Actions to be taken at national and international levels

Take steps with a view to the avoidance of and refrain from any unilateral measure not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impedes the full achievement of economic and social development by the population of the affected countries, in particular women and children, that hinders their well-being and that creates obstacles to the full enjoyment of their human rights, including the right of everyone to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being and their right to food, medical care and the necessary social services. Ensure that food and medicine are not used as tools for political pressure.

Take urgent and effective measures in accordance with international law with a view to alleviating the negative impact of economic sanctions on women and children.

Promote international co-operation to support regional and national efforts in the development and use of gender-related analysis and statistics.

Develop with the full participation of all countries an international consensus on indicators and ways to measure violence against women, and consider establishing a readily accessible database on statistics, legislation, training models, good practices, lessons learned and other resources with regard to all forms of violence against women, including women migrant workers.

In partnership with relevant institutions, promote, improve, systemise and fund the collection of data disaggregated by sex, age and other appropriate factors, on health and access to health services throughout the life-cycle.

Eliminate gender biases in bio-medical, clinical and social research, including by conducting voluntary clinical trials involving women, with due regard for their human rights, and in strict conformity with internationally accepted legal, ethical, medical, safety, and scientific standards, and gather, analyse and make available to appropriate institutions and to end-users gender-specific information about dosage, side-effects and effectiveness of drugs, including contraceptives and methods that protect against sexually transmitted infections.

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Develop and support the capacity of universities, national research and training institutes and other relevant research institutes to undertake gender-related and policy-oriented research in order to inform policy makers and to promote full implementation of the Platform for Action and its follow-up.

Develop a South-South* co-operation programme with a view to assisting in the capacity-building of national machineries on women through the sharing of expertise, experiences and knowledge of national machineries on women's empowerment, gender issues and gender mainstreaming methodologies and approaches on the 12 critical areas of the Platform for Action. (South-South refers to the developing, undeveloped and underdeveloped nations the majority of which are located in the southern hemisphere.)

Support Governments in their efforts to institute action-oriented programmes and measures to accelerate the full implementation of the Platform for Action, with time-bound targets and/or measurable goals and evaluation methods, including gender impact assessments, with full participation of women for measuring and analysing progress.

Undertake appropriate data collection and research on indigenous women, with their full participation, in order to foster accessible, culturally and linguistically appropriate policies, programmes and services.

Continue research on all current trends that may be creating new gender disparities in order to provide a basis for policy action.

Take measures to develop and implement gender-sensitive programmes aimed at stimulating women's entrepreneurship and private initiative, and assist women-owned business in participating in and benefiting from international trade, technological innovation and investment.

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Respect, promote and realise the principles contained in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the International Labour Organisation and its follow-up, and strongly consider ratification and full implementation of International Labour Organisation conventions which are particularly relevant to ensuring women's rights at work.

Encourage the strengthening of existing and emerging microcredit institutions and their capacity, including through the support of international financial institutions, so that credit and related services for self-employment and income-generating activities may be made available to an increasing number of people living in poverty, in particular women, and to further develop, where appropriate, other microfinance instruments.

Reaffirm commitment to gender-sensitive development and support women's role in sustainable and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns and approaches to natural resource management.

Adopt measures to ensure that the work of rural women is recognised and valued in order to enhance their economic security, their access to and control over resources and credit schemes, services and benefits, and their empowerment.

Encourage and implement curriculum changes in training for public officials to make them fully gender-sensitive.

Strengthen and promote programmes to support the participation of young women in youth organisations and encourage dialogue among youth between and among developed and developing countries.

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Support national efforts to promote formal and non-formal education and mentoring programmes for women and girls.

Undertake comprehensive actions to provide skills training for women and girls at all levels, in order to eradicate poverty.

With the full voluntary participation of indigenous women, develop and implement educational and training programmes that respect their history, culture, spirituality, languages and aspirations and ensure their access to all levels of formal and non-formal education, including higher education.

Continue to support and strengthen national, regional and international adult literacy programmes with international co-operation in order to achieve a 50 per cent improvement in the levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.

Continue to examine the decline in enrolment rates and the increase in the drop-out rates of girls and boys at the primary and secondary education levels in some countries, and, with international co-operation, design appropriate national programmes to eliminate the root causes and support lifelong learning for women and girls.

Ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in cultural, recreational and sports activities, as well as in participation in athletics and physical activities at the national, regional and international levels.

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Continue to design efforts for the promotion of respect for cultural diversity and dialogue among and within civilisations in a manner which contributes to the implementation of the Platform for Action.

