A/HRC/41/42 only been established the year before. However, since that Conference, they have developed expertise and adopted effective working methods to examine implementation gaps and recommend measures for the elimination of violence against women. Today, the role of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and other independent monitoring mechanisms should not be underestimated, as they play a vital monitoring role and are an integral part of the whole international framework on women’s human rights and violence against women. They have all been entrusted with addressing the human rights obligations of States parties, including the due diligence obligation to prevent and combat violence against women and girls. 28. For that reason, the 25-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and other relevant reviews, should also include an assessment of the indispensable role that the Special Rapporteur and other independent monitoring mechanisms have in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and other relevant agendas. 29. The current international legal framework on women’s human rights and violence against women, under which the mandate operates, is composed of several international instruments. 30. Although not legally binding, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly in 1993 in its resolution 48/104, provided the first global framework for analysis, as well as practical steps for action on violence against women at the national and international levels. In the Declaration, the Assembly recognized that violence against women is “a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women” and provided a definition of violence against women. It also called upon States to include, in submitting reports as required under relevant human rights instruments of the United Nations, information pertaining to violence against women and measures taken to implement the Declaration. 31. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights, reaffirmed that the human rights of women and of the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights, and called for the creation of a special rapporteur on violence against women. A year later, in 1994, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur was established. 32. In 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women reaffirmed the conclusions of the World Conference on Human Rights, and identified violence against women as one of the 12 areas for priority action. In paragraphs 124 (r) and (s) of the Declaration, States were urged to “cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women in the performance of her mandate and furnish all information requested” and to “renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women when her term ends in 1997 and, if warranted, to update and strengthen it.” 33. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979 in its resolution 34/180. It was the first United Nations instrument on the human rights of women and as such was the first one to recognize “women’s rights as human rights”. The Fourth World Conference on Women also reaffirmed the Convention and called for the elaboration of an optional protocol thereto. It also strengthened the role of the Committee by requesting it to evaluate progress in the implementation of the Platform for Action through the State party reporting process. At the time of the Conference, the Committee had already adopted its general recommendations No. 12 (1989) and No. 19 (1992) on violence against women, in which the Committee recognizes violence against women as a form of discrimination in accordance with article 1 of the Convention. At that time, the work of the Committee was not as visible as it is today. When it began its work in 1982 in Vienna, the Committee held only one session per year. As more States became parties to the Convention,11 the Committee expanded that number to two sessions per year and, in 2007, pursuant to Assembly resolution 62/218, three sessions per year, with a one-week pre-sessional working group for each session, and three annual sessions of the Working Group on Communications, under the Optional Protocol to 11 The Convention currently has 189 States parties. 7