United Nations General Assembly A/RES/58/175 Distr.: General 10 March 2004 Fifty-eighth session Agenda item 117 (b) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2003 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/58/508/Add.2)] 58/175. National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions and those of the Commission on Human Rights concerning national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, Welcoming the rapidly growing interest throughout the world in the creation and strengthening of independent, pluralistic national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, Convinced of the important role that such national institutions play and will continue to play in promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms and in developing and enhancing public awareness of those rights and freedoms, Recognizing that the United Nations has played an important role and should continue to play a more important role in assisting the development of national institutions, Recalling the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June l993, 1 which reaffirmed the important and constructive role played by national human rights institutions, in particular in their advisory capacity to the competent authorities and their role in remedying human rights violations, in disseminating information on human rights and in education in human rights, Recalling also the Beijing Platform for Action, 2 in which Governments were urged to create or strengthen independent national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, including the human rights of women, Noting the diverse approaches adopted throughout the world for the promotion and protection of human rights at the national level, emphasizing the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, and emphasizing and _______________ 1 A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III. Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II. 2 03 50508