A/RES/57/176 1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General; 23 2. Welcomes the steps taken by human rights treaty bodies, the special rapporteurs and subsidiary bodies of the Commission on Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, other United Nations bodies and international, intergovernmental and governmental organizations, within their mandates, as well as non-governmental organizations, to address the problem of trafficking in women and girls, and encourages them to continue doing so and to share their knowledge and best practices as widely as possible; 3. Also welcomes the decision of the Commission on the Status of Women to consider at its forty-seventh session the priority theme “Women’s human rights and the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, as defined in the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of the special session of the General Assembly entitled ‘Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century’ ”, 24 which will include issues relating to trafficking in women and girls; 4. Urges Governments to take appropriate measures to address the root factors, including external factors, that encourage trafficking in women and girls for prostitution and other forms of commercialized sex, forced marriages and forced labour, in order to eliminate trafficking in women, including by strengthening existing legislation with a view to providing better protection of the rights of women and girls and to punishing perpetrators, through both criminal and civil measures; 5. Also urges Governments to devise, enforce and strengthen effective measures to combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking in women and girls through a comprehensive anti-trafficking strategy consisting of, inter alia, capacitybuilding, legislative measures, prevention campaigns, information exchange, assistance and protection for and reintegration of the victims and prosecution of all the offenders involved, including intermediaries, and to draw up, as appropriate, national action plans and programmes to improve the protection of trafficked women and girls; 6. Further urges Governments to consider signing and ratifying relevant United Nations legal instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 20 and the Protocols thereto, in particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 21 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 2 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,5 the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 8 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 7 as well as the Convention concerning Discrimination in respect of Employment and Occupation, 1958 (Convention No. 111) and the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 (Convention No. 182), of the International Labour Organization; 7. Encourages Member States to conclude bilateral, subregional, regional and international agreements, as well as to undertake initiatives, including regional initiatives, to address the problem of trafficking in women and girls, such as the _______________ 23 A/57/170. See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2002, Supplement No. 7 (E/2002/27), chap. I, sect. B, draft decision III. 24 4