action with respect to violence against women in the family, and invites States to give due regard to those
recommendations;
12.
Stresses the conclusions and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur that States have an
affirmative duty to promote and protect the human rights of women and must exercise due diligence to prevent
all forms of violence against women, and calls upon States:
(a)
To apply international human rights norms and to ratify and/or implement fully international
human rights instruments that relate to violence against women;
(b)
To include in reports submitted in accordance with the provisions of relevant United Nations
human rights instruments gender-disaggregated data and, whenever possible, information pertaining to violence
against women and measures taken to implement the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
and the Beijing Platform for Action;
(c)
To condemn violence against women and not invoke custom, tradition or practices in the name
of religion to avoid their obligations to eliminate such violence;
(d)
To enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend penal, civil, labour and administrative
sanctions in domestic legislation to punish and redress the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any
form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody or in situations of
armed conflict, and to ensure that they conform with relevant international human rights instruments and
humanitarian law;
(e)
In this context, to take action to investigate and punish persons who perpetrate acts of violence
against women;
(f)
To consider undertaking comprehensive, objective and easily accessible information
campaigns about violence against women;
(g)
To establish and/or strengthen, at the national level, collaborative relationships with relevant
non-governmental and community-based organizations, and with public and private sector institutions, aimed at
the development and effective implementation of provisions and policies relating to violence against women,
including in the area of support services to respond to the needs of women and girl survivors of violence and to
assist them in their full recovery and reintegration into society;
(h)
To create, improve or develop, as appropriate, and fund training programmes, taking into
account, inter alia, gender-disaggregated data on the causes and effects of violence against women, for judicial,
legal, medical, social, educational, police, correctional service, military, peacekeeping and immigration
personnel, in order to avoid the abuse of power leading to violence against women and to sensitize such
personnel to the nature of gender-based acts and threats of violence so that fair treatment of female victims can
be ensured;
(i)
To sensitize all persons, men and women, to the causes and effects of violence against women
and to highlight men's role in its prevention and elimination, to encourage and support men's initiatives to
complement the efforts of women's organizations in this regard, and to encourage behavioural change by
perpetrators of violence against women;
13.
Reminds Governments that their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women must be implemented fully with regard to violence against women,
taking into account General Recommendation No. 19, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women at its eleventh session, and calls upon those States which are still not parties to
the Convention to work actively towards ratification of or accession to it so that universal ratification can be
achieved by the year 2000;
14.
Calls upon States to eradicate traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women
and girls through, in addition to national legislation and policies prohibiting such practices, appropriate measures
against those responsible and the promotion of awareness, education and training;
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