30 July 1992

40th plenary meeting

Advancement of women and human rights

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 45/155 of 18 December 1990, in which it was decided to convene a World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 and to establish a Preparatory Committee for it,

Noting that the General Assembly, in resolution 46/116 of 17 December 1991, requested concerned United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, among others, to submit recommendations on the World Conference to the Preparatory Committee for the Conference,

Also noting General Assembly resolution 46/98 of 16 December 1991, in particular paragraph 8 thereof,

Bearing in mind its resolution 1990/15 of 24 May 1990, in which it approved the recommendations and conclusions arising from the first review and appraisal of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, contained in the annex to that resolution, and in particular those related to the maintenance of de facto discrimination, which prevents women from achieving effective equality,

Taking into account the fact that the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women have identified violence against women as one of the major obstacles to the achievement of the objectives of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace,

Welcoming general recommendation 19, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its eleventh session, and the recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on Violence against Women, held at Vienna from 11 to 15 November 1991,

Affirming that various forms of violence against women are violations of human rights,

1. Calls upon the Preparatory Committee for the World Conference on Human Rights, when preparing the agenda and studies for the World Conference, to take into account the existence of de facto as well as de jure discrimination, which continues to impede women's full enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights, as well as their civil and political rights;

2. Further calls upon the Preparatory Committee, in preparing for the examination by the World Conference of the main obstacles to the implementation of international human rights instruments, to pay adequate attention to the global problem of violence against women;

3. Invites the Centre for Human Rights and Member States, in preparing for the World Conference, to make use of gender disaggregated data, which identify situations of inequality between women and men;

4. Requests the Secretary-General, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 46/98, to guarantee the participation of the secretariats of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the preparatory process for the World Conference as well as in the Conference itself;

5. Requests the Division for the Advancement of Women, as the secretariat of the Commission, to report to the Commission, at its thirty-seventh session, on the state of the preparatory process for the World Conference and the related activities of the Division, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 46/98;

6. Requests the Commission to establish, during its thirty-seventh session, an open-ended working group to consider its contribution to the World Conference;

7. Urges Member States to consider, when preparing for the World Conference at the national level, to integrate fully into the scope of the Conference issues related to women's rights, and to respect the principle of equal participation of women and men in their delegations.