A/RES/53/117 Page 3 (e) The fact that the Commission on the Status of Women addressed the issue of harmful traditional or customary practices at its session in 1998;9 2. Emphasizes the need for technical and financial assistance to developing countries working to achieve the elimination of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls from United Nations funds and programmes, international and regional financial institutions, and bilateral and multilateral donors, as well as the need for assistance to non-governmental organizations and communitybased groups active in this field from the international community; 3. Calls upon all States: (a) To ratify, if they have not yet done so, the relevant human rights treaties, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women1 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,2 and to respect and implement fully their obligations under such treaties to which they are parties; (b) To implement their international commitments in this field, inter alia, under the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women,7 the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development5 and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights;4 (c) To develop and implement national legislation and policies prohibiting traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, inter alia, through appropriate measures against those responsible, and to establish, if they have not done so, a concrete national mechanism for the implementation and monitoring of legislation, law enforcement and national policies; (d) To intensify efforts to raise awareness of and to mobilize international and national public opinion concerning the harmful effects of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, in particular through education, the dissemination of information, training, the media and local community meetings, in order to achieve the total elimination of these practices; (e) To promote the inclusion of discussion of the empowerment of women and their human rights in primary and secondary education curricula and to address specifically traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls in such curricula and in the training of health personnel; (f) To involve, among others, public opinion leaders, educators, religious leaders, chiefs, traditional leaders, medical practitioners, women’s health and family planning organizations and the media in publicity campaigns, with a view to promoting a collective and individual awareness of the human rights of women and girls and of how harmful traditional or customary practices violate those rights; (g) To explore, through consultations with communities and religious and cultural groups and their leaders, alternatives to harmful traditional or customary practices, in particular where those practices form part of a ritual ceremony or rite of passage; 9 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1998, Supplement No. 7 and corrigendum (E/1998/27 and Corr.1). /...