A/HRC/RES/26/15 regarded as subordinate to men and boys or as having stereotyped roles that perpetuate practices involving violence or coercion; 3. Calls upon States to develop or strengthen comprehensive national womencentred multisectoral responses involving relevant authorities in sectors such as justice, health, social services, education and child protection services, as well as relevant non-State actors, that focus on the prevention of violence, the provision of support services for victims and survivors of violence and the punishment of perpetrators to enable accountability and to promote the empowerment of women and girls by changing harmful attitudes, practices and stereotypes; 4. Underlines the detrimental impact of sexual violence in armed conflict on women’s participation in the resolution of conflict, post-conflict transition, reconstruction, and peacebuilding processes, takes note of international and regional initiatives to combat sexual violence in armed conflict, and acknowledges with appreciation in this context the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which launched the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict as a tool to promote accountability and victim support; 5. Expresses grave concern that violence against women and girls severely limits their capacity to participate fully and effectively in society and in the development of their communities, which undermines the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals, including goals on education, health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; 6. Urges States to demonstrate their commitment to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, thereby reducing barriers to women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including by: (a) Taking effective steps to ensure the full and equal participation of women and men in all spheres of political life, including at the grass-roots level, in political reform and at all levels of decision-making, in all situations, and to contribute to the prevention and the elimination of discrimination and violence against women and girls; (b) Taking measures to ensure women’s full, equal and effective participation in all fields and leadership at all levels of decision-making in the public and private sectors through policies and actions such as temporary special measures, and by setting and working to achieve concrete goals, targets and benchmarks and implementing policies and strategies that aim to increase women’s representation in parliaments and their full, equal and effective participation in policymaking in all areas, including finance, trade, defence, and foreign affairs portfolios; (c) Condemning acts of violence against women involved in political processes and public debate, including women parliamentarians, political candidates and human rights defenders, by, inter alia, adopting legal and practical measures to prevent and punish such acts; (d) Encouraging political parties to adopt policies, as appropriate, to promote the ability of women to participate fully at all levels of decision-making within those political parties and to combat discrimination and harassment based on sex through the implementation of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies; (e) Ensuring that legal provisions accord women an equal status in law and in practice, including in relation to the head-of-household provisions in family law and custody law, and guaranteeing women’s and girls’ inheritance rights and their full and equal access to and control over assets and natural and other productive resources, including full and equal rights to own and lease land and other property, and by undertaking administrative reforms and all necessary measures to give women the same rights as men to 4

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