A/HRC/12/50 14. Invites once again the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the working groups, representatives and special rapporteurs of the Council and human rights treaty bodies to pay attention, within the framework of their mandates, to the situation of persons whose right to freedom of opinion and expression has been violated; 15. Reminds States of the possibility of seeking technical assistance if needed, including from the Office of the High Commissioner, to better promote and protect the right to freedom of opinion and expression; 16. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the assistance necessary to the Special Rapporteur to fulfil his mandate as contained in its resolution 7/36 effectively, in particular by placing adequate human and material resources at his disposal; 17. Requests the Special Rapporteur to submit an annual report to the Council and the General Assembly on the activities relating to his mandate; 18. Decides to continue its consideration of the issue of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in accordance with its programme of work. 31st meeting 2 October 2009 [Adopted without a vote. See part II, chap. III.] 12/17. Elimination of discrimination against women The Human Rights Council, Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, its Purposes and Principles, Guided also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Recalling the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in June 1993 by the World Conference on Human Rights (A/CONF.157/23), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted in September 1995 by the Fourth World Conference on Women (A/CONF.177/20/Rev.1, chap. I), and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in September 2001 by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Bearing in mind the challenges still faced by all countries throughout the world to overcome inequality between men and women, Recalling the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the declaration adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its fortyninth session and the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference, Recalling also Commission on Human Rights resolutions 2000/13 of 17 April 2000, 2001/34 of 23 April 2001 and 2003/22 of 22 April 2003, as well as Council resolution 6/30 of 14 December 2007 on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system, Bearing in mind that international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and include guarantees to 36