A/HRC/41/21 women to remain applicable. This was necessary in order to ensure continuing legal protection for women and girls from violent gender-based crimes. Furthermore, in May 2018, the Attorney General’s Office recruited 93 female prosecutors, thereby enabling the deployment of more female prosecutors to provinces and districts, and the expansion of female-headed prosecution units focused on cases of violence against women from 25 to 31. The number of courts dealing with these violations also increased, from 15 in 2017 to 22 in 2018. III. Lessons learned, challenges and the way forward 78. This compilation of experiences and practices aimed at mainstreaming or incorporating human rights into national policies in line with international human rights norms, with the technical support of OHCHR or of other national, regional or international human rights partners, reaffirms the importance of cooperation and partnerships in achieving the commitments under the 2030 Agenda. The 2030 Agenda and its Goals are formally grounded in the commitment to realize all human rights for all, without discrimination, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights as well as the right to development. Therefore, integrating all human rights into national policies and practices aimed at meeting the Sustainable Development Goals is a critical vehicle to achieve this ambitious agenda effectively, responding to Member States’ vision as expressed in the 2030 Agenda. 79. In addition, a human rights-based approach to data is crucial to ensuring that core human rights principles, such as participation, non-discrimination, and systematic efforts to leave no one behind, are fulfilled. OHCHR and Member States’ long-standing commitment to make effective use of human rights indicators and of disaggregated data gathering in general has taken on increased significance since the development of the Sustainable Development Goals indicators in 2015. As seen in the present compilation of examples, at the request of States, OHCHR has intensified its work with governments’ statistics bodies and other institutions that are well placed to provide a reliable data baseline and carry out continuous monitoring through a human rights-based approach to data. 80. The Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights and the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance have both stressed in their reports to the Human Rights Council that, as one of the key components of sound technical cooperation, technical assistance programmes in the field of human rights should be guided by recommendations from the United Nations human rights mechanisms. As Member States and the United Nations move towards the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda, these recommendations become key references for prioritizing from among the 169 targets of the 17 Goals, and for framing government progress reports to the high-level political forum on sustainable development through the voluntary national review process. The use of such recommendations in the review process is aided by an important improvement to the Universal Human Rights Index, which is now searchable by Goal for human rights recommendations. 81. Participation is a fundamental component in the development, implementation and monitoring processes of both human rights norms and the Sustainable Development Goals, which is why OHCHR is increasingly supporting and facilitating spaces for civil society participation in policy and legislation development. However, an important lesson learned from that work is that in order to be able to make a significant contribution, civil society must enjoy freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly. Therefore, restricting civic space through policies and legislation on civil society organizations’ activities is detrimental to the agenda of human rights and to implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. 82. Leaving no one behind is a core commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The same principle also takes centre stage in the process of implementing universal human rights, often expressed through a long-standing focus on preventing and combating all forms of discrimination and marginalization. Addressing discrimination in laws, policies and practices is therefore an effective way of ensuring that no one gets left behind. 15