United Nations	A/HRC/14/L.9/Rev.1
General Assembly	Distr.: Limited 15 June 2010 Original: English

Human Rights Council

Fourteenth session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development

Andorra*, Armenia*, Australia*, Austria*, Belgium, Brazil, Bolivia (Plurinational State of)*, Bulgaria*, Canada*, Colombia*, Congo*, Costa Rica*, Croatia*, Cyprus*, Czech Republic*, Denmark*, Estonia*, Finland*, France, Germany*, Greece*, Guatemala*, Hungary, Ireland*, Italy, Latvia*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg*, Malta*, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand*, Norway, Panama*, Paraguay*, Peru*, Poland*, Portugal*, Rwanda*, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain*, Sweden*, Switzerland*, Thailand*, Turkey*, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay: draft resolution

14/...
Accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women: ensuring due diligence in prevention

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming and building upon its resolution 11/2 of 17 June 2009,

Reaffirming its resolution 7/24 of 28 March 2008 on the elimination of violence against women, all resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights on the elimination of violence against women, General Assembly resolution 64/137 of 18 December 2009 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, and all other resolutions of the Assembly and the Commission on the Status of Women relevant to the elimination of all forms of violence against women, Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, 1820 (2008) of 19 June 2008,

Reaffirming also the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Cairo Programme of 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 and fifty-fourth sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women,

Underscoring the fact that the duty of States to exercise due diligence to prevent violence against women and girls includes using all those appropriate means of a legal, political, administrative and social nature that promote the protection of human rights and ensuring that acts of violence are considered and treated as illegal acts for which adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate punishment and remedies, including reparations, are available,

Recognizing that power imbalances and structural inequality between men and women are among the root causes of violence against women, and that effective prevention of violence against women and girls requires action at all levels of government, the engagement of civil society, the involvement of men and boys, and the adoption and implementation of multifaceted and comprehensive approaches that promote gender equality and empowerment of women, and integrate awareness, education, training, political will, legislation, accountability, targeted policies and programmes, specific measures to reduce vulnerability, data collection and analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and protection, support and redress for women who have experienced violence,

Recognizing also that violence against women is one of the factors impeding progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals,

Recognizing further the importance of the full participation of women in the development of effective policies and programmes relating to the prevention of violence against women,

Acknowledging that confronting and changing the harmful attitudes, customs, practices and gender stereotypes that underlie and perpetuate violence against women is fundamental to ensuring effective prevention,

Stressing that the realization of all human rights by women and girls, such as those regarding ownership of land, property, inheritance, housing, financial services, including loans, nationality and legal capacity, education, conditions of work, access to health, economic participation, access to labour and disparities in salaries and compensation, public and political participation, access to decision-making processes, social security, and cultural life, supported by interventions dealing with legal literacy, skills training and access to productive resources, is a key factor in preventing violence against women and girls, and that, in many instances, the different treatment of women before the law has resulted in the lack of equal opportunities for them in these areas,

Deeply concerned that all forms of discrimination, including racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination and disadvantage can lead to the targeting or vulnerability to violence of some women and girls, including women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee and internally displaced women, stateless women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote communities, women living in slums and informal settlements, women living in conditions of poverty, women in institutions or in detention, women with disabilities, elderly women, widows and women in all situations of armed conflict, women who face trafficking, sexual or labour exploitation, and women who are otherwise discriminated against, including those on the basis of their HIV/AIDS status,

Concerned that the threat or risk of being exposed to violence may constitute a barrier to women and girls realizing their right to education,

Alarmed that in situations of armed conflict women are particularly exposed to sexual and other forms of violence, and recognizing the need to intensify efforts to prevent such violence in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law,

1.	Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and provide protection to women and girls who have experienced violence, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;

2.	Calls upon States to enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend domestic legislation and take measures to enhance the protection of women and girls who have experienced violence and to criminalize such violence, to investigate, prosecute, punish and redress, including by ensuring access to adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate remedies, including reparations, the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody or in situations of armed conflict; to ensure that such legislation conforms with relevant international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law, to abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women, and to remove gender bias in the administration of justice;

3.	Also calls upon States to place a high priority on strengthening and implementing legal and policy measures that promote the full enjoyment by women and girls of all human rights, particularly those aimed at eliminating discrimination against women, promoting gender equality, empowering women and promoting their full autonomy, including with regard to land, property, marriage and divorce, child custody and inheritance, and to promote equal access to literacy, education, skills training and employment opportunities, land, credit, agricultural extension, adequate housing, just and favourable conditions of work, and business and leadership skills training;

4.	Further calls upon States to take all measures to empower women and strengthen their economic independence, including through full participation in the development and implementation of socio-economic policies and poverty eradication strategies, and through recognition of the value of the unremunerated work by women, which allow them to better protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, give priority to and promote their non discriminatory access to education, training, economic opportunity and economic advancement;

