A/HRC/RES/41/8
that protect and enable the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
including reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for
Action, and the outcome documents of their review conferences;
11.
Urges Governments, with the collaboration of relevant stakeholders, to tackle
poverty, the lack of economic opportunities for women and girls, and other entrenched
economic incentives and inequalities that act as drivers of child, early and forced marriage
and as obstacles to leaving a forced or abusive relationship, including by ensuring the rights
of women and girls to inheritance and property, their equal access with men and boys to
social protection, childcare services and direct financial services, to encourage women and
girls to continue their education, including through their re-enrolment in school after
childbirth, marriage or dissolution of marriage, to develop livelihood opportunities through
access to technical and vocational education and training and life skills education, including
financial literacy, and to promote freedom of movement, women’s equal access to full and
productive employment and decent work, as well as full and equal political participation and
rights to inherit, own and control land and productive measures;
12.
Calls upon States to strengthen laws and regulatory frameworks that promote
the reconciliation and sharing of work and family responsibilities for women and men,
including by designing, implementing and promoting family-responsive legislation, policies
and services, such as parental and other leave schemes, increased flexibility in working
arrangements, support for breastfeeding mothers, the development of infrastructure and
technology, and the provision of services, including affordable, accessible and quality
childcare and care facilities for children and other dependents, and promoting men’s
equitable responsibilities with respect to household work as fathers and caregivers, which
create an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment;
13.
Also calls upon States to develop and implement, in consultation with and with
the participation of women and girls, and integrate into humanitarian responses, from the
early stages of humanitarian emergencies, measures to address the increased vulnerability of
women and girls to child, early and forced marriage, and to protect women and girls, in
particular those subjected to child, early and forced marriage, from sexual and gender-based
violence and exploitation during humanitarian emergencies, situations of forced
displacement, armed conflict and natural disaster, including by ensuring their access to such
services as health and education, as well as strengthening follow-up and interventions to
prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian settings, and to
address the needs of those affected;
14.
Further calls upon States to ensure that all initiatives to draft, amend and
implement criminal laws addressing child, early and forced marriage are part of a
comprehensive approach and coupled with protection measures and services for victims and
survivors and those who are at risk of being subjected to harmful practices, including child,
early and forced marriage;
15.
Urges Governments to take measures to support girls and women who have
been subjected to child, early and forced marriage, and calls upon States and all relevant
actors to strengthen, inter alia, the development, enactment, implementation and monitoring
of relevant legislation and protection mechanisms, such as safe shelters, counselling and other
support services, as well as programmes focusing on, inter alia, education, health, livelihood,
autonomy and decision-making that support the empowerment of girls and women who have
been subjected to child, early and forced marriage;
16.
Urges States to ensure access to justice and accountability mechanisms and
remedies for the effective implementation and enforcement of laws aimed at preventing and
eliminating child, early and forced marriage and protecting the rights of women and girls
subjected to this harmful practice, including by informing women, girls and boys about their
rights under relevant laws, including in marriage and at its dissolution, improving legal
infrastructure, removing all barriers to access to legal aid, including legal advice, assistance
and representation, as well as to access to judicial and other legal remedies, addressing legal
inconsistencies, training law enforcement officers, the judiciary and professionals working
with women and children and ensuring oversight of the handling of cases of child, early and
forced marriage;
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