A/HRC/41/42 Rapporteur is currently leading an initiative aimed at developing institutional links and thematic cooperation between the global and regional independent monitoring mechanisms dealing with violence against women in order to create institutional opportunities and sites of dialogue in an effort to accelerate implementation of the existing international and regional norms and standards at the global, regional and national levels. 80. The independent mechanisms involved in the initiative with the Special Rapporteur include: the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women; the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa; the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention; and the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The initiative has been supported by the Governments of the Republic of Korea, Spain and Switzerland. 81. The initiative was presented to the Secretary-General in October 2017 and formally launched in 2018 with a consultation among seven international and regional mechanisms within the auspices of the sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on 12 March 2018. The launch was followed on 13 March 2018 by a high-level panel meeting, including the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, and UN-Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. 82. The Platform of independent international and regional mechanisms on violence against women and women’s rights has been making efforts to bring the mechanisms close to the regions. The first meeting of the Platform took place during the 169th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, held in Boulder on 2 October 2018. The most recent meeting was held during the sixty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York in March 2019, and the next meeting will be hosted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, in May 2019.32 Future meetings are planned in late 2019 in the Africa region and during the 2020 session of the Commission on the Status of Women. E. Ending violence against women: a call for a system-wide approach 83. According to article 5 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, United Nations entities should contribute to the recognition and realization of the rights and the principles set forth therein, including through fostering the coordination of international efforts and the provision of technical support. 84. The current approach to addressing violence against women within the United Nations system is fragmented, with the different agencies often working in silos and with limited collaboration with the Special Rapporteur. There are also gaps and duplication among the policies and programmes of many agencies. At present, there is no system-wide approach to maximizing efficient and effective use of existing structures and resources and to ensuring coherence and coordination. 85. Furthermore, the focus of different agencies on similar thematic issues with respect to violence against women suggests that there is scope for further coordination and collaboration among the various United Nations agencies, as well as with United Nations and regional independent monitoring mechanisms on women’s human rights and violence against women. Such collaboration would lead to the establishment of a more comprehensive system-wide response to address violence against women that would ultimately result in a more effective, credible and coordinated effort to eliminate it. It would also free up resources for more effective interventions. 32 16 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24380&LangID=.