A/HRC/17/2 community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State, in accordance with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and stresses the need to treat all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law, and the duty to provide victims with access to just and effective remedies and specialized assistance, including medical and psychological assistance, as well as effective counselling; 2. Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and provide protection and support to women and girls who have been subjected to violence, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms; 3. Recognizes that effective protection requires comprehensive, integrated, coordinated multisectoral approaches involving multiple stakeholders, including women’s organizations, religious and community leaders, youth, men and boys, victim service workers and advocates, law enforcement personnel, the judiciary, corrections officials and forensic scientists, as well as legal, health and education professionals, and that such responses should avoid re-victimization, be empowering to the victim, be evidence-based and culturally sensitive, and integrate the specific and differentiated needs of women and girls who face multiple, intersecting and aggravated forms of discrimination; 4. Emphasizes that women should be empowered to protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, stresses the need for legal and policy measures that promote the full enjoyment by women and girls of all human rights by eliminating discrimination against women, promoting gender equality, empowering women and promoting their full autonomy, including with regard to land, property, marriage and divorce, child custody and inheritance, and to promote equal access to literacy, education, skills training and employment opportunities, political participation and representation, credit, agricultural extension, adequate housing, just and favourable conditions of work, and business and leadership skills training; 5. Underscores that States have the primary responsibility for protecting women and girls facing violence and, in this regard, urges States: (a) To enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend domestic legislation and other measures to enhance the protection of victims, including, where appropriate, by providing for the use of testimonial aids in criminal proceedings to avoid re-victimization and access to legal representation, and to ensure that such legislation or measures conform with relevant international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law; (b) To take measures to investigate, prosecute, punish and redress, including by ensuring access to adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate remedies, the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody, or in situations of armed conflict; (c) To implement their treaty obligations addressing the human rights of all women and girls and to withdraw reservations to treaties which are incompatible with the object and purpose of the specific treaties, and further encourages States to consider ratifying or acceding to all human rights treaties, including, as a matter of priority, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto; (d) To take all appropriate measures to amend or repeal existing laws or to modify legal or customary practices that sustain the persistence and tolerance of violence against women and girls; GE.12-13630 31