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( a ) Consider, where they have not yet done so, ratifying or acceding to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women or withdrawing reservations to that
Convention;
( b ) Refrain from engaging in violence against women;
( c ) Exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish
acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private
persons;
( d ) Develop penal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to punish and
redress the wrongs caused to women who are subjected to violence; women who are subjected to
violence should be provided with access to the mechanisms of justice and, as provided for by national
legislation, to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered; States should also
inform women of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms;
( e ) Consider the possibility of developing national plans of action to promote the protection of women
against any form of violence, or to include provisions for that purpose in plans already existing, taking
into account, as appropriate, such cooperation as can be provided by non-governmental organizations,
particularly those concerned with the issue of violence against women;
( f ) Develop, in a comprehensive way, preventive approaches and all those measures of a legal,
political, administrative and cultural nature that promote the protection of women against any form of
violence, and ensure that the re-victimization of women does not occur because of laws insensitive to
gender considerations, enforcement practices or other interventions;
( g ) Work to ensure, to the maximum extent feasible in the light of their available resources and,
where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, that women subjected to violence
and, where appropriate, their children have specialized assistance, such as rehabilitation, assistance in
child care and maintenance, treatment, counselling, and health and social services, facilities and
programmes, as well as support structures, and should take all other appropriate measures to promote
their safety and physical and psychological rehabilitation;
( h ) Include in government budgets adequate resources for their activities related to the elimination of
violence against women;
( i ) Take measures to ensure that law enforcement officers and public officials responsible for
implementing policies to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women receive training to
sensitize them to the needs of women;
( j ) Adopt all appropriate measures, especially in the field of education, to modify the social and
cultural patterns of conduct of men and women and to eliminate prejudices, customary practices and
all other practices based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes and on
stereotyped roles for men and women;
( k ) Promote research, collect data and compile statistics, especially concerning domestic violence,
relating to the prevalence of different forms of violence against women and encourage research on the
causes, nature, seriousness and consequences of violence against women and on the effectiveness of
measures implemented to prevent and redress violence against women; those statistics and findings of
the research will be made public;
( l ) Adopt measures directed towards the elimination of violence against women who are especially
vulnerable to violence;
( m ) Include, in submitting reports as required under relevant human rights instruments of the United
Nations, information pertaining to violence against women and measures taken to implement the
present Declaration;