WUNRN
UN Human Rights Council Consensus
14 December 2007 - Geneva
UNITED |
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A |
General Assembly |
Distr. LIMITED A/HRC/6/L.32/Rev.1 12 December 2007 Original: ENGLISH |
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Sixth session
Agenda item 8
The Human Rights
Council,
Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights
instruments,
Reaffirming the need to implement fully human rights law and international humanitarian law in order to protect the human rights of women and girls,
Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and the
Platform for Action, the outcome of the twenty‑third special session of
the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development
and peace for the twenty‑first century”, and the declaration adopted at
the forty‑ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women,
Reaffirming international commitments on gender
equality and the human rights of women embodied in the outcome documents of the
World Conference on Human Rights, the International Conference on
Population and Development, the World Summit for Social Development, the World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance; those made in their review processes, as well as those of the
outcome document of the 2005 World Summit and the United Nations Millennium
Declaration,
Recalling Security Council resolution
1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, and welcoming the report of the Secretary‑General on women, peace and
security (S/2007/567),
Underscoring that the principle of
equality between women and men is essential for the enjoyment of each of the
specific rights enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
as recognized by the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights,
Recalling all previous resolutions, including
those adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and those of the Economic and
Social Council, regarding the integration of the human rights of women and of
gender mainstreaming into all policies and programmes throughout the United
Nations system,
Acknowledging the need for a comprehensive
approach to the promotion and protection of the human rights of women and the
need to integrate a gender perspective in a more systemic way into all aspects
of the work of the United Nations system, including the treaty bodies, and the
Human Rights Council and its mechanisms,
Noting with
appreciation the
Secretary‑General’s report on follow‑up to the Fourth World Conference on Women
and progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action and the outcome of the twenty‑third special session of the
General Assembly (E/2006/65) and on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all
policies and programmes of the United Nations system (E/2007/64),
Recognizing the important work of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and of the
Commission on the Status of Women in promoting equality between women and men
and in fighting discrimination against women,
Recognizing the importance of the participation
of women at all levels of decision‑making throughout the United Nations
system for the achievement of gender equality and the realization of the human
rights of women,
Welcoming General Assembly resolution 61/143
of 19 December 2006 and its invitation to the Human Rights Council to discuss,
by 2008, the question of violence against women in all its forms and
manifestations, and to set priorities for addressing this issue in its future
efforts and work programmes,
Reaffirming the important role that women’s
groups, human rights defenders
and non‑governmental organizations play in promoting and protecting the
human rights of women,
1. Recognizes
the importance of examining, from a
gender perspective, the
intersection of multiple forms of discrimination and conditions of
disadvantage, their root causes and consequences, and their impact on the
advancement of women and the enjoyment by women of all human rights, in order
to develop and implement strategies, policies and programmes aimed at the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and to increase the
role that women play in the design, implementation and monitoring of gender‑sensitive
anti‑discrimination policies;
2. Encourages
Member States to promote gender balance by, inter alia taking all the necessary measures,
including budgetary and institutional measures, to guarantee the full
participation of women in medium‑ and high‑level ranks, regularly nominating more women
candidates for election and appointment to the human rights treaty bodies and
mechanisms, international courts and tribunals, the specialized agencies and
other organs, including the Human Rights Council subsidiary bodies;
3. Calls
upon all
relevant actors to implement General Assembly resolution 59/164 of 20
December 2004 on improvement of the status of women in the United Nations
system, in order to realize significant progress towards the goal of
fifty/fifty gender distribution in the very near future and to guarantee the
full participation of women in higher levels of decision‑making in the
Organization;
4. Reiterates
the need for integrating a gender perspective through using gender‑inclusive
language in the formulation, interpretation and implementation of human rights
instruments, as well as in reports, resolutions and/or decisions of the Human
Rights Council and its various mechanisms and of other human rights mechanisms;
5.
