United Nations Population Fund
Background
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.
UNFPA is working to further gender equality and women’s empowerment and to address the causes and consequences of violence against women and girls, especially the effects on women’s sexual and reproductive health.
Policy framework
UNFPA is guided by and promotes the principles of the groundbreaking Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (1994), which includes the commitment that advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence against women, and ensuring women’s ability to control their own fertility are cornerstones of population and development-related programmes.
Areas of Focus
It remains a strategic priority for UNFPA to prevent and respond to VAW in both development and humanitarian settings, as well as eliminating harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. UNFPA works to address VAW in 135 countries, 43 of these countries are affected by conflict and/or natural disaster, and invested in 2015 alone more than $ 93 million in its work to eliminate GBV and harmful practices in development and humanitarian settings in its six programme regions.
UNFPA’s work on GBV:
Advocacy/Policy: UNFPA works with national and international stakeholders on a concerted basis to address the inadequacies of national legislation and law enforcement on GBV and harmful practices and develop culturally sensitive and rights-based policies and plans on GBV prevention and response, with a strong focus on the health sector.
Capacity Development: In its work to prevent GBV and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage, UNFPA partners with a number of key stakeholder groups to address gender discriminatory social norms in society and seek to transform gender roles and promote more equitable relationships between men and women. UNFPA also develops the capacity of governments and civil society actors in GBV response, including service providers. UNFPA has a particularly important role to play in developing the capacity of health care providers in GBV response, with a main emphasis on sexual and reproductive health services.
Knowledge Management: UNFPA partners with national statistics offices and relevant government ministries to bolster national efforts to collect and manage GBV data. UNFPA also supports academic research and evidence gathering on GBV in its programme countries. In humanitarian contexts, the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) has been created to harmonize data collection on GBV. GBVIMS is an inter-agency partnership between UNFPA, the International Rescue Committee, UNHCR,UNICEF and WHO, under the auspices of the UNFPA co-lead GBV Area of Responsibility. Implemented in 25 humanitarian contexts, the GBVIMS is a first attempt to systematize management of GBV-related data across the humanitarian community.
Service Delivery: UNFPA is uniquely positioned to promote an integrated approach to the provision of sexual and reproductive health services and GBV prevention, protection and response in both development and humanitarian settings. UNFPA also works with partners to strengthen survivors’ access to quality police and justice services and social services, as well as reinforcing the coordination and governance of VAW services – including through the United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, a partnership between UNFPA, UN Women, WHO, UNDP and UNODC.
Resources
The Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, UNFPA, UN Women, WHO, UNDP and UNODC, 2015
http://www.unfpa.org/publications/essential-services-package-women-and-girls-subject-violence
Minimum Standards for Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies, UNFPA, 2015
http://www.unfpa.org/featured-publication/gbvie-standards
Demographic Perspectives on Female Genital Mutilation, UNFPA, 2015
http://www.unfpa.org/publications/demographic-perspectives-female-genital-mutilation
Girlhood, not Motherhood. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy, UNFPA, 2015
http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Girlhood_not_motherhood_final_web.pdf
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.
UNFPA works with key stakeholders to address inadquacies in national legislation in the vast majority of its 124 Country and Sub-Regional Offices. As much as 93 percent of UNFPA Country Offices are involved in the drafting of national legislation on VAW. In 2015, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) succeeded in assisting the governments and parliaments of Nigeria and Gambia on enacting specific national legislations on FGM/C. The “Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act” was adopted in Nigeria and an amendment was made to the “Women’s Act of 2010” in The Gambia.
In Jordan, through the support of the Governments of Norway, UN Women - in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF - implements the second phase of the joint project “Hemayati: Promoting Women and Girls’ Health and Well-being”. The project is also implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Ministry of Health (MoH) and partner NGOs including the Jordanian Women Union and Un Ponte Per (UPP). The project’s overall aim is to increase sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors’ access to comprehensive lifesaving protection services, including health, psychosocial and legal services. Building on a successful first phase (2013-2014), the second phase of the project is being implemented in five governorates of Jordan (Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq and Maan) benefiting from the expertise of all participating UN agencies and partners. The objective is to bring all the services necessary for women and girls who have experienced violence in a one-stop shop to ensure that they receive quality, survivor-centered support when they need it most.
UNHCR is a founding member of the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System and sits on its Steering Committee along with UNFPA, IRC, IMC and UNICEF. UNHCR is working to strengthen and harmonize data collection on SGBV by implementing the GBVIMS in selected operations. In 2015, UNHCR provided technical support in data collection and analysis to 22 countries.
In Azerbaijan, IOM is working with Azerbaijan Lawyers Confederation (ALC), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs (SCFWCA) to provide staff members of the Domestic Violence Support Centre with thorough knowledge, skills and competencies to better assist victims. IOM also sought to empower beneficiaries of the centre by providing direct support, including medical, legal and psychological assistance, temporary housing, when needed, access to childcare and social benefits, as well as skills-building and training in business development. Small grants were awarded to help the participating women initiate businesses of their own. The economic empowerment of women was a key aspect of this project, as helping individuals become economically self-sufficient is one of the most effective ways to address domestic violence, and improve self-esteem and self-confidence of victims. IOM also raised public awareness of the existing problems by producing and disseminating information materials on gender equality, the rights of women and men in families, domestic violence, as well as on services available at the Domestic Violence Support Centre.
UNFPA is uniquely positioned to promote an integrated approach to the provision of sexual and reproductive health services and GBV response in emergency settings, including through ensuring implementation of the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP), the set of actions required to respond to reproductive health needs at the onset of every humanitarian crisis. UNFPA is working to ensure that the MISP is systematically implemented in all new emergencies and as a minimum standard in ongoing emergency settings. Access to health services for rape survivors has been identified as a major gap in humanitarian response; there is a critical need to ensure that established protocols for the clinical management of rape are implemented. As co-lead of the GBV Area of Responsiblity, UNFPA is mandated to build the capacity of national authorities and health providers in the clinical management of rape and facilitate distribution of reproductive health kits, including medical supplies for post-rape treatment such as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to reduce HIV transmission. UNFPA also supports data collection and analysis on sexual violence incidents in emergency settings.
UN Women, in collaboration with UNFPA and the Turkish Government, held a Global Meeting on “Ending Violence against Women: Building on Progress to Accelerate Change” in December 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey, at which over 150 high-level representatives from over 40 Member States, the Council of Europe, civil society and United Nations entities attended. At the meeting, participants exchanged experiences and renewed their committment to ending violence against women, such as strengthening Government mechanisms for the prevention of and responses to VAW; implementing comprehensive national programmes and involving men and boys as part of the solution.
In 2015, UNFPA and UNDP Burkina Faso supported the creation of a universal form allowing police units and offices for the promotion of women’s rights on decentralized level to collect data on violence against women and girls. Data collection is on-going, again with the support of UNDP. Moreover, UNDP also supported the creation of a tool for data collection and analysis, allowing the monitoring of violence on a regional and national basis.