A/HRC/28/31 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa, so that persons, groups and communities could submit individual complaints of violation of their economic, social and cultural rights to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 46. Another challenge noted by participants was the low level of cooperation by public institutions with human rights mechanisms, especially with regard to submission of statistical data and human rights indicators necessary for the monitoring of public policies. 3. Forms of cooperation 47. Since the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights also applied relevant United Nations human rights instruments as regards economic, social and cultural rights, it was suggested that cooperation with regard to interpretation and application of human rights norms could be enhanced through dialogue and exchange between the Court and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. C. 1. Economic, social and cultural rights of women Best practices 48. Panellists from the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, OSCE-ODIHR, the Democratic Association of Women of Morocco, the Council of Europe Equality Division as well as the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights Special Rapporteur for Women agreed on the importance of gender mainstreaming in respect of economic, social and cultural rights. 49. Interacting with civil society organizations in order to better understand the situation of women in the national context was identified as one of the best practices. The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children stated that direct access to civil society and grass root organizations was one of its main strengths, which helped it to advocate for gender mainstreaming in the ASEAN community. 50. Access to justice was considered key for protecting and promoting the economic, social and cultural rights of women and combating violence against women. The Council of Europe highlighted that access to justice was one of the focus areas of its strategies to combat gender inequality. 51. The adoption of guidelines on reporting obligations of States under international instruments was described as a good practice in Africa; the reporting guidelines under the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol) served as a barometer to assess the implementation of the Protocol. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has also adopted general comments on sexual and reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS. 2. Challenges and lessons learned 52. Participants emphasized that economic recession and austerity measures disproportionally affected women, and critically undermined their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. Furthermore, women from vulnerable groups were more acutely impacted by economic crises. 53. It was noted that, although the proposed Sustainable Development Goals included a stand-alone gender goal and some gender mainstreaming, they called for equity and not equality; they do not call for accountability in relation to respect, protection and fulfilment of international human rights obligations, nor do they refer specifically to women’s reproductive rights under access to health care. Likewise, some discussions related to the 11