A/RES/65/187 1. Stresses that “violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life; Recognizes that violence against women and girls persists in every country 2. in the world as a pervasive violation of the enjoyment of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality, development, peace and the internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Millennium Development Goals; 3. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General;16 0H Also welcomes the fact that a high number of Member States have 4. responded to the request of the Secretary-General for information relating to the implementation of General Assembly resolution 63/155, and expresses the hope that Member States will continue to respond to subsequent requests of the Secretary-General; Further welcomes the efforts and important contributions at the local, 5. national, regional and international levels to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on violence against women, its causes and consequences; Expresses its appreciation for the progress achieved in the 6. Secretary-General’s 2008–2015 campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, through the launch of the Secretary-General’s Network of Men Leaders and the development of a framework for action outlining the five key outcomes to be achieved by 2015, supported, inter alia, by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (part of UN-Women) social mobilization and advocacy platform “Say NO to violence against women”, the United Nations inter-agency initiative “Stop Rape Now: United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict” and the regional components of the campaign, stresses the need to accelerate the implementation of concrete follow-up activities by the United Nations system to end all forms of violence against women, requests the Secretary-General to report on the results of his campaign, and encourages Member States to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of all forms of violence against women; Strongly condemns all acts of violence against women and girls, whether 7. those acts are perpetrated by the State, by private persons or by non-State actors, and calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, within the general community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State; Stresses that it is important that States strongly condemn all forms of 8. violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination as set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;3 1H Also stresses that States have the obligation, at all levels, to promote and 9. protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, including women and girls, and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls, to eliminate impunity and to provide protection to the victims, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms; 10. Reaffirms that the persistence of armed conflicts in various parts of the world is a major impediment to the elimination of all forms of violence against women, and, bearing in mind that armed and other types of conflicts and terrorism 4