17. Strongly urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other human rights violations against women and girls, to take measures to ensure protection for women and girls against violence and their equal protection and access to justice, to address the concerning incidence of child, early and forced marriage, as recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, to promote, support and enable women’s participation in political and other decision-making processes, and, while recognizing the high enrolment of women in all levels of education in the Islamic Republic of Iran, to lift restrictions on women’s equal access to all aspects of education and women’s equal participation in the labour market and in all aspects of economic, cultural, social and political life, including participation in and attendance at sporting events;

20. Urges Member States to strengthen, as appropriate, the authority and capacity of national mechanisms for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, at all levels, which should be placed at the highest possible level of government, with sufficient funding, and to mainstream a gender perspective across all relevant national and local institutions, including labour, economic and financial government agencies, in order to ensure that national planning, decision- making, policy formulation and implementation, budgeting processes and institutional structures contribute to women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work;

7. Stresses the importance of the creation by Governments, international organizations, including the United Nations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and other stakeholders of a favourable and conducive national and international environment in all areas of life for the effective integration of women and girls in development, and of their undertaking and disseminating a gender analysis of legislation, policies and programmes related to macroeconomic stability, structural reform, taxation, investments, including foreign direct investment, and all relevant sectors of the economy;

Recalling also its resolution 71/243 of 21 December 2016 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system, which reaffirms that promoting gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, in accordance with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of relevant United Nations conferences and resolutions of the General Assembly, including through investing in the development of women and girls and promoting their economic and political participation and equal access to economic and productive resources and education, is of fundamental importance and has a multiplier effect for achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development,

11. Encourages the international community, including Member States, and all relevant stakeholders, including the entities of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, other intergovernmental bodies, regional and national development banks, domestic financial institutions, credit unions, multi-stakeholder partnerships and relevant non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, to further develop financial literacy and financial educatio n programmes that include an emphasis on the impact of finance on sustainable development, as appropriate, in order to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to access financial services, in particular women and girls, farmers and those working in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises;

Recognizing that it is important for all countries, including landlocked developing countries, to commit to a world in which all women and girls enjoy full gender equality with men and boys and all legal, social and economic barriers to their empowerment and equality have been removed,

13. Also encourages Member States, recognizing that all legal, social and economic barriers to the empowerment of all women and girls have to be removed, to promote the systematic mainstreaming and inclusion of a gender perspective in all social inclusion strategies or initiatives, while giving special consideration to the promotion of a gender-responsive policy environment in the workplace for the empowerment of women in the workplace;

8. Also calls upon the international community, including Member States, to continue their ambitious efforts to strive for more inclusive, equitable, balanced, stable and development-oriented sustainable socioeconomic approaches to overcoming poverty, and, in view of the negative impact of all forms of inequality, including gender inequality and inequality within and between countries, on poverty, emphasizes the importance of structural transformation that leads to inclusive and sustainable industrialization for employment creation and poverty reduction, investing in sustainable agriculture and develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all, enhancing interconnectivity and achieving access to energy, and improving access to financial services, as well as promoting decent work in the rural economy, improving access to quality education, promoting quality health -care services, including through the acceleration of the transition towards equitable access to universal health coverage, providing affordable and secure housing for people in vulnerable situations, advancing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, expanding social protection coverage, climate change mitigation and adaptation and combating inequality within and between countries and social exclusion, especially of the furthest behind;

15. Encourages the international community to support developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, and achieve gender equality and the empowerment o f all women and girls, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development __________________ Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which bu ilds upon the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and addresses their unfinished business, improving tax systems and access to financial services, including affordable microfinance and credit, removing barriers to opportunity, enhancing productive capacity, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, encouraging the formalization and growth of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, developing sustainable agriculture and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, emphasizing the important role of national efforts aimed at bringing workers from the informal to the formal economy, guided, as appropriate, by the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), of the International Labour Organization, complemented by national efforts on effective social policies, including social protection floors, and in this regard takes note of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), of the International Labour Organization;

