A/HRC/35/29 B. Conceptual framework 15. The Working Group appreciates that significant work has been done by other human rights mechanisms and United Nations agencies to gather good practices in the context of their work. It notes that there is no harmonized understanding of how to identify and investigate good practices, particularly in the context of the elimination of discrimination against women. Building on existing work in this area, the Group seeks to articulate its experience and expertise to further the conversation on methodological understandings of “good practices” and/or “promising practices” in the context of ending discrimination against women, to identify and share examples of good practices that serve as creative inspiration for the implementation of women’s human rights in multiple contexts, and to open an ongoing engagement process of collective knowledge-building in this area. 16. The purpose of the compendium, an exercise that extends beyond merely compiling a series of good laws or legal amendments, is to explore good practices that promote the elimination of discrimination against women, supporting both de jure and de facto realization of rights. 17. The law is an essential mechanism for women’s enjoyment of human rights. Law is both informed by and the creator of norms in society. Laws determine the values and operating principles by which actions and behaviours are deemed acceptable, or criminalized and stigmatized, and can have an enabling or chilling effect on women’s human rights. 18. The Working Group considers that laws may at times constitute good practices in and of themselves, but that more often they function as a component in the development of good practices. Constitutional amendments, laws or legal reforms, court decisions and the full range of ways in which laws are crafted and codified in diverse societies form an important piece of the “good practices” puzzle, and can have an immediate impact on de facto equality. A law can be “promising” or “good” in its crafting and articulation, and a court decision can be good, but for it to be considered a good practice, a wider context must be considered than can be found simply through analysis of a legal text. The Group is of the view that a good law usually becomes a good practice in conjunction with ancillary factors, such as the process by which it comes into being and is disseminated, operationalized and implemented. This is not to understate the importance of the law itself, but rather to emphasize that considerations of good practices cannot be based wholly on the legal texts themselves, but must be analysed in context, including tangible outcomes in lived reality. 19. Consideration of good practices in a global context requires an expansive approach to looking at the law and its implementation, to allow for inclusion of diverse practices reflective of varied political and legal systems and to support the identification of creative methods of supporting rights-fulfilment. Therefore, the present report includes not only all those constitutional, legislative and other rules and norms that are considered law in different legal systems, but also judicial review, legislative reform, litigation and case law, policy but also institutional reform, human rights monitoring, religious or cultural hermeneutic projects, partnership agreements between State and non-State actors, local, national and regional legal frameworks. 20. Significant progress in legal and policy frameworks for women’s rights has been made in the past decades. Nevertheless, while many countries have undertaken to repeal discriminatory laws, such laws persist in many parts of the world. Severely discriminatory laws and practices remain in particular areas of women’s human rights that continue to be contested, such as sexual and reproductive rights and equal rights in the family. Discriminatory laws also exist where the law is used punitively against women to maintain patriarchal values or to criminalize women’s struggles for their rights. In all contexts, there are ongoing challenges to the inclusion of an intersectoral approach to women’s full equality. Even in areas where the legal framework has advanced, or in societies with extensive and robust gender equality laws and policies, the test lies in the ability to implement progressive laws in practice. Innumerable barriers remain on many levels, not least of which is the male-controlled and discriminatory environment within which laws are 5