M.C. v. BULGARIA JUDGMENT D. The United Nations Committee Discrimination against Women on 19 the Elimination of 108. In its General Recommendation 19 of 29 January 1992 on violence against women, the Committee made the following recommendation in paragraph 24: “(a) States parties should take appropriate and effective measures to overcome all forms of gender-based violence, whether by public or private act; (b) States parties should ensure that laws against ... abuse, rape, sexual assault and other gender-based violence give adequate protection to all women, and respect their integrity and dignity. ...” THE LAW I. ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF ARTICLES 3, 8 AND 13 OF THE CONVENTION 109. The applicant complained that Bulgarian law and practice did not provide effective protection against rape and sexual abuse, as only cases where the victim had resisted actively were prosecuted, and that the authorities had not investigated the events of 31 July and 1 August 1995 effectively. In her view, the above amounted to a violation of the State's positive obligations to protect the individual's physical integrity and private life and to provide effective remedies in this respect. 110. The relevant Convention provisions read: Article 3 “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Article 8 § 1 “Everyone has the right to respect for his private ... life ...” Article 13 “Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in [the] Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.”