12 HANDBOOK FOR NHRIs ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, 4 and the Millennium Development Goals. The importance of NHRIs has been recognized in the commitments of the OSCE participating States, which have pledged to “(…) facilitate the establishment and strengthening of independent national institutions in the area of human rights and the rule of law (…)”.5 Additionally, in the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, participating States explicitly recognized the role NHRIs can play in this area and tasked ODIHR to “provide know-how and support for the building-up of democratic institutions for advancing gender equality, such as Ombudsman’s offices at local and national levels (...)”.6 ODIHR is implementing this aspect of the Action Plan by compiling and facilitating exchange of good practices and expertise across the OSCE region. There are a variety of institutional mechanisms for advancing women’s rights and gender equality in the OSCE participating States. National human rights institutions are only one piece of the puzzle of human rights and gender equality machinery, which also includes governmental bodies, independent institutions, civil society and others. While an overall analysis of institutional mechanisms for women’s rights and gender equality is beyond the scope of this project, it is important that various actors involved join efforts and objectively assess how best to position themselves in their national contexts. Acknowledging the important role of the different parts of the gender machinery, efforts should be made to avoid overlap in mandates and activities, to maximize outcomes with resources available, and to provide the most added value in the protection and promotion of women’s rights and gender equality. Handbook objectives This Handbook aims to improve the capacity of NHRIs to protect and promote women’s rights and gender equality. It offers examples and questions for consideration to guide NHRIs in strengthening their institutional capacity and practical work on women’s rights and gender equality. ODIHR conducted a survey in 2011 to document how NHRIs address women’s rights issues in the 4 5 6 UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, 2000; and related Resolutions 1820, 1888, 1889, and 1960. Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, 1990, Art. 27 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, MC Decision 14/04, 2004, Art. 44 (g).