11. Welcomes the holding of national, regional and international meetings on trafficking in order to propose measures to eradicate the traffic in women and girls; 12. Decides to remain seized of this matter and to examine, at its fortysecond session, the reports of the Special Rapporteurs and relevant organizations and bodies, with a view to making appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, through the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1998. Resolution 41/6. Mainstreaming gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system* The Commission on the Status of Women, Recalling the commitment made in the Beijing Platform for Action40 to achieve equality between women and men, Recalling General Assembly resolution 50/203 of 22 December 1995 and 51/162 of 12 December 1996, Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/6 of 22 July 1996, in which it was decided that the Commission on the Status of Women would have a catalytic role in mainstreaming a gender perspective in policies and programmes and would identify issues where United Nations system-wide coordination needed to be improved in order to assist the Council in its coordination function, Emphasizing the need for full implementation of the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women, 1996-2001, Having considered the question of mainstreaming in organizations of the United Nations system and the statement in the report of the Secretary-General that comments from the Commission on the Status of Women on mainstreaming would provide valuable input into the preparation of the report requested for the Economic and Social Council at its coordination segment in 1997,41 1. Reaffirms that the primary goal of mainstreaming a gender perspective is the achievement of gender equality as affirmed in the Beijing Platform for Action; 2. Also reaffirms that mainstreaming a gender perspective is integral to the empowerment of women and achieving gender equality; 3. Stresses that mainstreaming does not exclude the need for targeted, women-specific and/or positive legislation, policies or programming and for gender focal points, whether at the national level or within the United Nations system; 4. Also stresses that gender mainstreaming, as an important means of achieving gender equality, requires the existence of effective national machineries for the advancement of women at the highest political level, * For the discussion, see chap. II, paras. 134-138. 41 E/CN.6/1997/2, para. 15. -29-