II. GENERAL COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

•	ICCPR General Comment 25 (Fifty-seventh session, 1996): Article 25: The Right to Participate in Public Affairs, Voting Rights and the Right of Equal Access to Public Service, A/51/40 vol. I (1996) 98 at para. 12.

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12. Freedom of expression, assembly and association are essential conditions for the effective exercise of the right to vote and must be fully protected. Positive measures should be taken to overcome specific difficulties, such as illiteracy, language barriers, poverty, or impediments to freedom of movement which prevent persons entitled to vote from exercising their rights effectively. Information and materials about voting should be available in minority languages. Specific methods, such as photographs and symbols, should be adopted to ensure that illiterate voters have adequate information on which to base their choice. States parties should indicate in their reports the manner in which the difficulties highlighted in this paragraph are dealt with.

•	ICCPR General Comment 28 (Sixty-eighth session, 2000): Article 3: Equality of Rights Between Men and Women, A/55/40 vol. I (2000) 133 at para. 32.

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32. The rights which persons belonging to minorities enjoy under article 27 of the Covenant in respect of their language, culture and religion do not authorize any State, group or person to violate the right to equal enjoyment by women of any Covenant rights, including the right to equal protection of the law. States should report on any legislation or administrative practices related to membership in a minority community that might constitute an infringement of the equal rights of women under the Covenant - Case 24/1977 Lovelace v. Canada, (views adopted July 1981) - and on measures taken or envisaged to ensure the equal right of men and women to enjoy all civil and political rights in the Covenant. Likewise, States should report on measures taken to discharge their responsibilities in relation to cultural or religious practices within minority communities that affect the rights of women. In their reports, States parties should pay attention to the contribution made by women to the cultural life of their communities.

•	CRC General Comment 2 (Thirty-first session, 2002): The Role of Independent National Human Rights Institutions in the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child, A/59/41 (2004) 82 at para. 15.

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15. NHRIs [national human rights institutions] should be geographically and physically accessible to all children. In the spirit of article 2 of the Convention, they should proactively reach out to all groups of children, in particular the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, such as (but not limited to) children in care or detention, children from minority and indigenous groups, children with disabilities, children living in poverty, refugee and migrant children, street children and children with special needs in areas such as culture, language, health and education. NHRI legislation should include the right of the institution to have access in conditions of privacy to children in all forms of alternative care and to all institutions that include children.

•	CERD General Recommendation XXIII (Fifty-first session, 1997): On the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, A/52/18 (1997) 122 at paras. 4 (a) and (c). For text of General Recommendation, see INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.

•	CERD General Recommendation XXVII (Fifty-seventh session, 2000): Discrimination Against Roma, A/55/18 (2000) 154 at paras. 18 and 26. For text of General Recommendation, see EQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION - RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.

•	ICCPR General Comment 13 (Twenty-first session, 1984): Article 14: Equality Before the Courts and the Right to a Fair and Public Hearing by an Independent Court Established by Law, A/39/40 (1984) 143 at paras. 8 and 13. For text of General Comment, see LEGAL RIGHTS - CRIMINAL - Right to a Fair and Public Hearing.

•	ICCPR General Comment 22 (Forty-eighth session, 1993): Article 18: The Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion, A/48/40 vol. I (1993) 208 at para. 4. For text of General Comment, see THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION - FREEDOM OF.

•	ICCPR General Comment 23 (Fiftieth session, 1994): Article 27: The Rights of Minorities, A/49/40 vol. I (1994) 107 at para. 5.3. For text of General Comment, see EQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION - MINORITY RIGHTS.

•	ICESCR General Comment 5 (Eleventh session, 1994): Persons with Disabilities, E/1995/22 (1994) 99 at para. 35. For text of General Comment, see DISABILITY.

•	ICESCR General Comment 16 (Thirty-fourth session, 2005): Article 3: The Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of all Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/2006/22 (2005) 116 at paras. 5 and 10. For text of General Comment, see EQUALITY AND DISCRIMINATION - GENDER DISCRIMINATION - General.

•	CRC General Comment 5 (Thirty-fourth session, 2003): General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6), A/59/41 (2004) 114 at paras. 49, 67 and 72. For text of General Comment, see CHILDREN'S RIGHTS - GENERAL.

•	CRC General Comment 6 (Thirty-ninth session, 2005): Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country of Origin, A/61/41 (2005) 15 at paras. 42, 71 and 90. For text of General Comment, see CHILDREN'S RIGHTS - GENERAL.