A/HRC/15/40 participation, access to decision-making processes, inheritance, ownership of land, financial services, including loans, and nationality and legal capacity”, among other areas.22 III. Addressing discrimination against women throughout the United Nations human rights system 24. The United Nations human rights system has made significant progress in giving the human rights of women greater prominence. Calls to give the human rights of women and the gender dimension of human rights increased attention preceded the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women, but those conferences gave major impetus to efforts to include issues of gender on the so-called “mainstream” human rights agenda. 25. This enhanced attention resulted in the adoption of gender-specific normative instruments addressing discrimination against women and encouraged the strengthening of procedures to monitor national efforts to ensure the equality of women and consider claims of alleged violations of the human rights of women. Of particular importance was the establishment in 1994 by the Commission on Human Rights of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and the adoption by the General Assembly of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1999. 26. The Commission on the Status of Women has continued its multifaceted analysis of the situation of women in the world and identified policy responses that will promote their advancement. The Beijing Platform for Action, and the documents resulting from its reviews, have provided the framework for much of its work in the last 15 years. While the human rights of women - including the right to equality before and under the law - form an important part of that framework, and while the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on Violence against Women are frequently points of reference for its work, a human rights approach forms only part of the Commission perspective on addressing women’s disadvantage. The original proposal in 1991 for a special rapporteur on discrimination against women, which led ultimately to the establishment by the Commission on Human Rights of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, was that the Commission itself establish the special rapporteur.23 27. While the Commission has reviewed its communications procedure on several occasions in the last 20 years, there has been no fundamental change to its nature; the procedure is primarily a means of providing general information to the Commission to enable it to identify trends and formulate policy recommendations for itself and the Economic and Social Council. It is not a mechanism intended to provide a remedy for individuals who allege that their rights have been violated, or respond directly to allegations of systematic denials of the rights of women. 28. In 2007, OHCHR commissioned an analytical study on laws that discriminate against women and the usefulness of creating a new mechanism to address this issue. The study entitled “Project on a mechanism to address laws that discriminate against women”, prepared by Fareda Banda, addresses the compatibility of a new mandate with existing mechanisms and identifies how the existing mechanisms have addressed de jure 22 23 8 Human Rights Council resolution 12/17, paras 4 and 6. See E/CN.6/1991/10, paras 149-154.