A/HRC/RES/12/17 page 2 Recalling the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the declaration adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-ninth session and the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference, Recalling also Commission on Human Rights resolutions 2000/13 of 17 April 2000, 2001/34 of 23 April 2001 and 2003/22 of 22 April 2003, as well as Council resolution 6/30 of 14 December 2007 on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system, Bearing in mind that international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and include guarantees to ensure the equality of women and men, girls and boys, in the enjoyment of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, Recognizing that women face multiple forms of discrimination, Reiterating the need to intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women throughout the world, Recognizing that the full and equal participation of women in all spheres of life is essential for the full and complete economic and social development of a country, Mindful of the fact that the elimination of discrimination against women requires the consideration of women’s specific socio-economic context, and recognizing that laws, policies, customs and traditions that restrict women’s equal access to participate fully in development processes and public and political life are discriminatory and may contribute to the feminization of poverty, 1. Reaffirms the obligation of States to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise; 2. Welcomes the commitments made by the international community to implement fully the Millennium Development Goals and stressing, in that context, the resolve of Heads of State to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable; 3. Also welcomes the efforts made by States around the world to reform their legal systems in order to remove obstacles to women’s full and effective enjoyment of their human rights; 4. Expresses concern at the fact that, despite the pledge made at the Beijing World Conference on Women and the review by the General Assembly at its twenty-third special session to modify or abolish remaining laws that discriminate against women and girls, many of those laws are still in force and continue to be applied, thereby preventing women and girls from enjoying the full realization of their human rights;