iiC:~. C H.P R ".41 m.:.\.ny5" AAf' c ncan ornmrssron on Human and Peoples' Rights Human Rights our Collective Responsibility c. Thirdly, the alleged threats against the Victims accused of practising prostitution for participation in the protest can also be classified as being gender-specific. 186. To determine whether discrimination took place, the Commission recalls and repeats the respective positions adopted by the Inter-American Court in its Advisory Opinion on the proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provisions of the Constitution of Costa Rica159 and the UN Human Rights Committee in its General Comment No. 18160 that:a. no discrimination exists if the difference in treatment has a legitimate purpose and if it does not lead to situations which are contrary to justice, to reason or to the nature of things; and b. not every differentiation of treatment wilt~constitute discrimination if the criteria for such differentiation are reasonable and objective and if the aim is to achieve a purpose which is legitimate under the Covenant;" 187. Now, posing a rhetorical question on the differentiation of treatment of the Victims in the present Communication, can it be classified as reasonable and legitimate as expressed by the UN Human Rights Committee? The Commission finds negative. The treatment was neither legitimate nor justifiable because there is no reasonable cause behind the discrimination that was inflicted upon the Victims. 188. The Commission further considers that the alleged incidents took place in the form of systematic sexual violence targeted at the women at the scene who appear to have participated in the demonstration. Furthermore, as previously held in Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and INTERIGHTS v Egypt, the perpetrators of the assaults seemed to be aware of the context of Egyptian society; an Arab Muslim society where a woman's virtue is measured by keeping herself physically and sexually unexposed except to her husband. The perpetrators were aware of the consequences of such acts on the Victims, both to themselves and their families, but still perpetrated the acts as a Proposed Amendments to the Naturalization Provisions of the Constitution of Costa Rica, Advisory Opinion Oc-4/84, January 19, 1984, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. A) No.4 (1984) para 57. 159 Human Rights Committee, General Comment 18, Non-discrimination Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by H U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/ Rev.1 at 26 (1994). Para 13 160 441 P age 31 Bijilo Annex Layo~.d'l'rJjw West Phone: (220) 230 4361 Fax: Email: au·banlul@africa·union.org https:/achpr.au.intlO (I a