A/HRC/38/46 reinstatement of corporal punishment in schools, and another considered for the first time in its parliament a law to combat gender-based violence. 62. The Working Group has also sought to implement effective follow-up to its country visits, within the limits of the resources available, by sending follow-up letters and making them and the responses publically available. It is regrettable that only one State has responded thus far to the follow-up letters.33 Communications 63. In its communications to States,34 the Working Group has sought to collaborate with other mandate holders, sending mainly joint communications on cases that involved crosscutting human rights issues. It has also used this tool to initiate a dialogue on selected widespread discriminatory laws and policies, such as discrimination against women in nationality laws, marital status and criminalization of adultery. Between 1 January 2011 and 31 March 2018, the Working Group sent 259 communications, 165 of which were sent jointly with other mandate holders. Unfortunately, of all the communications sent, only 83 substantive replies were received from States. 64. Communications sent by the Working Group, independently and jointly with other mandate holders, have contributed to reforming discriminatory laws and policies. For example, States have amended nationality laws that denied women the right to confer citizenship on their children on an equal basis with men, and marriage laws that provided different minimum ages of marriage for boys and girls. Additionally, following one communication by the Working Group, a national law society removed from its website a note about discriminatory practice in terms of succession rules. The communications have also supported action for the release or acquittal of women imprisoned or prosecuted under discriminatory laws, including women who were imprisoned and threatened with flogging for charges including apostasy, adultery, “indecent dressing”, a woman imprisoned for having suffered a miscarriage and a migrant woman who was accused of killing her employer after he threatened at knifepoint to rape her. In responding to the Working Group’s questionnaire, one State acknowledged that it had instituted new protocols and new training methods for State employees as a result of a communication from the Working Group. Working Group sessions 65. The Working Group holds three one-week sessions every year. It has used the sessions as an opportunity to meet with States and civil society organizations, and to engage in dialogue and exchange views in order to make progress in the elimination of discrimination against women. It has also viewed the sessions as an opportunity to improve its collaboration with other mechanisms working on women’s human rights and other stakeholders, systematically organizing meetings with other special procedures, treaty body experts, United Nations entities, intergovernmental organizations, States and civil society from all regions. In meeting with stakeholders, the Working Group has sought their contributions to the preparation of its thematic reports, and aimed to enable each entity to benefit from one another’s expertise, as well as trying to create new synergies and ensure consistency within the system. These goals also underlie the Working Group’s use of its sessions to convene two joint meetings with regional women’s human rights mechanisms.35 Other tools 66. The Working Group has used amicus briefs, submitted independently or jointly with other mandate holders, to offer national courts expert advice on issues of domestic law that are directly related to States’ international human rights obligations to eliminate discrimination against women.36 The expertise of the Working Group is also reflected in the 33 34 35 36 14 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/CountryVisits.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/Communications.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WG/HRMechanismsWomens_Conceptnote.pdf and www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WG/outcome_document.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/AmicusCuriae.aspx.