CEDAW/C/MMR/CO/4-5 (c) Initiate the reforms necessary to ensure that the judiciary is independent, impartial, professional and gender-sensitive as a means of safeguarding women’s rights. National machinery for the advancement of women 20. The Committee commends the State party on establishing the Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs, which coordinates the national machinery for the advancement of women. The Committee is, however, concerned at that body’s lack of institutional stature and budgetary and human resources to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of laws and policies concerning women’s rights. The Committee notes that the national strategic plan for the advancement of women, whose implementation the National Committee is mandated to monitor, lacks implementation plans and needs to be revised to adapt it to the legal and political changes that have taken place in the State party. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of clarity with respect to cooperat ion between the National Committee, the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation and the gender units in various government departments. 21. The Committee recommends that the State party provide the Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs with adequate resources and institutional stature to be able to coordinate activities as the national machinery for the advancement of women in the State party. It also recommends that the State party continue to strengthen the National Committee by clarifying its cooperation with the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation and the gender units in various government departments to enable the National Committee to effectively carry out its activities, including those relating to gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting. The Committee further recommends that the results of the ongoing assessment of the impact of the national strategic plan for the advancement of women inform policy changes that need to be made to ensure that the National Committee can effectively coordinate the implementation of the strategic plan. Temporary special measures 22. The Committee is concerned at the State party’s lack of understanding of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating substantive equality between men and women. In particular, it is concerned at the absence of temporary special measures, including statutory quotas, to address the underrepresentation of women, including women from ethnic and other minority groups, in decision -making positions in the public and private sectors an in political life. 23. The Committee calls upon the State party to use temporary special measures, such as statutory quotas, in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, as a necessary strategy to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality of women and men, in particular to enhance the rights of women belonging to ethnic minority groups, including the Rohingya, and women with disabilities in all relevant areas of the Convention. 6/17 16-12871