relevant government mechanisms. Non-governmental organizations should continue campaigns to eliminate violence against women. Take integrated measures to eradicate violence against women 81. Violence against women is a crime and should be punished as such. Action to eradicate violence against women should be comprehensive and address both the causes and the consequences and use both legal and social measures along the lines set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. Governments should develop legislation at the national level in accordance with the Declaration. Emphasis should be placed on preventing violence, as well as on protecting women subject to violence, prosecuting offenders and rehabilitating victims and perpetrators. Legal literacy programmes and information campaigns on existing laws for the protection of women targets of violence need to be carried out to make women and men aware of women’s human rights. The education system should include curricular material showing the links between gender inequality and violence against women and that violence against women is not legitimate but rather criminal behaviour. The mass media should be enlisted to carry this message. Education and orientation should be targeted to men and should emphasize the importance of mutual respect between men and women. Security measures such as provision of shelters are to be provided to women subject to violence, as well as relief through medical and psychological counselling services. The judiciary and the police forces should be trained to ensure fair treatment of women targets of violence. Governments should sponsor programmes to enhance sensitivity among legal and health professionals, including counsellors, to understand the nature and dynamics of violence against women so as to ensure that women receive fair treatment and their safety is prioritized. Increased recruitment of women into the police forces and redressing the underrepresentation of women within the judiciary should be sought. Legal and social assistance should be provided to women subject to violence and their access to justice facilitated. New approaches to sanctioning offenders, including therapeutic intervention, should be developed. Governments should consider the setting-up of high-level independent, statutory bodies to oversee the working of safeguards for women, including the state enforcement machinery. Adopt special measures to eliminate trafficking in women and to assist women targets of violence in specific situations 82. Special measures should be taken to eradicate violence against women, particularly in vulnerable situations such as women with disabilities and women migrant workers. Both sending and receiving countries of migrants should enforce existing legislation for women migrant workers. Specific action should be taken to protect women and girls who are subject to sex trafficking and forced prostitution and to prevent further abuse, including the dismantling of international networks in trafficking. Special measures for medical and psychological care of those women should be designed. Coordination of action between Governments and non-governmental organizations should be achieved. E. Increase the participation of women in conflict resolution and protect women in armed and other kinds of conflict and under foreign occupation 83. The participation of women in conflict resolution is their right and their experience is valuable. Actions to increase the participation of women in conflict resolution are linked closely with those proposed under the strategic -45-