CEDAW/C/GC/35 1. Acts or omissions by non-State actors attributable to the State (a) The acts or omissions of private actors empowered by the law of that State to exercise elements of governmental authority, including private bodies providing public services, such as health care or education, or operating places of detention, are considered acts attributable to the State itself, 32 as are the acts or omissions of private agents acting on the instruction or under the direction or control of that State, 33 including when operating abroad; 2. Due diligence obligations for acts or omissions of non-State actors (b) Article 2 (e) of the Convention explicitly provides that States parties are to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. 34 That obligation, frequently referred to as an obligation of due diligence, underpins the Convention as a whole 35 and accordingly States parties will be held responsible should they fail to take all appropriate measures to prevent, as well as to investigate, prosecute, punish and provide reparations for, acts or omissions by non-State actors that result in gender-based violence against women, 36 including actions taken by corporations operating extraterritorially. In particular, States parties are required to take the steps necessary to prevent human rights violations perpetrated abroad by corporations over which they may exercise influence, 37 whether through regulatory means or the use of incentives, including economic incentives. 38 Under the obligation of due diligence, States parties must adopt and implement diverse measures to tackle gender -based violence against women committed by non-State actors, including having laws, institutions and a system in place to address such violence and ensuring that they function effectively in practice and are supported by all State agents and bodies who diligently enforce the laws. 39 The failure of a State party to take all appropriate measures to prevent acts of gender-based violence against women in cases in which its authorities are aware or should be aware of the risk of such violence, or the failure to investigate, to prosecute and punish perpetrators and to provide reparations to victims/survivors of such acts, provides tacit permission or encouragement to perpetrate acts of gender-based violence against women. 40 Such failures or omissions constitute human rights violations. 25. In addition, both international humanitarian law and human rights law have recognized the direct obligations of non-State actors in specific circumstances, including as parties to an armed conflict. Those obligations include the prohibition of torture, which is part of customary international law and has become a peremptory norm (jus cogens). 41 __________________ 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 17-12719 See International Law Commission, articles on responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts, article 5, Conduct of persons or entities exercising elements of governmental authority. Ibid., article 8, Conduct directed or controlled by a State. General recommendation No. 28, para. 36. Ibid., para. 13. General recommendation No. 19, para. 9. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 16 (2013) on State ob ligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, paras. 43 -44, and the Maastricht Principles on the Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, para. 39. Goekce (deceased) v. Austria, para. 12.1.2, and V.K. v. Bulgaria, para. 9.4. General recommendation No. 19, para. 9. General recommendation No. 30. 9/19