A/HRC/38/24 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 35/10, the Human Rights Council provided detailed recommendations on the prevention of and the response to violence against women and girls, 1 and requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to review promising practices and lessons learned, existing strategies and United Nations and other initiatives to engage men and boys in promoting and achieving gender equality, in particular efforts to challenge gender stereotypes and the negative social norms, attitudes and behaviours that underlined and perpetuated violence against women and girls, and to make recommendations for further action by States and the international community in that regard. The present report is prepared in response to that request. 2. In preparation for this report, OHCHR called for submissions and received contributions from 19 member States, 10 national human rights institutions, 3 United Nations entities, 1 public-private partnership and 21 civil society organizations and other stakeholders.2 OHCHR also conducted research on the relevant jurisprudence of the United Nations human rights mechanisms and the relevant strategies and initiatives of the Organization and other entities. II. Opportunities and risks of engaging men and boys 3. Over the past decade, there has been increasing emphasis on engagement with men and boys 3 in gender equality efforts, including interventions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.4 In response, in June 2017, at its thirty-fifth session, the Human Rights Council held a panel discussion entitled “Accelerating efforts to eliminate violence against women: engaging men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls”. The panel emphasized the strong impact of harmful gender stereotypes on persistent gender-based violence against women and the importance of equal gender relations between men and women in eliminating gender-based violence against women.5 Further, in September 2017, in its resolution 35/10, the Council called upon States to take action to prevent violence against women and girls by, among other means, fully engaging men and boys, alongside women and girls, and addressing the root causes of gender inequality, including gender stereotypes and negative social norms and unequal and patriarchal power relations.6 4. Experience has demonstrated that, although engagement with men and boys in achieving gender equality presents significant opportunities, it can also carry certain risks. In order to maximize the impact of engaging men and boys in achieving gender equality, the nature and context of such engagement must be analysed and understood. 5. The ultimate aim of efforts to engage men and boys is to rectify discriminatory power relations based on the subordination of women and harmful gender stereotypes, 1 2 3 4 5 6 See paras. 9–10. Submissions are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/EngagingMenBoysPromotingAchievingGenderEqu ality.aspx. In the present report, “boys” mean those who are under 18 years of age, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. E.g. Human Rights Council resolution 32/19 and the HeForShe campaign (www.heforshe.org) of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). In submissions by Norway and Argentina, it was also reported that regional conferences on engaging men and boys in gender justice and violence prevention were convened in 2017 among Nordic, and Latin American and Caribbean countries, respectively. A/HRC/37/36. See para. 9 (a) and (b). 3