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The OHCHR also supported the Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice (WGDAW) in developing several conclusions aimed at supporting policy development in its thematic report on “Reasserting equality, countering rollbacks”, published in May 2018 (A/HRC/38/46). It concluded that the road to gender equality and the full realization of women’s and girls’ human right remains long and challenging. Women are scarcely represented in national and global political and economic decision-making bodies and are too often overrepresented in vulnerable employment and paid less than men, impeding their economic independence. They face pervasive violence, lack control over their bodies and lack autonomy, and are too often seen as sexualized objects. In all spheres of life, power and entitlement are still concentrated in the hands of men. Women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination experience inequality even more acutely. The continuing existence of direct and indirect discrimination, both visible and invisible, is the reason why women lag behind in nearly all human progress indicators. In the face of discrimination against women and one of its worst manifestations, gender-based violence, everyone has a duty to act. The international community must move forward on setting and implementing standards on gender equality to counter the alarming trends towards undermining human rights principles and jeopardizing the gains made in women’s right.
The OHCHR supported the work of the SRVAW who presented two thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in 2018 on online violence against women and violence against women in politic.
During the period under review, the OHCHR supported the SRVAW in producing a number of legal and policy recommendations in communications sent to over 50 Member States and recommendations issued after country visits to: Canada (11 to 23 April 2018); Nepal (19 to 29 November 2018).
The OHCHR supported the work of the SRVAW, and SUMEX along with other relevant mandates in issuing a statement calling for revocation of a bill to amend Guatemala’s National Reconciliation Law which has been the basis of trials involving human rights violations in the country since the peace accords of 1996, and would establish an automatic mechanism for extinguishing the criminal responsibility of all those responsible for serious violations of human rights committed during that period (22 February 2019).
The OHCHR supported the Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice (WGDAW) in formulating a series of recommendations aimed at supporting legislative development following its mission to Honduras (1-14 November 2018). It recommended to:
- Repeal laws prohibiting access to emergency contraception and liberalize abortion law so as to ensure access at least in cases where the pregnancy poses a threat to the life or health of the woman, where it is the result of sexual violence or in case of severe foetal impairment, as the first step;
- End the criminalization and judicial harassment of women human rights defenders, protect them from violence (including by private actors) and investigate crimes against them;
-Ensure that the media do not promote stereotypes and gender-based violence, and raise their awareness on violence against women and human rights defenders;
- Provide the necessary support to women candidates, address political violence against women and promote women’s participation in political life;
- Conduct sustainable awareness-raising campaigns to prevent violence against women in politics and effectively investigate cases;
- End the criminalization and judicial harassment of women human rights defenders, protect them from violence (including by private actors) and investigate crimes against them;
- Ensure that human rights education is taught in all public schools, covering women’s rights and gender equality, with a focus on prevention of gender-based violence;
- Regarding indigenous and Afro-Honduran women (including Garífuna) guarantee their access and full participation in decision-making; prevent and combat violence against them;
- Eliminate violence, discrimination and stigmatization against lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex women, women with disabilities, women engaged in sex work/prostitution and women living with HIV and ensure their effective participation in political, civil, economic and social life and access to quality health services.
Peace Operations regularly support national legal, judicial and correctional institutions in gender-sensitive reform processes, including legal and policy reform. Peacekeeping missions, in partnership with the UNCT and the women civil society actors have been supporting gender responsive legislative development, including addressing SGBV and VAW. Particular missions to mention – Haiti (MINUJUSTH), CAR (MINUSCA), DRC(MONUSCO), Mali(MINUSMA) and Sudan (with UNAMID)
DRC
After the promulgation of the revised Family Code, United Nations agencies mobilized to disseminate texts and laws favorable to women's rights (the Family Code, the Parity Act, the Child Protection Act, the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Violence and the Act on the Protection of Persons Living with HIV), The Maputo Protocol on Gender and Development, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Security Council resolutions (notably Resolution 1325) during the 16 Days of Activism campaigns in November 2017, Amani Festival in February 2018 and Women's Month in March 2018. A draft bill on the reparation and compensation mechanism for victims of sexual violence has been submitted to the Senate. The agencies support the government in the process of reviewing the national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and the national action plan 1325.
