A/HRC/20/28 marginalization. This requires a comprehensive and coherent human rights-based approach that ensures that women are at the centre of efforts to hold principally States accountable for implementing international standards guaranteeing civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. National, regional and international human rights mechanisms play critical roles in ensuring the full enjoyment by women of their human rights. 14. At the same time, no effective implementation of equality guarantees for women can be sustained without the genuine empowerment of women in all fields. This can only be achieved on the solid foundation of women’s equal access to fundamental freedoms and rights, including the rights to security of person, to privacy, to freedom of expression, to freedom of association, and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, in the context of the broader array of civil and political rights. Women’s enjoyment of those freedoms and rights, in turn, can be attained only if they are able to benefit from their economic, social and cultural rights, including equal rights to property, occupation and employment, social protection and participation in cultural life, as well as from effective protection against violence. 15. To achieve substantive equality in all fields, women initiate, lead and sustain longterm negotiations in formal political and legal institutions as well as in social and cultural organizations and communities. Women take action to end all forms of discrimination and human rights violations, independently as individuals and/or collectively as part of groups, organizations, coalitions and movements. Unprecedented levels of global migration, persistent poverty and inequalities, long-standing unresolved disputes and wars have compelled women to address the human rights of non-citizens and stateless persons, particularly the gendered implications of violations of their human rights. By claiming their place as full and equal citizens of nations and of the global community, women have become crucial agents of change in eliminating discrimination against women in law and in practice. Good practices in sustaining achievements in equality and non-discrimination involve the active agency of women themselves. 16. The Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice will incorporate this conceptual framework in developing its dialogue with States and other stakeholders on eliminating discriminatory laws, on implementing and improving existing legislation on equality and human rights, and on ways and means to achieve greater progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 17. The Working Group has decided to address the elimination of discrimination against women in law and in practice in all fields and from the perspective of States’ obligations to respect, protect and fulfil women’s human rights. In view of the work being carried out by international and regional human rights bodies and other special procedure mandate holders, the Working Group agreed that it would build on existing standards and initiatives, as well as on the available knowledge and tools produced to date by States, United Nations bodies, and civil society on the subject. Pursuant to paragraph 18 (d) of Human Rights Council resolution 15/23, the Working Group aims to draw on and reinforce the work of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other United Nations bodies on the issue of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women. 18. The Working Group will use the term of ―good‖ or ―promising‖ practices rather than ―best‖ practices to take into account the complex contextual framework of practices located in the wide spectrum of bad to good practices. This builds on existing work on this issue by other special procedure mandate holders, which includes the preference towards using the terminology of ―good practices‖. The Working Group seeks to look at good practices that have been transformative in relation to eliminating discrimination against women in law and in practice in different contexts and in the light of the different realities that women face. 6