18. Urges multilateral donors and invites the international financial institutions and regional development banks, within their respective mandates, to review and implement policies that support national efforts to ensure that a higher proportion of resources reach women and girls, in particular in rural and remote areas, and invites multilateral and regional development banks to agree on common indicators for analysing the gender impact of their lending;

6. Further encourages Member States to take appropriate steps to provide affordable, accessible and good-quality childcare facilities and facilities for children and other dependants and measures promoting the equal sharing of household responsibilities between women and men, recognizing, reducing and redistributing women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work and fully engaging men and boys as agents and beneficiaries of change and as strategic partners and allies in this regard;

(bb) Taking appropriate measures to raise public awareness among rural women and girls about the risks of trafficking in persons, including the factors that make rural women and girls vulnerable to trafficking, and eliminating the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation against them, including sexual exploitation and forced labour;

23. Stresses the importance of policies and actions that are not just gender- responsive but that actively seek to advance the goal of gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment as well as to address longer-term structural issues, including structural constraints faced by women as economic agents, and to remove any barriers that prevent women from being full participants in the economy, by, inter alia, undertaking legislation and administrative reforms, as appropriate, to give women equal rights with men in political and economic decision-making and access to economic resources and to promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities, including through paid maternity and parental leave and the redistribution of the disproportionate work burden of women engaged in unpaid work, including domestic and care work, encourages the private sector, in accor dance with national legislation, to contribute to advancing gender equality by striving to ensure women’s full and productive employment and decent work, equal pay for equal work or work of equal value and equal opportunities, as well as by protecting them against discrimination and abuse in the workplace, and underlines that globally, gross domestic product could increase significantly if every country achieved gender equality and increased participation of women in the formal labour force;

3. Invites Member States to invest in a variety of inclusive, family-oriented policies and programmes, which take into account the different needs and expectations of families, as important tools for, inter alia, fighting poverty, social exclusion and inequality, promoting work-family balance and gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity, to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; 1

20. Urges Member States to mainstream a gender perspective into all development efforts, recognizing that the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is critical for achieving sustainable development and for efforts to combat hunger, poverty and disease, and to strengthen policies and programmes that seek to improve, ensure and broaden the full, effective and structured participation of young women in all spheres of political, econo mic, social and cultural life as equal partners, and to improve their access to all resources needed for the full exercise of all of their human rights and fundamental freedoms by removing persistent barriers, including by providing access to quality educa tion at all levels, ensuring equal access to full and productive employment and decent work and strengthening their economic independence;

38. Encourages the international community, including Governments, and all relevant stakeholders, including the entities of the United Nations system, international financial institutions, other intergovernmental bodies, regional and national development banks, domestic financial institutions, credit unions, multi - stakeholder partnerships and relevant non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, to further develop financial literacy and financial education programmes that include an emphasis on the impact of finance on sustainable development, as appropriate, in order to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to access financial services and financial products, in particular women and girls, farmers and those working in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises;

Reaffirming the recognition in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development 11 that gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and women’s full and equal participation and leadership in the economy are vital to the achievement of sustainable development and significantly enhance economic growth and productivity,

Reaffirming also the recognition in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda that gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and women’s full and equal participation and leadership in the economy are vital to the achievement of sustainable development and significantly enhance economic growth and productivity,

32. Underlines the importance of peaceful and inclusive societies for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and recalls the objectives of the Istanbul Programme of Action of enhancing good governance at all levels by strengthening democratic processes, building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions and the rule of law; increasing efficiency, coherence, transparency and participation; advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; protecting and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms; reducing corruption and curbing illicit financial flows; and strengthening the capaci ty of the Governments of the least developed countries to play an effective role in their economic and social development;

Recognizing further that sustainable tourism, including ecotourism, mountain tourism and rural tourism, is a cross-cutting activity that can contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including by fostering economic growth, alleviating poverty, creating full and productive employment and decent work for all, advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and increasing incomes for the population, and noting in particular that tourism accounts for more than 10 per cent of global gross domestic product, the industry represents more than 6 per cent of service exports and more than 4 per cent of investments are directed at tourism development,