Encourages United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms to
identify, collect and use, including through acceptable and standardized
methodology, appropriate data
disaggregated by sex, age and other relevant factors, and gender‑specific
information in their activities and to use the tools at their disposal for
gender analysis in monitoring and reporting;
6. Welcomes the
report of the Secretary‑General on integrating the human rights of women
throughout the United Nations system (A/HRC/4/104) and encourages organs,
bodies, mechanisms and agencies of the United Nations system to work to
actively integrate the human rights of all women and a gender perspective
throughout its work, including through exchange of information, lessons learned
and best practices in this regard;
7. Stresses
the need for integrating a gender perspective and the human rights of women into all United Nations activities, including
conferences, special sessions and summits, and their outcome documents and follow‑up;
8. Recognizes the important role of women in the prevention and
resolution of conflicts and in peace‑building, the importance of their
equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and
promotion of peace and security and the need to increase their role in decision‑making
with regard to conflict prevention and resolution, and urges the
United Nation system and Governments to make further efforts to ensure and
support the full participation of women at all levels of decision‑making
and implementation in development activities and peace processes, including
conflict prevention and resolution, post‑conflict reconstruction,
peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace‑building;
9. Encourages
the efforts of all the treaty bodies to integrate the human rights of women
and a gender perspective into their work, in particular, in their concluding
observations, general comments and recommendations;
10. Urges
all States to implement their treaty obligations addressing the human rights of
all women and girls, to withdraw reservations to treaties which are
incompatible with the object and purpose of the specific treaties, and further
encourages States to consider ratifying or acceding to all human rights treaties,
including, as a matter of priority, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto;
11. Encourages
all entities of the United Nations system, as well as Governments and intergovernmental
and non-governmental organizations, in particular women’s organizations, as
appropriate, to pay full and systematic attention to the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women and other treaty bodies, and encourages all
relevant entities of the United Nations system to continue to assist States
parties, upon the request of those States, in implementing their international
human rights obligations;
12. Welcomes
the submission of reports by United Nations specialized agencies, at the
invitation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the contribution of non-governmental
organizations to the work of the Committee;
13. Welcomes cooperation
between the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council, and the cooperation and coordination between the
Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Adviser on Gender Issues,
14. Welcomes the work on the advancement of human rights of women and gender
mainstreaming conducted by the recently established Women’s Rights and Gender
Unit within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
continued commitment of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to integrating
the issue of women’s enjoyment of human rights throughout the United Nations
system, and also encourages her ongoing commitment to raise awareness and
promote the universal ratification and implementation of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional
Protocol and further welcomes cooperation in the implementation of this
resolution;
The Human
Rights Council
15. Reaffirms its commitment to effectively
integrate the human rights of women as well as a gender perspective, in its
work and that of its mechanism in a systematic and transparent manner including
in all phases of the universal periodic review, the Advisory Committee and the
review of mandates;
16. Urges all stakeholders to take into full account both the rights of women and a gender perspective in the universal periodic review, including in the preparation of information submitted for the review, during the review dialogue, in the review outcome and in the review follow-up;
17. Encourages
States to prepare the information described in paragraph 15 (a) of Human
Rights Council resolution 5/1 through broad consultation at the national level
with all relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations active
in addressing gender issues and the human rights of women and girls;
18. Requests all special procedures and
other human rights mechanisms of the Human Rights Council and the Human Rights
Council Advisory Committee regularly and systematically to integrate a gender
perspective into the implementation of their mandate including when examining
the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination against women and to
include in their reports information on and qualitative analysis of human
rights of women and girls, and welcomes the efforts made by most special
procedures and other human rights mechanisms in that regard;
19. Encourages the strengthening of
cooperation and coordination between the special procedures and other human
rights mechanisms for the integration of human rights of women and a gender
perspective in their work;
20. Decides
to incorporate into its programme of work sufficient and adequate time, at
minimum an annual full-day meeting, to discuss the human rights of women,
including measures that can be adopted by States and other stakeholders, to
address human rights violations experienced by women;
21. Also
decides that the first such meeting should take place in the first half of
2008 and that it should include a discussion on violence against women, as
mandated by the General Assembly in resolution 61/143 of 19 December 2006,
inviting the Human Rights Council to discuss, by 2008, the question of violence
against women in all its forms and manifestations, and to set priorities for
addressing this issue in its future efforts and work programme;
22. Welcomes
the panel discussion on the
integration of a gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights
Council, held on 20 and 21 September 2007, and decides
to incorporate into its programme of work an annual discussion on the
integration of a gender perspective throughout its work and that of its
mechanisms, including the evaluation of progress made and challenges
experienced;
23. Requests
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to
report in 2008 on the obstacles and challenges to the implementation of this
resolution by the Human Rights Council and to make concrete recommendations for
action to address such obstacles and challenges;
24. Encourages
States to cooperate with and support the United Nations system in its efforts
to integrate the human rights of women and a gender perspective to take into
full consideration the content of the present resolution;
25. Decides
to continue its consideration of both the rights of women and the
integration of a gender perspective in accordance with the programme of work of
the Human Rights Council.
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