United Nations Population Fund, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and regional organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations including women’s organizations, in their work in this area; 2. Reaffirms that the term “violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life, and including domestic violence, crimes committed in the name of honour, crimes committed in the name of passion, trafficking in women and girls, traditional practices harmful to women, including female genital mutilation, early and forced marriages, female infanticide, dowry-related violence and deaths, acid attacks and violence related to commercial sexual exploitation as well as economic exploitation; 3. Strongly condemns all acts of violence against women and girls and in this regard calls, in accordance with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, within the general community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State, and emphasizes the duty of Governments to refrain from engaging in violence against women and to take appropriate and effective action concerning acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State, by private persons or non-State actors, and to provide access to just and effective remedies and specialized, including medical, assistance to victims; 4. Reaffirms, in this light, that violence against women constitutes a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and that violence against women impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of those rights and freedoms; 5. Strongly condemns physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, which encompasses, but is not limited to, battering, sexual abuse of women and girls in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female infanticide, female genital mutilation, crimes committed against women in the name of honour, crimes committed in the name of passion, traditional practices harmful to women, incest, early and forced marriages, non-spousal violence and violence related to commercial sexual exploitation as well as economic exploitation; 6. Stresses that all forms of violence against women occur within the context of de jure and de facto discrimination against women and the lower status accorded to women in society and are exacerbated by the obstacles women often face in seeking remedies from the State; 7. Emphasizes that violence against women has an impact on their physical and mental health, including their reproductive and sexual health and, in this regard, encourages States to ensure that women have access to comprehensive and accessible health-care services and programmes and to health-care providers who are knowledgeable and trained to recognize signs of violence against women and to meet the needs of patients who have been subjected to violence, in order to minimize the adverse physical and psychological consequences of violence; 8. Stresses that women should be empowered to protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, stresses that women have the right to have control over and page 3