SENEGAL
Senegal has a legal framework favorable to the elimination of gender-based violence through the law against excision, the law on parity, the law for nationality, the Senegal Emerging Plan, the National Strategy for Equity and Gender Equality, the National Strategy for the Promotion of Rights and Protection of Children.
CABO VERDE
In the continued efforts to support the implementation of the CEDAW and other international and regional normative frameworks on women’s human rights, in 2017 the UN Women supported the evaluation of the 6-years implementation of the law. The evaluation has provided several insights and evidences of the best practices and lesson learnt that informed the Government in how to improve the procedures and promote new responses to face the challenges of the implementation of the GBV law. This analysis has provided key elements for the monitoring of the national goals for eliminating GBV in alignment with international human rights and gender frameworks and provided guidance’s to where the actors responsible for the application of the law should improve to better tackle this phenomenon in Cabo Verde. The Evaluation of the Implementation of GBV Law has been a powerful instrument of discussion and analyses, UNW supported the government by presenting the final results to public and stakeholders. The conducted evaluation has shown, that, even so, challenges persist, including with the moroseness of judicial responses and in the institutionalization of victim support services, geared toward their sustainability thereof.
MALI
Thanks to the support of development partners including UN Women and a draft law against female circumcision submitted to the National Assembly (NA) of Mali by the PACTE Group, the idea of a law against GBV was formed on the initiative of a working commission composed of national and international organizations under the aegis of the NGO ACORD Mali supported by UN Women. The Government of Mali through the Ministry of Women has taken the lead through the National Programme to Combat the Practice of Excision (PNLE). A committee to monitor the law was set up by ministerial order and this committee delegated a technical team of five national and international experts (two lawyers and an anthropologist from Mali and two volunteer Canadian legal advisors) to draft a bill against GBV in Mali. The Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Justice will bring this draft bill before the Government and the National Assembly.
CAMEROON
In humanitarian settings, the capacity and the level of ownership of police forces as a primary protection actor on violence against women issues has significantly increased in 2017. Their increased commitment and actions in the field translating the humanitarian principles and national standards in coordination with other humanitarian actors resulted in gender-based violence cases received by gender desk officers at police stations. UNWOMEN also started to work with judicial actors on VAW in 2017 through magistrat training, and it is expected that further collaborative work with Ministry of Justice will continue in 2018 to strengthen their capacity to treat cases with sensitivity and full understanding of the VAW issues
LIBERIA
Except for the 2014 Amendment of the Elections Law of Liberia which calls for the list of candidates from political party or coalition to have no less than 30% of its members/candidates from each gender, there are 3 key laws still before the National Legislature for passage; Domestic Violence Law, Land Rights Law and the CRC.
NIGER
The Constitution of 25 November 2011 and all subsequent texts support the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including the quota law which grants a certain number of elective and nominative places to women the 1325 decree 2017 on the retention of girls in school. All these texts exist but the effectiveness of their application remains problematic.
GUINEA CONAKRY, TOGO, CHAD
Knowledge production and advocacy on violence and maternal health
In Guinea Conakry, about 100 health workers have been trained on GBV and its consequences.
In Togo, the same study generated strong interest from partners. The United Nations system and UNFPA are taking a closer look at this phenomenon.
In Guinea, the capacities of 100 health providers were sensitized on violence in delivery rooms with the contribution of several local NGOs.
Chad has organized advocacy for the dissemination of the penal code through the training of community leaders on the provisions of the penal code and Law 029 prohibiting child marriage.
Egypt CO
UN Women Egypt in close collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW) supported the comprehensive review of the Personal Status Laws (family laws) and Penal Code to analyze the impact of such laws on women's ability to access justice for all forms of violence. The process brought together multiple actors in the justice chain, including members of the judiciary, prosecution, police, social affairs, in addition to specialized councils to develop draft laws and/or amend existing ones to prevent violence against women, punish perpetrators, and ensure the rights of survivors. As a result of several rounds of consultations by national stakeholders, a draft comprehensive law on violence against women, that aims to support a comprehensive response to survivors of violence, including the provision of support and protection services, was developed and will be submitted to parliament by the NCW.
