RES/6/30 Integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system.

Human Rights Council

Resolution 6/30. Integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men enshrined in the Charter of the

United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments,

Reaffirming also the need to implement fully human rights law and

international humanitarian law in order to protect the human rights of women and

girls,

Reaffirming further the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the

outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled

“Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”,

and the declaration adopted at the forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status

of Women,

Reaffirming international commitments on gender equality and the human

rights of women embodied in the outcome documents of the World Conference on

Human Rights, the International Conference on Population and Development, the

World Summit for Social Development, the World Conference against Racism, Racial

Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; those made in their review

processes, as well as those of the outcome document of the 2005 World Summit and

the United Nations Millennium Declaration,

Recalling Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and

security, and welcoming the report of the Secretary-General on women, peace and

security (S/2007/567),

Underscoring that the principle of equality between women and men is

essential for the enjoyment of each of the specific rights enumerated in the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant

on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as recognized by the Human Rights

Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

Recalling all previous resolutions, including those adopted by the Commission

on Human Rights and those of the Economic and Social Council, regarding the

integration of the human rights of women and of gender mainstreaming into all

policies and programmes throughout the United Nations system,

Acknowledging the need for a comprehensive approach to the promotion and

protection of the human rights of women and the need to integrate a gender

perspective in a more systemic way into all aspects of the work of the United Nations

system, including the treaty bodies, and the Human Rights Council and its

mechanisms,

Noting with appreciation the Secretary-General’s report on follow-up to the

Fourth World Conference on Women and progress made in the implementation of the

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third

special session of the General Assembly (E/2006/65) and on mainstreaming a gender

perspective into all policies and programmes of the United Nations system

(E/2007/64),

Recognizing the important work of the Committee on the Elimination of

Discrimination against Women and of the Commission on the Status of Women in

promoting equality between women and men and in fighting discrimination against

women,

Recognizing also the importance of the participation of women at all levels of

decision-making throughout the United Nations system for the achievement of gender

equality and the realization of the human rights of women,

Welcoming General Assembly resolution 61/143 of 19 December 2006 and its

invitation to the Human Rights Council to discuss, by 2008, the question of violence

against women in all its forms and manifestations, and to set priorities for addressing

this issue in its future efforts and work programmes,

Reaffirming the important role that women’s groups, human rights defenders

and non-governmental organizations play in promoting and protecting the human

rights of women,

Methodology

1. Recognizes the importance of examining, from a gender perspective,

the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination and conditions of disadvantage,

their root causes and consequences, and their impact on the advancement of women

and the enjoyment by women of all human rights, in order to develop and implement

strategies, policies and programmes aimed at the elimination of all forms of

discrimination against women and to increase the role that women play in the design,

implementation and monitoring of gender-sensitive anti-discrimination policies;

2. Encourages Member States to promote gender balance by, inter alia

taking all the necessary measures, including budgetary and institutional measures, to

guarantee the full participation of women in medium- and high-level ranks, regularly

nominating more women candidates for election and appointment to the human rights

treaty bodies and mechanisms, international courts and tribunals, the specialized

agencies and other organs, including the Human Rights Council subsidiary bodies;

3. Calls upon all relevant actors to implement General Assembly

resolution 59/164 of 20 December 2004 on improvement of the status of women in

the United Nations system, in order to realize significant progress towards the goal of

fifty/fifty gender distribution in the very near future and to guarantee the full

participation of women in higher levels of decision-making in the Organization;

4. Reiterates the need for integrating a gender perspective through using

gender-inclusive language in the formulation, interpretation and implementation of

human rights instruments, as well as in reports, resolutions and/or decisions of the

Human Rights Council and its various mechanisms and of other human rights

mechanisms;

5. Encourages United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms to

identify, collect and use, including through acceptable and standardized methodology,

appropriate data disaggregated by sex, age and other relevant factors, and

gender-specific information in their activities and to use the tools at their disposal for

gender analysis in monitoring and reporting;

United Nations system

6. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on integrating the

human rights of women throughout the United Nations system (A/HRC/4/104) and

encourages organs, bodies, mechanisms and agencies of the United Nations system to

work to actively integrate the human rights of all women and a gender perspective

throughout its work, including through exchange of information, lessons learned and

best practices in this regard;

7. Stresses the need for integrating a gender perspective and the human

rights of women into all United Nations activities, including conferences, special

sessions and summits, and their outcome documents and follow-up;

