A/HRC/12/46 page 16 noted that the Council condemned sexual violence and the recruitment by the militia of child soldiers (para. 5), it did not specifically refer to Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), which calls for the “immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians”, nor to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) calling for women to be active participants in peace processes. 6. Resolutions and decisions 49. Human Rights Council resolutions are increasingly making explicit references to gender dimensions, albeit still in a general manner. States tabling an initiative could first consider how the subject matter of the resolution can make more specific references to the differential impact on women, men, girls and boys, and to the potential for discrimination. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 50. With regard to the human rights of women, the United Nations system has been working on violence against women for almost two decades, beginning with the Declaration on Violence against Women, including through the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and relevant resolutions adopted since. A clear set of internationally agreed standards on the prevention, investigation and punishment of violence against women now exists; the role of the Human Rights Council should therefore now be to contribute to the implementation of those standards. 51. In order to do so effectively and from a human rights perspective, it is essential that women be seen as rights holders, and not only as a “vulnerable group” in need of protection, assistance and care; otherwise, solutions tend to focus only on the affected women and usually consist of adopting “protective” measures that may in reality restrict the full enjoyment of the women’s rights. If violence against women is seen as a human rights violation and an entrenched social problem that affects both men and women, it is more likely that the solutions to address it will involve all actors, including perpetrators and the community itself, and be empowering as well as rights-enhancing. 52. According to General Assembly resolution 61/143, the Council’s debate on priority-setting for its work on violence against women should address how to integrate the issue into its full agenda. In this context, the task becomes a question of planning how most effectively to integrate the issue within the Council’s existing work and how best to contribute to the implementation of the recommendations contained in various United Nations reports on this topic, including the special procedures and, most particularly, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women.23 23 Recommendation by Alejandra Sardá, on behalf of CLADEM - Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights and Mulabi (Argentina), speaking on the gender panel at the eighth session of the Human Rights Council, 5 June 2008.