Apply and support positive measures to give all women, particularly indigenous women, equal access to capacity-building and training programmes to enhance their participation in decision-making in all fields and at all levels.

Increase co-operation, policy responses, effective implementation of national legislation and other protective and preventive measures aimed at the elimination of violence against women and girls.

Increase awareness and knowledge of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Provide support to non-governmental organisations addressing all forms of violence against women and girls.

Encourage and support public campaigns to enhance public awareness of the unacceptability and social costs of violence against women and undertake prevention activities to promote healthy and balanced relationships based on gender equality.

Intensify co-operation between States of origin, transit and destination to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Support the ongoing negotiations on a draft protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to supplement the draft United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

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As appropriate, pursue and support national, regional and international strategies to reduce the risk to women and girls of becoming victims of trafficking; strengthen national legislation by further defining the crime of trafficking in all its elements and by reinforcing the punishment accordingly; enact social and economic policies and programmes, as well as informational and awareness-raising initiatives, to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children; prosecute perpetrators of trafficking; provide measures to support, assist and protect trafficked persons in their countries of origin and destination; and facilitate their return to and support their reintegration into their countries of origin.

Improve knowledge and awareness of the remedies available for violations of women's human rights.

Promote and protect the human rights of all migrant women and implement policies to address the specific needs of documented migrant women and, where necessary, tackle the existing inequalities between men and women migrants to ensure gender equality.

Promote respect for the right of women and men to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Recognise the central role that religion, spirituality and belief play in the lives of millions of women and men.

Encourage, through the media and other means, a high awareness of the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and intensify efforts to eliminate such practices.

Take necessary measures to protect individuals, groups and organs of society engaged in promoting and protecting women's human rights.

Encourage States parties to continue to include a gender perspective in their reports to the treaty bodies; also encourage these bodies to continue to take into account a gender perspective in the implementation of their mandates, taking into account the need to avoid unnecessary duplication and overlapping of their work; and further encourage human rights mechanisms to continue to take into account a gender perspective in their work.

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Support innovative programmes to empower older women to increase their contribution to and benefit from development and efforts to combat poverty.

Promote comprehensive human rights education programmes to ensure widespread dissemination of information on human rights instruments, in particular those concerning the human rights of women and girls.

Take measures to eliminate impunity, through supporting and strengthening existing mechanisms entrusted with prosecuting perpetrators of violations of the human rights of women.

Take measures to eliminate violations of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

Address the root causes of armed conflict in a comprehensive and durable manner, as well as the differences in the impact of armed conflict on women and men, and take them into account in relevant policies and programmes in order to enhance the protection of civilians, particularly women and children.

Ensure the release of hostages in armed conflict, particularly women and children, including those subsequently imprisoned.

Develop and support policies and programmes for the protection of children, especially girls, in hostilities, in order to prohibit their forced recruitment and use by all actors and to promote and/or strengthen mechanisms for their rehabilitation and reintegration, taking into account the specific experiences and needs of girls.

Improve and strengthen the capacity of women affected by situations of armed conflict, including women refugees and displaced women, by involving them in the design and management of humanitarian activities so that they benefit from these activities on an equal basis with men.

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Invite the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, other relevant United Nations agencies, within their respective mandates, and other relevant humanitarian organisations as well as Governments to continue to provide adequate support to countries hosting large numbers of refugees and those with displaced persons, in their efforts to provide protection and assistance, paying particular attention to the needs of refugees and other displaced women and children.

Seek to ensure the full and equal participation of women in the promotion of peace, in particular through the full implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace.

Provide support to and empower women who play an important role within their families as stabilising factors in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Strengthen efforts towards general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control, based on the priorities established by the United Nations in the field of disarmament, so that released resources could be used for social and economic programmes which benefit women and girls.

Explore new ways of generating new public and private financial resources through the appropriate reduction of excessive military expenditures and the arms trade and investment for arms production and acquisition, including global military expenditures, taking into consideration national security requirements, so as to permit the possible allocation of additional funds for social and economic development for the advancement of women.

Take measures to ensure the protection of refugees, especially women and girls, and their access to and the provision of gender-sensitive appropriate basic social services, including education and health.

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Co-operate and work with private sector partners and media networks at the national and international levels to promote equal access for women and men as producers and consumers, particularly in the area of information and communications technologies.

Develop programmes that support women's ability to create, access and promote networking, in particular through the use of new information and communications technology.

Capitalise on the new information technologies, including the Internet, to improve the global sharing of information, research, strengths, and lessons learned from women's experiences.

