OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Elimination of violence against women Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/49 The Commission on Human Rights, Reaffirming that discrimination on the basis of sex is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments, and that its elimination is an integral part of efforts towards the elimination of violence against women, Reaffirming the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in June 1993 by the World Conference on Human Rights (A/CONF.157/23) and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993, Recalling all its previous resolutions on the elimination of violence against women, in particular its resolution 1994/45 of 4 March 1994, in which it decided to appoint a special rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Welcoming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in September 1995 by the Fourth World Conference on Women (A/CONF.177/20, chap. I) and follow-up action such as the agreed conclusions adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women on violence against women, and welcoming also 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”, Welcoming the resolve expressed at the highest levels to combat all forms of violence against women, as contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, Noting the Agenda for War-Affected Children adopted on 17 September 2000 at the International Conference on War-Affected Children and the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations (A/55/138-S/2000/693, annexes I and II), Noting Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 on women and peace and security, Recalling the inclusion of gender-related crimes and crimes of sexual violence in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (A/CONF.183/9), which affirms that rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and other forms of sexual violence constitute, in defined circumstances, a crime against humanity and/or a war crime, and reiterating that acts of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict can constitute serious violations or grave breaches of international humanitarian law, Reaffirming the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, Deeply concerned that some groups of women, such as women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, the girl child, women with disabilities, elderly women and women in situations of armed conflict, are especially targeted and vulnerable to violence, 1. Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and takes note with appreciation of her report (E/CN.4/2001/73 and Add.1-2); page 1

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