A/RES/65/187
equal access to financial resources and employment, and full and equal rights to
own and have access to land and other property, and taking further appropriate
measures to address the increasing rate of homelessness of and inadequate housing
for women in order to reduce their vulnerability to violence;
(l) Treating all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal
offence, punishable by law, contributing, inter alia, to the prevention of such crimes,
and ensuring penalties commensurate with the severity of the crimes and sanctions
in domestic legislation to punish, and redress, as appropriate, the wrongs caused to
women and girls who are subjected to violence;
(m) Taking effective measures to prevent the victim’s consent from becoming
an impediment to bringing perpetrators of violence against women and girls to
justice, while ensuring that appropriate safeguards to protect the victim and
adequate and comprehensive measures for the rehabilitation and reintegration of
victims of violence into society are in place;
(n) Encouraging the removal of all barriers to women’s access to justice and
ensuring that effective legal assistance is provided to all female victims of violence
so that they can make informed decisions regarding, inter alia, legal proceedings
and issues relating to family law, and also ensuring that victims have access to just
and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered, including through the
adoption of national legislation where necessary;
(o) Ensuring effective cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders,
including all relevant public officials and civil society, in the prevention,
investigation, prosecution and punishment of all forms of violence against women
and girls;
(p) Developing or improving and disseminating specialized training
programmes, including practical tools and good practice guidelines on how to
identify, prevent and deal with cases of violence against women and girls and on
how to assist victims, for all stakeholders responsible for dealing with violence
against women and girls, its causes and consequences, including police officers, the
judiciary, health workers, law enforcement personnel and civil society, and engaging
statisticians and the media;
(q) Strengthening national health and social infrastructure to reinforce
measures to promote women’s equal access to public health care and address the
health consequences of all forms of violence against women and girls, including by
providing support to victims;
(r) Establishing or supporting integrated centres through which shelter,
legal, health, psychological, counselling and other services are provided to victims
of all forms of violence against women and, where such centres are not yet feasible,
promoting collaboration and coordination among agencies, in order to make
remedies more accessible and to facilitate the physical, psychological and social
recovery of victims, and ensuring that victims have access to such services;
(s) Ensuring that the prison system and probation services provide
appropriate rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators, as a preventive tool to avoid
recidivism;
(t) Supporting and engaging in partnerships with non-governmental
organizations, in particular women’s organizations, and other relevant actors and the
private sector to end violence against women and girls;
7