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UNICEF Country Offices continued to implement programmes to promote awareness and abandonment of harmful traditional practices in 15 countries covered by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on awareness and abandonment of child marriage. Hide

UNICEF has provided support to awareness-raising and advocacy addressing violence against girls, including through the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Accelerate the Abandonment of FGM/C. Hide

The World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November 2008, was organized jointly by UNICEF, the Government of Brazil, ECPAT and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child., resulting in the “Rio de Janeiro Pact to Prevent and Stop Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents”.UNICEF continued to support social mobilization efforts at all levels to change attitudes and behaviour on violence against women and girls, including sexual violence and exploitation, trafficking and female genital mutilation. Hide

Through the UNFPA and UNICEF Trust Fund and Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), achievements included: launch in Djibouti and Guinea Bissau, where a forum was created for advocacy and policy dialogue towards accelerated abandonment of FGM/C within a generation, with a wide range of stakeholders; policy discussions were held in four Country Offices of UNFPA and UNICEF and with partners, in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Sudan, and Egypt aimed at clarifying issues related to the operation of the Joint Programme and Trust Fund. In Sudan, the Trust Fund supported media advocacy capacity for partners implementing the Joint Programme. Hide

Many UNICEF country offices in 2008 have utilized television and radio campaigns and capitalized on international awareness days to publicize violence against women and girls. Hide

A network of gender focal points in regional and country offices work with UNICEF’s Gender Equality and Human Rights Unit in promoting gender issues and awareness, including on violence against women and girls, through television and radio campaigns. In line with the Secretary-General’s study on violence against children, several country offices have led campaigns on violence against children, with an emphasis on violence against girls. Hide

UNICEF has developed a new manual for football coaches to encourage them to talk to boys about violence against women and girls, in order to promote a culture of non-violence and non-discrimination. Hide