A/HRC/38/46
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
14 May 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-eighth session
18 June–6 July 2018
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination
against women in law and in practice
Note by the Secretariat*
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of
the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice,
pursuant to Council resolutions 15/23, 26/5 and 32/4. In its report, the Working Group takes
stock of the first six years of its mandate and analyses the lessons learned. While highlighting
the successes, limitations and main challenges faced in the struggle for women’s rights and
empowerment, the Working Group reasserts women’s fundamental right to substantive
equality and calls for concerted efforts to counter rollbacks and the increasing attacks against
the universality of women’s human rights. It examines opportunities to strengthen the
international women’s human rights machinery, focusing particularly on its role in forging
strategic partnerships and alliances and creating enabling environments to advance women’s
human rights. In the report, it also encapsulates its work and some of its impact, while setting
the vision for the mandate in the coming years.
* The annex is being circulated without formal editing, in the language of submission only.
GE.18-07710(E)