A/HRC/44/29 Addressing the gendered impact of arms diversion and transfers also requires the formulation and review of legislation and public policy measures on arms control through a human rights and gender lens. 42. The High Commissioner’s report submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2017 contained a series of suggestions and recommendations for addressing the human rights impact of arms transfers, which included suggestions for how States and other relevant stakeholders could assess the relationship between arms transfers and human rights law. These suggestions and recommendations111 should be considered in conjunction with the Secretary-General’s Agenda for Disarmament and the call to action for human rights,112 which promote equality for women and girls and set forth additional steps and measures for safeguarding their human rights. They should also be considered together with the following recommendations to States for addressing the gendered impact of diversion and unregulated or illicit arms transfers on women and girls to establish a comprehensive approach for safeguarding human rights from the negative impact of uncontrolled proliferation of arms. In this regard, States should: (a) Systematically collect and share data, disaggregated by relevant factors, on the way that different categories of arms cause or facilitate human rights violations against women and girls, including gender-based violence, and the correlation between proliferation of arms and gender-based violence;113 (b) Accede to and/or ratify the Arms Trade Treaty and regional instruments regulating arms transfers,114 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 115 and regional instruments on the human rights of women; (c) Promote the participation of women in all arms control and disarmament processes and forums, including at global disarmament meetings; (d) Create national control systems to ensure compliance with these instruments and other relevant provisions of international law, including the principles of due diligence 116 and the responsibility for aiding or assisting in the commission of an internationally wrongful act, while also taking into account international standards of corporate responsibility, in particular the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; (e) Implement in a gender-responsive manner the recommendations made by United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms on ways to address the human rights impact of diversion of arms and unregulated or illicit arms transfers on women and girls, including by addressing the root causes of gender-based discrimination and violence;117 (f) Deny export authorizations for arms transfers after conducting comprehensive, gender-sensitive risk assessments, if there is a significant risk that the arms will be diverted; 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 14 A/HRC/35/8, paras. 39–50. See www.un.org/sg/sites/www.un.org.sg/files/atoms/files/The_Highest_Asperation_A_Call_To_Action_F or_Human_Right_English.pdf. In their contributions, Switzerland, the Office for Disarmament Affairs, UNODC and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom emphasized that serious challenges existed in finding and accessing comprehensive quantitative and qualitative disaggregated data on those issues. To be read in conjunction with A/HRC/35/8, para. 46. The current status of participation in the Arms Trade Treaty includes 106 States parties, 32 States that are signatories but not yet parties (one of which no longer intends to become a party) and 56 States that have not yet joined the Treaty. See https://thearmstradetreaty.org/treaty-status.html?templateId=209883. There are 189 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. States should take particular note of their due diligence obligations, as set forth in section IV of the present report. To be read in conjunction with A/HRC/35/8, para. 47.