Take effective measures to address the challenges of globalisation.

Take measures, with the full and effective participation of women, to ensure new approaches to international development co-operation, based on stability, growth and equity with the enhanced and effective participation and the integration of developing countries in the globalising world economy, geared towards poverty eradication and the reduction of gender-based inequality within the overall framework of achieving people-centred sustainable development.

Design and strengthen poverty eradication strategies, with the full and effective participation of women, that reduce the feminisation of poverty and enhance the capacity of women and empower them to meet the negative social and economic impacts of globalisation.

Intensify efforts to implement poverty eradication programmes and evaluate, with the participation of women, the extent to which these programmes have an impact on the empowerment of women living in poverty and introduce improvements to such programmes in the light of the above assessment.

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Recognising the mutually reinforcing links between gender equality and poverty eradication, elaborate and implement, where appropriate, in consultation with civil society, comprehensive gender-sensitive poverty eradication strategies addressing social, structural and macroeconomic issues.

Encourage the establishment, in partnership with private financial institutions, where appropriate, of "lending windows" and other accessible financial services with simplified procedures that are specifically designed to meet the savings, credit and insurance needs of all women.

Undertake comprehensive actions to provide and support quality skills training for women and girls at all levels, on the basis of strategies developed with their full and effective participation, to achieve agreed targets to eradicate poverty through national, regional and international efforts.

Establish, with the full and effective participation of women and in consultation with civil society, particularly NGOs, in a timely manner, social development funds to alleviate the negative effects on women associated with structural adjustment programmes and trade liberalisation and the disproportionate burden borne by women living in poverty.

Identify and implement development-oriented and durable solutions which integrate a gender perspective to external debt and debt-servicing problems of developing countries.

Support the Cologne initiative for the reduction of debt, ensure the provision of adequate funds for its implementation and implement the provision that funds saved should be used to support anti-poverty programmes that address gender dimensions.

Promote and accelerate the implementation of the 20/20 initiative, which integrates a gender perspective to fully benefit all, particularly women and girls.

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Call for continued international co-operation, including the reaffirmation to strive to fulfil the yet-to-be attained internationally agreed target of 0.7 per cent of the gross national product of developed countries for overall official development assistance as soon as possible.

Facilitate the transfer to developing countries and countries with economies in transition of appropriate technology and encourage efforts by the international community to eliminate restrictions on such transfers, as an effective means of complementing national efforts for further acceleration in achieving the goals of gender equality, development and peace.

Recommend that the Preparatory Committee for the Millennium Assembly make an effort, within the context of gender mainstreaming in the United Nations system, to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and documents related to the Millennium Assembly and Summit, including in the consideration of poverty eradication.

Create an enabling environment and design and implement policies that promote and protect the enjoyment of all human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, including the right to development - and fundamental freedoms, as part of the efforts to achieve gender equality, development and peace.

Create and strengthen an enabling environment, in accordance with national laws, to support the capacity of women's NGOs to mobilise resources to ensure the sustainability of their development activities.

Encourage the establishment and strengthening of multi-stakeholderpartnerships/ co-operation at all levels among international and intergovernmental organisations, with relevant actors of civil society, in support of the goals of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

Encourage partnerships and co-operation among Governments, international organisations, in particular international financial institutions, and multilateral organisations, private sector institutions and civil society, including NGOs, especially women's and community-based organisations, to support poverty eradication initiatives focused on women and girls.

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Recognise the crucial role of and support women and women's NGOs and community-based organisations in the implementation of Agenda 21.

Promote programmes for healthy active ageing that stress the independence, equality, participation and security of older women and undertake gender-specific research and programmes to address their needs.

As a matter of priority, especially in those countries most affected, and in partnership with NGOs, intensify education, services and community-based mobilisation strategies to protect women of all ages from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Provide access to adequate and affordable treatment, monitoring and care for all people, especially women and girls, infected with sexually transmitted diseases or living with life-threatening diseases; provide other services, including adequate housing and social protection, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding; assist boys and girls orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and provide gender-sensitive support systems for women and other family members who are involved in caring for persons affected by serious health conditions.

Take effective and expeditious measures to mobilise international and national public opinion concerning the effects of different dimensions of the world drug problems on women and girls and ensure that appropriate resources are provided to this end.

Encourage partnerships between Governments and NGOs in the implementation of commitments made at the Fourth World Conference on Women and at other United Nations world conferences and summits in order to promote gender equality, development and peace in the twenty-first century.

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