A/HRC/11/L.11 page 8 Violence against Women, and stresses the need to treat all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law, and the duty to provide access to just and effective remedies and specialized assistance to victims, including medical and psychological assistance, as well as effective counselling; 3. Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and provide protection to the victims, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms; 4. Calls upon States to enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend domestic legislation, including measures to enhance the protection of victims, to investigate, prosecute, punish and redress the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody or in situations of armed conflict, to ensure that such legislation conforms with relevant international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law, to abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women, to remove gender bias in the administration of justice, and to take action to investigate and punish persons who perpetrate acts of violence against women and girls; 5. Also calls upon States to support initiatives undertaken by women’s and non-governmental organizations on the elimination of violence against women and girls and to establish and/or strengthen, at the national level, collaborative relationships with relevant non-governmental and community-based organizations, and public and private sector institutions, aimed at the development and effective implementation of provisions and policies relating to violence against women and girls, including in the area of support services, assistance redress and empowerment of victims; 6. Urges States and the United Nations system to give attention to, and encourages greater international cooperation in, systematic research and the collection, analysis and