the committee has applied this principle to state parties failure to prevent and protect victims from genderbased violence such as rape domestic violence female genital mutilation and trafficking according to the special rapporteur the powerlessness of the victim and the purpose of the act are the most decisive elements to determine whether an act amounts to torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment the special rapporteur has further pointed out that given the particular vulnerability of women with disabilities forced abortions and sterilizations of these women if they are the result of a lawful process by which decisions are made by their legal guardians against their will may also constitute torture or illtreatment violence in the name of honour sexual violence and harassment as well as slaverylike practices often of a sexual nature domestic violence in the form of intimate partner violence female genital mutilation and human trafficking can also constitute genderbased torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment according to the special rapporteur ahrc