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Throughout the period 2014 to 2016, ESCWA has delivered relevant advisory services on VAW legislation to three Member States. In June 2014, ESCWA provided support to the adoption of new legislation on violence against women in Egypt. ESCWA supported national efforts to enact legislation on VAW in Egypt by co-organizing a workshop to present the UN Model Law on Violence against Women and related international instruments. This workshop targeted senior officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior and members of the National Council for Women, as well as service providers and practitioners. The workshop allowed participants to share experiences and lessons learned. In December 2014, ESCWA provided advisory services to Tunisia to discuss the draft law to combat Violence against Women and Girls.
UN Women has been instrumental in ensuring that the Prevention against Domestic Violence Bill was adopted by the national Parliament in Kenya. This was a significant achievement, since Kenya previously did not have a specific law for prevention and response to domestic violence.
In Vietnam, UNODC supported the revision of the penal code and penal procedure code, promoting the incorporation of relevant international standards and norms, especially concerning violence against women. Similarly, With UN Women, UNODC conducted a gap analysis of Viet Nam's Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code providing research findings and key UN joint recommendations for strengthening effective responses to violence against women to the National Assembly.
In Myanmar, UNODC provided inputs to bring legislation related to violence against women and drug control into line with international standards and norms.
In Viet Nam in 2016, UN Women supports Legal Aid Department of Ministry of Justice to build a legal aid system sensitive to the needs of VAW survivors. This includes 1) technical assistance to legal drafters of the amended Legal Aid Law and to develop joint UN recommendations together with UNDP, UNICEF, UNODC, UNAIDS, highlighting gaps with international normative frameworks; and 2) support to develop a guideline for legal aid providers, reflecting the legislative changes of the criminal laws in 2015 and promoting gender-sensitive and survivor-centred response based on international standards. Materials developed through the support to Judicial Academy and UNODC's handbook for legal aid providers on domestic violence cases will be utilized for this purpose.
UNFPA is a member of IASC and in contexts where the IASC Cluster Approach has been activated, UNFPA and UNICEF are mandated to co-lead the GBV Area of Responsibility. As co-lead, UNFPA is accountable for working closely with national authorities, partners and communities, to ensure that minimum standards are in place to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies.
WFP attended 9 IASC meetings in 2015, in which WFP was playing a pivotal role as a member of the standing committee of the GenCap project & the co-chair of the IASC Gender Reference Group. Gender based violence is a key consideration in WFP's Policy on Humanitarian Protection (2012) that outlines the organisation's position on protection and provides a framework for implementation of its responsibilities in this regard. As part of its modus operandi, WFP seeks to implement food assistance programmes that take the interlinkages between hunger and gender-based violence into account. The objective is to ensure that programmes are safe and dignified, and to support an overall environment in which gender-based violence is reduced and the effects of violence on survivors are mitigated.
WFP has contributed to the development of the 2015 IASC "Guidelines for Integrating Gender Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action" and is currently a member of the IASC GBV Guidelines Global Reference Group, which is responsbile of the global roll out of the guidelines.
In Croatia, UNDP supported the Government with evidence and legal analysis to draft the law, which entered into force in June 2015, on the rights of victims of sexual violence during the conflict of the 1990s. “Law on Rights of Victims of Sexual Violence During the Armed Aggression on the Republic of Croatia During the Homeland War.” This is the first law in the region that provides civilian victims of sexual violence in armed conflict with a comprehensive set of reparation measures: medical and psychosocial rehabilitation, financial compensation, legal aid and symbolic acts of reparation. UNDP supports the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs in the implementation of mechanisms assessing the eligibility criteria for the status of survivors of sexual violence in armed conflict.
WHO conducts review and evidence-based advocacy with groups such as the Interparliamentary Union that works with parliamentarians on topics such as child, early and forced marriage and sexual reproductive health in order to get them more engaged in legislation related to this issue. WHO conducted a review of legislation on child, early and forced marriage in the Asia-Pacific Region and also collaborated with the parliament of Bangladesh to develop legislation on child, early and forced marriage in 2015.