discrimination against women and gender-based violence. In Paragraph 6 of General Comment 19, the CEDAW Committee clarified that the definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, which is violence directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. The Committee noted that gender-based violence "includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty."74 210. The Commission also considered the definition of "discrimination against women" in Article 10) of the African Women's Protocol and the relevant UN instruments above, as well as the definition of "violence against women" in the same Article, which provides that: Violence against women means all acts perpetrated against women which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts; or to undertake the imposition of arbiiraru restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms in private or public life in peace time and during situations of armed conflicts or of war. 211. After a careful analysis of the implications of these definitions on the rights of women in the Egypt Initiative case." the Commission concluded that systematic sexual violence targeted at the women participating or present in the scene of a demonstration amounted to gender-based violence. The Commission held that "violence against women affects, compromises or destroys the enjoyment and 73 74 African Women's Protocol art 1. CEDAW General Recommendation 75 Egyptian No. 19: Violence against women, para 6. Initiative case (n 70 above) para 121. 42 https:lachpr.au.inVO () a