E/2007/27 E/CN.6/2007/9 Deeply concerned that the global HIV/AIDS pandemic disproportionately affects women and girls and that the majority of new HIV infections occur among young people, Concerned that the vulnerability of women, girls and adolescents to HIV/AIDS is increased by their unequal legal, economic and social status, including poverty as well as other cultural and physiological factors, violence against women and girls and adolescents, early marriage, forced marriage, premature and early sexual relations, commercial sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation, Also concerned that HIV infection rates are at least twice as high among young people, especially young and married women, who do not finish primary school as among those who do, Further concerned that women and girls have different and unequal access to the use of health resources for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, 1. Stresses with deep concern that the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with its devastating scale and impact on women and girls, requires urgent action in all fields and at all levels; 2. Stresses that gender equality and the political, social and economic empowerment of women and girls are fundamental elements in the reduction of their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and are essential to reversing the pandemic; 3. Expresses its concern that the HIV/AIDS pandemic reinforces gender inequalities, that women and girls bear a disproportionate share of the burden imposed by the HIV/AIDS crisis, that they are more easily infected, that they bear the disproportionate burden to care for and support those infected and affected by the disease and that they become more vulnerable to poverty as a result of the HIV/AIDS crisis; 4. Reaffirms the need for Governments, supported by the relevant actors, including civil society, to intensify national efforts and international cooperation in the implementation of the commitments contained in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, the Beijing Platform for Action3 and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and to work towards effectively reflecting in their national policies, strategies and budgets the gender dimension of the pandemic, in line with the time-bound goals of the Declaration and the Platform for Action; 5. Also reaffirms the commitment to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015, as set out in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, integrating this goal into strategies to attain internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration aimed at reducing maternal mortality, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality, combating HIV/AIDS and eradicating poverty; 6. Urges Governments to take all necessary measures to create an enabling environment for the empowerment of women, to strengthen their economic independence and to protect and promote their full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, in order to enable them to protect themselves from HIV infection; 20 07-28248