E/C.12/GC/18 page 11 Legislation, strategies and policies 38. States parties should consider the adoption of specific legislative measures for the implementation of the right to work. Those measures should (a) establish national mechanisms to monitor implementation of employment strategies and national plans of action and (b) contain provisions on numerical targets and a time frame for implementation. They should also provide (c) means of ensuring compliance with the benchmarks established at the national level and (d) the involvement of civil society, including experts on labour issues, the private sector and international organizations. In monitoring progress on realization of the right to work, States parties should identify the factors and difficulties affecting the fulfilment of their obligations. 39. Collective bargaining is a tool of fundamental importance in the formulation of employment policies. 40. United Nations agencies and programmes should, upon States parties’ request, assist in drafting and reviewing relevant legislation. The ILO, for example, has considerable expertise and accumulated knowledge concerning legislation in the field of employment. 41. States parties should adopt a national strategy, based on human rights principles aimed at progressively ensuring full employment for all. Such a national strategy also imposes a requirement to identify the resources available to States parties for achieving their objectives as well as the most cost-effective ways of using them. 42. The formulation and implementation of a national employment strategy should involve full respect for the principles of accountability, transparency, and participation by interested groups. The right of individuals and groups to participate in decision-making should be an integral part of all policies, programmes and strategies intended to implement the obligations of States parties under article 6. The promotion of employment also requires effective involvement of the community and, more specifically, of associations for the protection and promotion of the rights of workers and trade unions in the definition of priorities, decision-making, planning, implementation and evaluation of the strategy to promote employment. 43. To create conditions favourable to the enjoyment of the right to work, States parties must also take appropriate measures to ensure that both the private and public sectors reflect an awareness of the right to work in their activities. 44. The national employment strategy must take particular account of the need to eliminate discrimination in access to employment. It must ensure equal access to economic resources and to technical and vocational training, particularly for women, disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups, and should respect and protect self-employment as well as employment with remuneration that enables workers and their families to enjoy an adequate standard of living as stipulated in article 7 (a) (ii) of the Covenant.21 45. States parties should develop and maintain mechanisms to monitor progress towards the realization of the right to freely chosen or accepted employment, to identify the factors and difficulties affecting the degree of compliance with their obligations and to facilitate the adoption of corrective legislative and administrative measures, including measures to implement their obligations under articles 2.1 and 23 of the Covenant.