monitoring, or for linking with grass-roots organizations. At the international level, mechanisms to promote the advancement of women, as part of mainstream political, developmental or human rights activities, experience the same problems as national machineries. 44. Without strong and powerful women’s institutions at all levels, mainstreaming women’s concerns in public policies and programmes will be ineffective. Without sources of information about the gender-specific impacts of public actions, programmes are weakened. Without a focus for mobilizing the efforts of grass-roots organizations, their efforts can be dissipated. 45. Experience in many countries shows that strong national machinery, complemented by institutions at the community level, can accelerate the process of change for women. The existence of strong and active women’s organizations provides a basis for reaching out from international, national and community levels to mobilize women for change. H. Lack of awareness of, and commitment to, internationally and nationally recognized women’s human rights 46. International standards to prevent discrimination against women are in place. The World Conference on Human Rights emphasized that women’s rights were an integral part of the mainstream of universal, inalienable and indivisible human rights. However, unless these standards are fully applied, interpreted and enforced in civil, penal and commercial codes and administrative rules and regulations, they will exist only in name. Lack of awareness, as well as means for enjoyment, of these rights are critical obstacles. 47. Recognition of women’s human rights is reflected in the fact that over two thirds of the world’s States are party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including all of the countries in some regions. Indeed, in most countries, steps have been taken to reflect these rights in law. Women are increasingly using the legal system to exercise these rights. 48. However, in the countries that have not become party to the Convention or where serious reservations have been entered, or where national laws have not been changed to conform with international norms, women’s de jure equality is not yet secured. In other countries, lack of enforcement of civil, penal and commercial codes or administrative rules and regulations means that the enjoyment of women of their rights is far less than that of men. 49. The gap between having rights and enjoying them derives in part from a lack of knowledge by women and men alike about those rights and a lack of commitment by Governments to enforce them. It also results from unresponsive legal systems, overly complex administrative procedures, insensitive judicial personnel and inadequate monitoring of the violation of the human rights of women. There is a lack of appropriate recourse mechanisms at the national and international levels. Inadequate resources for institutions monitoring the violation of the human rights of women at the international level, such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, compounds the problem. 50. Experience in many countries has shown that women can be mobilized around the struggle to enjoy their rights, regardless of level of education or socio-economic status. Legal literacy programmes have been shown to be -38-