57. Urges the donor community, Member States, international organizations, including the United Nations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, trade unions and other stakeholders to strengthen the focus and impact of development assistance targeting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through gender mainstreaming and the funding of targeted activities and enhanced dialogue between donors and partners, and also to strengthen the mechanisms needed to measure effectively the resources allocated to incorporating gender perspectives in all areas of development assistance;

7. Welcomes the efforts of Governments, United Nations bodies and agencies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent and address the particular problem of trafficking in women and girls and encourages them to further enhance their efforts and cooperation, including by sharing their knowledge, technical expertise and best practices as widely as possible, and encourages Member States to strengthen cooperation among all relevant actors to identify and disrupt illicit financial flows stemming from trafficking in women and girls;

20. Encourages all relevant stakeholders to further develop financial literacy and financial education programmes that include an emphasis on the impact of finance on sustainable development, as appropriate, in order to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to access financial services, in particular women and girls, farmers and those working in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises;

48. We encourage landlocked developing countries to promote innovative solutions in sectors such as agriculture, transport, information and communications, finance, energy, health, water and sanitation and education, and effective public -private partnerships through investments in education and skills development, including technical, vocational and tertiary education and training, while ensuring gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at all levels. We recognize that these investments are required to reduce economic volatility, enable landlocked developing countries to reap the demographic dividend, and achieve lifelong learning and broader human development.

Acknowledging that girls, working in accordance with national law and under other circumstances, may experience violence in the world of work, condemning child labour in all its forms and reaffirming the obligations of Member States in accordance with international law to protect children, including from economic exploitation, abuse and discrimination,

Recognizing the negative impact of the illicit and unregulated trade in conventional arms and related ammunition on the lives of women, men, girls and boys, and that the Arms Trade Treaty was the first international agreement to identify and call upon States to address the link between conventional arms transf ers and the risk of serious acts of gender-based violence and serious acts of violence against women and children,

18. Encourages the international community to support developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the poor and people in vulnerable situations, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which builds upon the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and addresses their unfinished business, improving tax systems and access to financial services, including affordable microfinance and credit, removing barriers to opportunity, enhancing productive capacity, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, encouraging the formalization and growth of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, developing sustainable agriculture and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, emphasizing the important role of national efforts aimed at bringing workers from the informal to the formal economy, guided, as appropriate, by the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), of the International Labour Organization, complemented by national efforts on effective social policies, including social protection floors, and in this regard takes note of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 ( No. 202), of the International Labour Organization;

(j) To fully engage men and boys as stakeholders and strategic partners in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by designing and implementing national policies and programmes that address the roles and responsibilities of men and boys, including the equal sharing of responsibilities in caregiving and domestic work, and encourage men and boys to engage fully, as agents and beneficiaries of change, by understanding and addressing the root causes of gender inequality, such as unequal power relations, gender stereotypes and negative social norms that view women and girls as subordinate to men and boys, as a contribution to women’s economic empowerment and the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value;

13. Recognizes that sustainable energy access and its deployment can be both improved and accelerated by gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and calls upon Governments, the United Nations development system and other stakeholders to increase educational and capacity-building programmes for women in the sector, further advance equal pay and leadership and other opportunities for women in the energy sector, promote women’s full, equal and effective participation and leadership in the design and implementation of energy policies and programmes, mainstream a gender perspective in such policies and programmes and ensure women’s full and equal access to and use of sustainable energy to enhance their __________________ economic and social empowerment, including employment and other income- generating opportunities;

Deeply concerned that poverty acts as a serious impediment to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and that the feminization of poverty persists, stressing the importance of giving women equal rights with men to economic resources, including access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, credit, inheritance, natural resources and appropriate new technology, reaffirming that women play a critical role in development, contribute to structural transformation and are key contributors to the economy and to combating poverty and inequalities and that their full, effective and equal participation in decision-making and the economy is vital in order to achieve sustainable development and significantly enhance economic growth and productivity, recognizing that the economic and social losses due to a lack of progress in achieving gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment are significant and that it is therefore critical that our policies and actions are not just gender - responsive but actively seek to advance the goal of gender equality and women ’s and girls’ empowerment, and reaffirming that gender equality and the empowermen t of all women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress in realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and are critical factors in the eradication of poverty,