Oct 2008 - Feb 2009

UNHCR continued to work on the development of an Information Management System to improve data collection and information sharing on sexual and gender-based violence (GBVIMS). UNHCR and UNFPA jointly conducted technical support missions to Uganda and Kenya.

WHO organized and hosted a meeting on data and data collection methodologies on sexual violence in conflict on behalf of UN Action in December 2008. In January 2009, WHO co-organized a workshop for humanitarian actions in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to introduce existing guidelines and initiate the integration of gender-based violence prevention and response actions.

UNFPA, in collaboration with World Education, held an expert workshop to develop a curriculum to address gender-based violence and violence against women in humanitarian/conflict/post-conflict settings.

In 2008, UNDP/Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery began the roll-out in 19 countries of the global programme Strengthening the Rule of Law in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations. In eight conflict/post-conflict countries (including Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea Bissau, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Timor Leste), the programme has strong components on gender-based violence.

As a contribution to the Secretary-General’s Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, OHCHR financially supported and participated in a conference organized by the NGO Medica Mondial, entitled “Women Seeking Justice - Getting Law”, in September 2008. Women from twenty-six mostly conflict or post conflict countries attended. The meeting took stock of challenges and achievements in terms of access to justice for women, victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, and proposals in order to overcome women’s inequality.

OHCHR’s home page featured a story focusing on Security Council resolution 1820. In December 2008, a story focused on the search for justice in post conflict situations. The story is based on two major OHCHR-commissioned studies on the effectiveness of international post-conflict accountability mechanisms in prosecuting sexual violence and on women’s economic, social and cultural rights.

In December 2008, a week-long consultation was convened that brought together staff from UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Legal Counsel to the Great Lakes Conference, MONUC and relevant units within the OHCHR, to develop a coherent strategy for 2009 to address sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNIDO, UNICEF and UNDP, participates in the organization and support of the “International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security”, scheduled to take place in Monrovia, in Liberia, from 7 to 8 March 2009. OSAGI provided substantive contributions to the consultations organized by Member States and United Nations entities on the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo regarding the increase of sexual violence.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, continued to work on developing a common set of indicators for monitoring the implementation of resolution 1325 at the international and national levels, and participated in consultations with key United Nations system entities on the development of indicators on gender-based and sexual violence.

In collaboration with the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), OSAGI , now part of UN Women, organized a virtual dialogue on best practices in national implementation of resolution 1325, in regard to violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations. As part of its effort to create an online training course on development of national action plans on resolution 1325 for Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, OSAGI carried out research and analysis of gender-based violence in the relevant regions.