A/HRC/RES/14/12
punish and redress, including by ensuring access to adequate, effective, prompt and
appropriate remedies, the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of
violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody or in
situations of armed conflict, to ensure that such legislation conforms with relevant
international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law, to abolish
existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against
women, and to remove gender bias in the administration of justice;
3.
Also calls upon States to place a high priority on strengthening and
implementing legal and policy measures that promote the full enjoyment by women and
girls of all human rights, particularly those aimed at eliminating discrimination against
women, promoting gender equality, empowering women and promoting their autonomy,
including with regard to land, property, marriage and divorce, child custody and
inheritance, and to promote equal access to literacy, education, skills training and
employment opportunities, land, credit, agricultural extension, adequate housing, just and
favourable conditions of work, and business and leadership skills training;
4.
Further calls upon States to take all measures to empower women and
strengthen their economic independence, including through their full participation in the
development and implementation of socio-economic policies and poverty eradication
strategies, and through recognition of the value of the unremunerated work by women to
better protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, to give priority to and to
promote their access, without discrimination, to education, training, economic opportunity
and economic advancement;
5.
Urges States to adopt and implement policies and programmes that enable
women to avoid and escape situations of violence and prevent its recurrence, and that
provide, inter alia, financial support and affordable access to safe housing or shelters,
childcare and other social supports, legal assistance, skills training and productive
resources, and to make these services accessible to women and girls with disabilities;
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Also urges States to promote, at all levels, environments and communities
that are safe for women and girls, and to support the efforts of civil society and other
stakeholders towards this end, including by taking measures designed to enhance personal
security and reduce the risk of violence in the community, in the home and in the
workplace, in particular those that eliminate barriers to safe access to schools and other
educational settings, drinking water sources and sanitation facilities, workplaces and
livelihoods, and participation in the life of the community;
7.
Further urges States to publicly condemn violence against women and
provide visible and sustained leadership at the highest levels to prevent all forms of
violence against women and girls, and, in particular, in efforts to confront the attitudes,
customs, practices and gender stereotypes that lie at the core of discriminatory and harmful
acts and practices that are violent towards women, such as female genital mutilation, forced
and early marriage, femicide, crimes committed in the name of honour and crimes
committed in the name of passion;
8.
Calls upon States to support initiatives undertaken by women’s groups,
international and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, media, faith and
community groups and other relevant civil society actors aimed at promoting gender
equality and the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls, and raising
awareness of and preventing violence against women and girls;
9.
Urges States to devote the resources necessary to ensure effective and
ongoing outreach, awareness-raising, education, training and engagement with relevant
stakeholders who have an important role in the prevention and early response to warning
signs of violence against women and girls, including government officials, community and
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