5.	Urges States to adopt and implement policies and programmes that enable women to avoid and escape situations of violence and prevent its recurrence, and that provide, inter alia, financial support and affordable access to safe housing or shelters, childcare and other social supports, legal assistance, skills training and productive resources, and to make these services accessible to women and girls with disabilities;

6	Also urges States at all levels to promote environments and communities that are safe for women and girls, and to support the efforts of civil society and other stakeholders towards this end, including by taking measures designed to enhance personal security and reduce the risk of violence in the community, in the home and in the workplace, in particular those that eliminate barriers to safe access to schools and other educational settings, drinking water sources and sanitation facilities, workplaces and livelihoods, and participation in the life of the community;

7.	Calls upon States to publicly condemn violence against women and provide visible and sustained leadership at the highest levels to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls, and, in particular, in efforts to confront the attitudes, customs, practices and gender stereotypes that lie at the core of discriminatory and harmful acts and practices that are violent towards women, such as female genital mutilation, forced and early marriages, femicide and crimes committed in the name of honour;

8.	Also calls upon States to support initiatives undertaken by women’s groups, international and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, media, faith and community groups and other relevant civil society actors aimed at promoting gender equality and the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls, and raising awareness of and preventing violence against women and girls;

9.	Urges States to devote the resources necessary to ensure effective and ongoing outreach, awareness-raising, education, training and engagement with relevant stakeholders who have an important role in prevention and responding to early warning signs of violence against women and girls, including government officials, community and religious leaders, health, education, justice and law enforcement, including prison personnel;

10.	Encourages States to integrate gender analysis in policymaking to better understand the potential impact of policies on women and their contribution to eliminating violence against women and girls;

11.	Urges Governments to identify and address the effects of all forms of discrimination that combine to heighten the vulnerability of women and girls to violence and includes targeted discrimination directed against groups of women, compounded discrimination whereby gender and belonging to a minority or marginalized group prevent women and girls from having access to opportunities that would otherwise be available to them, and structural discrimination whereby State policies that are intended to be gender-neutral have an adverse impact on women and girls, thus increasing their degree of marginalization;

12.	Also urges States to enhance efforts to involve men and boys in efforts to prevent violence against women and in highlighting the unacceptability of violence against women;

13	Stresses that women should be empowered to protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, that women have the right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters relating to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, and calls upon States to take all necessary legislative and policy steps,

14	Calls upon States to strengthen initiatives that would increase the capacities of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from HIV infection, including by providing HIV- and AIDS-prevention, treatment, care and support services, and to ensure protection from and prevention of stigma and discrimination, and to cooperate with United Nations bodies, programmes and specialized agencies, and international and non-governmental organizations in this regard;

15. To develop and implement at all levels, as required, a comprehensive and integrated strategy of prevention and prosecution of all forms of rape, and monitor the implementation of such a strategy, which should include the training of, inter alia, all relevant government and military personnel, in particular military commanders, law enforcement officials, judicial system personnel, health workers, teachers and social workers, as well as community leaders and the news media, in all appropriate aspects of the prevention and prosecution of rape and other forms of sexual violence and of protection and support for victims of such violence;

16.	Urges States and the United Nations system to give attention to, and encourages greater international cooperation in, systematic research and the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, including data disaggregated by sex, age, disability, and other relevant information, on the extent, nature and consequences of violence against women and girls, and on the impact and effectiveness of policies and programmes for combating this violence, and in this context, urges States and the UN system to regularly provide information for inclusion in the Secretary General’s coordinated database on violence against women,

17.	Encourages States to implement Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008);

18.	Also encourages States to create gender-sensitized training and education programmes and other appropriate measures for their armed forces, civilian police, peacekeeping units and humanitarian personnel that include instructions on their responsibilities towards the civilian population, particularly women and children, as well as mechanisms to ensure adequate safeguards to prevent violence against women and full accountability in cases of misconduct involving their personnel;

19.	Urges States to establish or strengthen plans of action to eliminate violence against women and girls that clearly delineate government accountabilities for prevention and are supported by the necessary human, financial and technical resources, including, where appropriate, time-bound measurable targets, to promote the protection of women against any form of violence, and accelerate the implementation of existing plans of action that are regularly monitored and updated by Governments, taking into account inputs by civil society, in particular women’s organizations, networks and other stakeholders;

20.	Notes with appreciation the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and takes note of her recent report on reparations for women subjected to violence (A/HRC/14/22);

21.	Decides to include in the annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights at its seventeenth session, in consultation with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the theme of violence against women and girls, with an emphasis on prevention, with a view to sharing good practices and identifying remaining gaps in the area of prevention, and requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare and disseminate a summary of the proceedings;

22.	Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a compilation of good practices in efforts aimed at preventing violence against women, in consultation with the Special Rapporteur, States, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, and to present the report thereon during the annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights at its seventeenth session;

23.	Looks forward to the contribution the new composite United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women can make, in coordination with the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, to the prevention and elimination of violence against women;

24.	Decides to continue consideration of the issue of the elimination of all forms of violence against women, its causes and consequences, as a matter of high priority, in conformity with its annual programme of work.

*	Non-member State of the Human Rights Council.