A/HRC/RES/38/6 8. Urges States to promote accountability and ensure access to justice for the effective implementation and enforcement of laws aimed at preventing and eliminating all forms of female genital mutilation, including by informing women and girls about their rights and removing all barriers to access to legal assistance and remedies; 9. Calls upon States to take the following immediate and effective measures to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation: (a) Address the root causes of gender inequality, including gender stereotypes and negative social norms, attitudes and behaviours, the socioeconomic drivers of violence and unequal power relations such as patriarchal norms that perpetuate female genital mutilation; (b) Place special emphasis on formal and informal education, in particular for young people, including girls, and for parents and religious, traditional and community leaders, about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, and, in particular, encourage men and boys to become more involved in information and awareness campaigns and to be agents of change within communities, with the meaningful participation of women and girls who have been subjected to the practice; (c) Continue and intensify their efforts to provide information and raise awareness about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, increase their support for action to eliminate the practice at the community, national and international levels, and organize activities within this framework during the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, with the involvement of religious and traditional authorities; (d) Develop, support and promote, as appropriate, educational programmes, including programmes on sexual and reproductive health, that challenge the negative stereotypes and harmful attitudes and practices that sustain female genital mutilation and perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and girls; (e) Adopt national legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation, in line with international human rights law, and take steps to ensure its strict application, while working to harmonize their laws in order to effectively combat the cross-border practice of female genital mutilation, including by strengthening transnational police and judicial cooperation in the exchange of information on victims and perpetrators of female genital mutilation, in accordance with national laws and policies and international human rights law; (f) Systematize the collection of data on female genital mutilation, encourage research, particularly at university level, transparency, accountability and data-sharing by the relevant stakeholders, and use the results to strengthen public information and awareness-raising activities and effectively measure the progress made in eliminating female genital mutilation; (g) Assist professional associations and trade unions of health service providers in adopting internal disciplinary rules prohibiting their members from engaging in the harmful practice of female genital mutilation; 10. Calls upon States to provide assistance to women and girls who are victims of female genital mutilation, including through appropriate support services for treatment of the physical, physiological and psychological consequences; 11. Encourages States to consider presenting, during the universal periodic review, relevant recommendations on measures to prevent and eliminate female genital mutilation; 12. Invites the international community to keep the issue of the elimination of female genital mutilation on the agenda of development policies and to devote special attention to the issue in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals between now and 2030; 13. Calls upon States to continue to increase technical and financial assistance for the effective implementation of policies, programmes and action plans to eliminate female genital mutilation at the national, regional and international levels; 4 GE.18-11905