A/HRC/4/34 page 5 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In my capacity as Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, I hereby submit my first report to the Human Rights Council (HRC), in accordance with Council decision 1/102. Section II summarizes my activities in 2006 and section III examines intersections between culture and violence against women. I would like to draw the attention of the Council to the addenda to the present report. Addendum 1 contains summaries of alleged human rights violations related to violence against women, its causes and consequences that were brought to the attention of the Governments concerned, and government responses. Addendum 2 reports on my fact-finding mission in Turkey, addendum 3 on the mission to Sweden and addendum 4 on the mission to the Netherlands. II. ACTIVITIES A. Country fact-finding missions 2. I visited Turkey (22-31 May 2006), Sweden (11-21 June 2006) and the Netherlands (2-12 July 2006) at the invitation of the Governments concerned. 3. I will carry out an official mission to Algeria in January 2007 and to Zimbabwe in August 2007. In addition, I have asked to visit Ghana and Saudi Arabia and renewed my request to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo. B. Statement to the General Assembly 4. On 25 October, I delivered an oral statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly. I emphasized that the current challenge in combating violence against women is to ensure that the root causes and consequences of the problem are tackled at all levels, from the home to the transnational arena. I emphasized that applying a human rights perspective to the problem has shifted the focus from the earlier victimization-oriented approach to one of empowerment and that today, a life free of violence is accepted as an entitlement rather than merely a humanitarian concern. I also mentioned that, while the State remains the primary duty bearer with respect to ensuring the human rights of each individual, in a globalized world where transnational space is expanding and non-State actors are gaining influence over diverse spheres, there is a need to broaden our understanding of the due diligence obligation beyond individual States. This may require new mechanisms and the adoption of legally binding, international codes of conduct for non-State actors with a transnational reach.1 C. Regional and expert consultations 5. Regional consultations with civil society organizations working on matters related to my mandate have become an integral aspect of my work. From 11 to 13 September, I attended the Asia-Pacific NGO Consultation, organized in Ulaanbataar in cooperation with the Asia Pacific 1 The full text of the statement is available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/ view01/EAFBB31D2EA03948C12572280083450B?opendocument.