8. Recognizes the important role of women in the prevention and

resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, the importance of their equal

participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of

peace and security and the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard

to conflict prevention and resolution, and urges the United Nation system and

Governments to make further efforts to ensure and support the full participation of

women at all levels of decision-making and implementation in development activities

and peace processes, including conflict prevention and resolution, post-conflict

reconstruction, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building;

Human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

9. Encourages the efforts of all the treaty bodies to integrate the human

rights of women and a gender perspective into their work, in particular, in their

concluding observations, general comments and recommendations;

10. Urges all States to implement their treaty obligations addressing the

human rights of all women and girls, to withdraw reservations to treaties which are

incompatible with the object and purpose of the specific treaties, and further

encourages States to consider ratifying or acceding to all human rights treaties,

including, as a matter of priority, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto;

11. Encourages all entities of the United Nations system, as well as

Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, in

particular women’s organizations, as appropriate, to pay full and systematic attention

to the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women and other treaty bodies, and encourages all relevant entities of the

United Nations system to continue to assist States parties, upon the request of those

States, in implementing their international human rights obligations;

12. Welcomes the submission of reports by United Nations specialized

agencies, at the invitation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women, on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination against Women and the contribution of non-governmental

organizations to the work of the Committee;

Cooperation between United Nations agencies

13. Welcomes cooperation between the Commission on the Status of

Women and the Human Rights Council, and the cooperation and coordination

between the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Adviser on Gender

Issues,

14. Also welcomes the work on the advancement of human rights of

women and gender mainstreaming conducted by the recently established Women’s

Rights and Gender Unit within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human

Rights and the continued commitment of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

to integrating the issue of women’s enjoyment of human rights throughout the United

Nations system, and also encourages her ongoing commitment to raise awareness and

promote the universal ratification and implementation of the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol

and further welcomes cooperation in the implementation of this resolution;

Human Rights Council

15. Reaffirms its commitment to effectively integrate the human rights of

women as well as a gender perspective, in its work and that of its mechanism in a

systematic and transparent manner including in all phases of the universal periodic

review, the Advisory Committee and the review of mandates;

Universal periodic review

16. Urges all stakeholders to take into full account both the rights of

women and a gender perspective in the universal periodic review, including in the

preparation of information submitted for the review, during the review dialogue, in

the review outcome and in the review follow-up;

17. Encourages States to prepare the information described in paragraph

15 (a) of Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 through broad consultation at the

national level with all relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental

organizations active in addressing gender issues and the human rights of women and

girls;

Special procedures and Advisory Committee

18. Requests all special procedures and other human rights mechanisms of

the Human Rights Council and the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee

regularly and systematically to integrate a gender perspective into the implementation

of their mandate including when examining the intersection of multiple forms of

discrimination against women and to include in their reports information on and

qualitative analysis of human rights of women and girls, and welcomes the efforts

made by most special procedures and other human rights mechanisms in that regard;

19. Encourages the strengthening of cooperation and coordination between

the special procedures and other human rights mechanisms for the integration of

human rights of women and a gender perspective in their work;

Programme of work

20. Decides to incorporate into its programme of work sufficient and

adequate time, at minimum an annual full-day meeting, to discuss the human rights of

women, including measures that can be adopted by States and other stakeholders, to

address human rights violations experienced by women;

21. Also decides that the first such meeting should take place in the first

half of 2008 and that it should include a discussion on violence against women, as

mandated by the General Assembly in resolution 61/143 of 19 December 2006,

inviting the Human Rights Council to discuss, by 2008, the question of violence

against women in all its forms and manifestations, and to set priorities for addressing

this issue in its future efforts and work programme;

22. Welcomes the panel discussion on the integration of a gender

perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council, held on 20 and 21 September

2007, and decides to incorporate into its programme of work an annual discussion on

the integration of a gender perspective throughout its work and that of its mechanisms,

including the evaluation of progress made and challenges experienced;

Follow-up

23. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights to report in 2008 on the obstacles and challenges to the implementation

of this resolution by the Human Rights Council and to make concrete

recommendations for action to address such obstacles and challenges;

24. Encourages States to cooperate with and support the United Nations

system in its efforts to integrate the human rights of women and a gender perspective

to take into full consideration the content of the present resolution;

25. Decides to continue its consideration of both the rights of women and

the integration of a gender perspective in accordance with the programme of work of

the Human Rights Council.

[Adopted without a vote] 33rd meeting

14 December 2007 -----