ANNEXES 29 2 PROTECTION STRATEGIES 2.1 OVERVIEW One of the main roles of NHRIs is to protect individuals from human rights violations. The Paris Principles establish a range of protection strategies that NHRIs ought to undertake on general issues and in specific cases. 19 These strategies are equally relevant for NHRIs working on gender equality and on more specific issues, such as violence against women. In this regard, NHRIs should ensure that gender equality and women’s rights are mainstreamed into all of their protection strategies and that policies are also in place to address the particular protection needs of women and girls in the national context. The CEDAW Committee has stated that it “expects national human rights institutions to ensure that their work concerning, inter alia, the consideration of individual complaints and the elaboration of recommendations on laws, policies and their activities in human rights education is based on the principle of formal and substantive equality between women and men and non-discrimination (…) and that women have easy access to all services for the protection of their rights provided by National Human Rights Institutions.”20 19 UN Principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of human rights (the “Paris Principles”), Competence and responsibilities, Art. 3. 20 Statement by the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women on its relationship with national human rights institutions, E/CN.6/2008/CRP.1.