A/HRC/23/50 25. In peacebuilding processes, studies made a decade after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) show that only 16 per cent of 585 peace agreements referenced women.16 26. The focus of the Working Group on political transition has been carried out through its communications, country visits and regional and global expert input. Experience in countries in transition has varied greatly. In the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe during the 1990s, as in some of the recent political transitions in the Middle East and North Africa, there was backsliding on key gains for gender equality and/or the numerical representation of women was reduced. In contrast, in some political transitions in various countries in many regions, the introduction of quotas facilitated a significant rise in representation of women, producing, for instance in sub-Saharan Africa, some of the highest percentages of women members of parliament. Good practice in these States included the active engagement with the international community in the peacebuilding process and an emphasis on democracy, human rights and women’s rights as human rights. 27. The Working Group observes that the impact of political transitions on gender equality in public and political life is inherently related not only to the nature of regime change but also to the political will of the incoming Government to guarantee women’s human rights, including the right to equal representation, and requires a responsive political leadership with respect to gender equality concerns, including as raised by autonomous women’s movements. The Working Group notes the urgency for women’s equal and full participation in peace negotiations and in decision-making in all transitional authorities, mechanisms and processes. 28. The Working Group is concerned that the knowledge gap remains on the whole spectrum of women’s participation in political and public life. This undermines the capacity to move to gender-responsive inclusive democracy, development and peace. Most available data is not sufficiently disaggregated to allow the understanding of the intersectionality of gender with other grounds of discrimination, in the light of Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women general recommendation No. 28 (2010) according to which “discrimination against women based on sex and gender is inextricably linked with other factors that affect women, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste and sexual orientation and gender identity” (para. 18). Evidence-based knowledge is weak on the extent of violence against women in political and public life and its impact on women’s capacity to exercise their right to political participation. C. Women’s political participation, democracy and human rights 29. Democracy and human rights are mutually reinforcing. Women’s rights are human rights and hence are an integral element of the democracy and human rights axis. The General Assembly, in its resolution 59/201 (para. 1), declared the “essential elements of democracy” to consist of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, inter alia, freedom of association and peaceful assembly and of expression and opinion; the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; to vote and to be a candidate in free elections by universal and equal suffrage; a pluralistic system of political parties and organizations; respect for the rule of law; the separation of powers; the independence of the judiciary; transparency and accountability in public administration; and free, independent and pluralistic media. 16 8 Christine Bell and Catherine O’Rourke, “Opinion: UN Security Council 1325 and peace negotiations and agreements” (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, March 2011), p. 7.