implementation of the noble goals enshrined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1. Condemns violent acts in contravention of international humanitarian law against civilian women and children in areas of armed conflict, and calls for an effective response to such acts, including the immediate release of such women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflict; 2. Strongly urges all parties to armed conflicts to respect fully the norms of international humanitarian law in armed conflict and to take all necessary measures for the protection of these women and children, as well as for their immediate release; 3. Urges all parties to conflicts to provide unimpeded access to specialized humanitarian assistance for these women and children; 4. Requests the Secretary-General, and all relevant international organizations to use their capabilities and efforts to facilitate the release of these women and children; 5. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, taking into account the information provided by States and relevant international organizations, a report on the implementation of the present resolution, for submission to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-second session. Resolution 41/2. Older women, human rights and development* The Commission on the Status of Women, Recalling its resolution 36/4 of 20 March 1992, in which it emphasized the need to adopt an approach for the advancement of women that takes into account all stages of life, so as to identify measures that respond to women’s needs,18 Recalling also General Assembly resolution 49/162 of 23 December 1994, in which the Assembly called attention to the fact that the United Nations had estimated that there were 208 million women aged 60 and above in 1985, of which about half lived in the developed world and half in the developing world, and that by the year 2025 that number had been projected to increase to 604 million elderly women for the world as a whole, of which nearly 70 per cent would be living in the developing countries, Recalling further General Assembly resolution 40/30 of 29 November 1985, in which it was emphasized that the elderly must be considered an important and necessary element in the development process at all levels within a given society, Aware that age segregation, in addition to sex stereotyping, makes the social and economic problems of older women even more acute and that they are often viewed as beneficiaries only and not as contributors to development, * For the discussion, see chap. II, paras. 125-128. 18 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1992, Supplement No. 4 (E/1992/24), chap. I.C. -21-