UN Women has been advocating for the passage of The Anti-Domestic Violence Law, introduced to parliament in 2015 and still under review. In January 2017, the law was presented to discussion in front of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, however it failed to pass the committees. The strengths of the draft bill include provisions for services for domestic violence survivors, protection orders (restraining orders) and penalties for their breach, and the establishment of a cross-ministerial committee to combat domestic violence. However, the law does not set penalties for committing the crime of domestic violence, does not repeal provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code that condone domestic violence (such as weaker penalties for ‘honor crimes’), and prioritizes reconciliation over justice.
In November, an amendment to the Personal Status Law (No. 188 of 1959) was proposed that would allow men to marry girls as young as 9 years old. The bill indicates that when issuing decisions on personal status issues, the court should follow the rulings of religious scholars for Sunni or Shiite sects, depending on the husband's faith (i.e. the Scholars' Congregation at the Shiite Endowment Diwan or Scholars' Fatwa Council which represents Sunni jurisprudence). The efforts of CSO’s, women activists, women committee in the parliament and UN agencies including UN Women led to the withdraw of the draft law from the parliament agenda by mid-November.Morocco MCO
UN Women first acted through supporting the civil society in its advocacy efforts to align draft law no 103.13 with international norms and standards, and more especially through supporting the memorandums of the coalition Printemps de la Dignité composed of 25 NGOs throughout the national territory. The coalition is specialized in advocating to the government and to the Parliament on laws and public policies related to EVAW, and has developed a Memorandum on each of the expected reforms and defended their arguments before the Ministry of Justice. UN Women has supported the coalition providing it with tools and guidance on international norms, laws and strategies to EVAW.
UN WomenPalestine supported national counterparts to develop a Family Protection Bill (FPB) in line with international human rights standards. UNW's support included technical advice to the technical committee that was formed by the Council of Ministries to work on the FPB. UNW also facilitated the engagement of the CSOs in this process through sensitizing partners on the rights of CSOs to take part in this process and supporting CSOs simultaneously by providing them with technical and financial support to advocate for the adoption of a responsive bill. UNW has also supported the justice sector strategy to identify legislative priorities for the years 2017- 2022 , which included the penal code, the personal status law, the family protection bill, cybercrime law and others.
Lebanon PP
UN Women Lebanon, in cooperation with several activist civil society organizations, supported a campiagn in 2016 to repeal article 522 of the Penal Code related to rape-marriage, which releases the perpetrator in case he marries the victim. In June 2017, the campaing efforts were materialized with the approval of the Parliament to repeal the article.
The UNESCO, UN Women and UNFPA Joint Programme on Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women through Education is, in Tanzania, supporting the reform of discriminatory legislations for adolescent girls and strengthening coordination mechanisms on violence against women and girls.
Drafting of the UN-EU Spotlights Initiative for Nigeria, which will focus on fighting violence against women and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
In Vietnam, UNODC supported the revision of the draft law on legal aid, focusing on strengthening access to justice for women and children.
In Myanmar, UNODC is preparing standard operating procedures for the police on responding to cases of sexual and gender-based violence, and on the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in the police force.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported the judicial reform process that resulted in the adoption of new criminal legislation, and trained over 50 criminal justice practitioners who will facilitate further training on the new legislation for law enforcement, prosecutorial and judicial bodies.
In Southern Africa, UNODC supported Lesotho in the review of its domestic violence bill and coordinated a consultative workshop in preparation for a legislative drafting workshop.
UNRWA does not generally work on legislation development but provides input as and when requested by host governments and partners.
As per its Strategic Framework 2018-21, UNV supports members states in developing legislation that promote volunteerism and volunteer action. Emphasis is put on mainstreaming gender into these policies and legislation.