A/RES/54/134 Page 2 twenty-fourth regular session, held in Belém, Brazil, from 6 to 10 June 1994, 5 and general recommendation 19 on violence against women adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its eleventh session,6 Concerned that violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace, as recognized in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women7 and the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women,8 which recommended a set of integral measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women, and to the full implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Concerned also that some groups of women, such as women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, the girl child, women with disabilities, elderly women and women in situations of armed conflict, are especially vulnerable to violence, Recognizing that violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of their full advancement, and that violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate positions, compared with men, Recognizing also that the human rights of women and of the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights,9 and recognizing further the need to promote and protect all human rights of women and girls,10 Alarmed that women do not fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and concerned about the long-standing failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms in relation to violence against women,11 5 Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments, vol. II: Regional Instruments (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.XIV.1), sect. A.7. 6 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/47/38), chap. I. 7 Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, Nairobi, 15–26 July 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.85.IV.10), chap. I, sect. A. 8 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II. 9 See A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III, sect. I, para. 18. 10 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I, para. 31. 11 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1999, Supplement No. 3 (E/1999/23), chap. II, sect. A, resolution 1999/42. /...