A/HRC/56/51 I. Activities 1. The present report covers the main activities of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls from the time of submission of its previous report1 until March 2024, and includes its stocktaking and vision-setting for the future. A. Sessions 2. At its thirty-seventh session, held in New York from 8 to 12 May 2023, the Working Group met with civil society organizations, debriefed States members of the Security Council on its mission to Afghanistan, conducted jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and held consultations on its future guidance documents. It also met with representatives of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Special Rapporteurs on the right to development and on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Member State representatives. 3. At its thirty-eighth session, held in Geneva from 9 to 13 October 2023, the Working Group met with representatives of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN-Women and the World Food Programme. It also met with the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, held hybrid consultations with activists and academics on discrimination against women and girls and launched its guidance documents on eliminating discrimination against sex workers and on men’s accountability for gender equality.2 4. At its thirty-ninth session, held in Geneva from 15 to 19 January 2024, the Working Group held meetings with representatives of Member States, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, representatives of civil society organizations based in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan and the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. It also held four virtual regional consultations with civil society and one consultation with girl activists. B. Country visits 5. The Working Group visited Afghanistan from 27 April to 4 May 2023, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan. It also visited Malta from 26 June to 7 July 2023 and Mauritania from 25 September to 6 October 2023. It thanks the Governments of Afghanistan, Malta and Mauritania for their cooperation and encourages States to respond positively to its requests for visits. C. Communications and press releases 6. The Working Group addressed several communications to Governments and other stakeholders, individually or jointly with other mandate holders. The communications concerned a wide range of subjects, including discriminatory laws and practices, allegations of violations of the rights of women human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers, women deprived of liberty and migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless women and girls, as well as trafficking in women and girls, gender-based violence and violations of sexual and 1 2 2 A/HRC/53/39. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-women-and-girls/resources. GE.24-07559