A/HRC/RES/12/17 page 3 5. Calls upon States to fulfil their international obligations and commitments to revoke any remaining laws that discriminate on the basis of sex and remove gender bias in the administration of justice, taking into account that those laws violate their human right to be protected against discrimination; 6. Recognizes that women’s inequality before the law has resulted in the lack of equal opportunities for women in education, access to health, economic participation, access to labour and disparities in salaries and compensation, public and political participation, access to decision-making processes, inheritance, ownership of land, financial services, including loans, and nationality and legal capacity, among others, as well as increased vulnerability to discrimination and violence, and that all countries face challenges in these areas; 7. Acknowledges the work undertaken by the Commission on the Status of Women, the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the special rapporteurs of the Council on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and trafficking of persons, including women and children, contemporary forms of slavery, and other relevant United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms to eliminate discrimination in law and practice throughout the world; 8. Emphasizes the significant role that women play in economic development and in the eradication of poverty, stresses the need to promote equal pay for equal work or work of equal value and for promoting the recognition of the value of women’s unremunerated work, as well as for developing and promoting policies that facilitate the reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities; 9. Calls on States to ensure full representation and full equal participation of women in political, social and economic decision-making as an essential condition for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as a critical factor in the eradication of poverty; 10. Welcomes particularly the work undertaken by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on women’s equality before the law; 11. Recognizes the important role played by the Council in addressing the issue of discrimination against women, in both law and practice; 12. Welcomes the convening of a panel on equality before the law during the eleventh session of the Council; 13. Notes that, although human rights treaty bodies and special procedures do, to some extent, address discrimination against women within their mandates, their attention to such discrimination is not systematic; 14. Also notes the work undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue; 15. Requests the High Commissioner to prepare a thematic study on discrimination against women, in law and practice, and on how the issue is addressed throughout the United Nations human rights system, in consultation with States, relevant United Nations bodies and mechanisms and agencies, including the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of