A/HRC/RES/15/23
twenty-third special session to modify or abolish remaining laws that discriminate against
women and girls, many of these laws are still in force and continue to be applied, thereby
preventing women and girls from enjoying the full realization of their human rights;
5.
Calls upon States to fulfil their international obligations and commitments to
revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex and remove gender bias in
the administration of justice, taking into account the fact that those laws violate the human
right of women to be protected against discrimination;
6.
Recognizes that women’s inequality before the law has resulted in the lack of
equal opportunities for women in education, access to health, economic participation and
access to labour markets and disparities in, inter alia, salaries and compensation, public and
political participation, access to decision-making processes, inheritance, ownership of land,
financial services, including loans, and nationality and legal capacity, as well as increased
vulnerability to discrimination and violence, and that all countries face challenges in these
areas;
7.
Acknowledges the work undertaken by the Commission on the Status of
Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Special
Rapporteurs of the Council on violence against women, its causes and consequences, on
trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, and on contemporary forms of
slavery and other relevant United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms to eliminate
discrimination in law and in practice throughout the world;
8.
Emphasizes the significant role that women play in economic development
and in the eradication of poverty, and stresses the need for promoting equal pay for equal
work or work of equal value and for promoting the recognition of the value of women’s
unremunerated work, as well as for developing and promoting policies that facilitate the
reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities;
9.
Calls upon States to ensure full representation and full and equal
participation of women in political, social and economic decision-making as an essential
condition for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and a critical factor
in the eradication of poverty;
10.
Welcomes, in particular, the work undertaken by the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women on women’s equality before the law;
11.
Recognizes the important role played by the Council in addressing the issue
of discrimination against women, both in law and in practice;
12.
Welcomes the convening of a panel on equality before the law during the
eleventh session of the Council;
13.
Notes that, although human rights treaty bodies and special procedures do, to
some extent, address discrimination against women within their mandates, their attention to
such discrimination is not systematic;
14.
Also notes the work undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue;
15.
Takes note of the thematic study on discrimination against women, in law
and in practice, and on how the issue is addressed throughout the United Nations human
rights system, prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner;5
5
A/HRC/15/40.
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