A/HRC/23/20 45. The reference to violence against women elicited a number of reactions. It was asked whether the attitudes and behaviour underlying this problem could be addressed through a system combining education and punishment, in order to bring about behavioural and social change. Where violence against women occurred as a consequence of war, as was the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the importance of prevention was emphasized and examples were provided of education for peace building. Violence would also continue if perpetrators were not brought to justice. Violence against women should have a central place in negotiations to end conflict. The importance of climate change and human rights was also stressed, as was the need to shape the negotiated output for the post2015 development agenda. D. The way forward: general prospects and the ways and means to enhance international cooperation in the field of human rights including through developing guidelines, technical assistance, the universal periodic review and other international mechanisms 46. At the expert workshop on human rights and international solidarity, held in June 2012,5 participants had generally agreed that there was a strong relationship between international cooperation and international solidarity, even though there were differences of opinion on the nature of that link. The logic that the actions of one country affect other countries held for both, but not necessarily in the same way. In the case of international solidarity, the effect of one country’s action on a partner country was always beneficial and, more often than not, reciprocity was present in one form or another. In the case of international cooperation, the effect of one country’s action on the partner country was not always beneficial and, more often than not, the benefit was one-sided. Examples were cited in the areas of financial derivatives, technology transfer, conflict, trade in weapons, the media and in information and communications technology. 47. Cooperation derived from solidarity, but solidarity did not necessarily derive from cooperation. Solidarity was seen rather as a corrective to international cooperation. Dynamics between solidarity and cooperation could be complimentary, meeting on the principles of human rights, which were paramount. Innovative mechanisms had to be strengthened for the promotion and protection of human rights and, in that context, attention was drawn to the growing potential of South-South cooperation in promoting human rights. 48. There was a need for greater coherence and synergy, and to mitigate the negative impact on human rights of cooperation programmes, in particular those entailing structural adjustments and conditionality, or affecting certain populations such as migrants, in particular migrant children, and in times of crisis. In addition, cooperation had to be sustainable, although this was rendered difficult by lack of capacity or resources. Legal cooperation was particularly difficult, as shown in attempts to combat the sale of children, and much remained to be done in that field. There was a lack of coordination in multifaceted cooperation with different stakeholders and mechanisms. In order to address such weaknesses, international cooperation should be based on mainstreaming, transparency, good governance, monitoring and accountability, and respect through the systemized participation of stakeholders. As a process, international cooperation needed a framework, benchmarks and evaluation tools. Furthermore, the implementation of international instruments had to be improved and human rights mechanisms, in particular the treaty bodies and the special procedures, had to be strengthened, as did implementation 5 A/HRC/21/44/Add.1. 11

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