United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
United Nations Headquarters. DC1 Building. Room 613. One United Nations Plaza. New York, NY 10017. USA
Background
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is mandated to assist Member States In their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development draws together the strands of peace, the rule of law, human rights, development and equality into a comprehensive and forward-looking framework. Reducing conflict, crime, violence, discrimination, and ensuring inclusion and good governance, are key elements of people’s well-being and essential for securing sustainable development. UNODC helps Member States to strengthen legislative, judicial and health systems to better safeguard their populations, especially the most vulnerable groups. Its work on preventing and addressing violence against women and promoting access to justice is part of its mandate to strengthen the rule of law through the prevention of crime and the promotion of effective, fair, humane and accountable criminal justice systems in line with the UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice.
Policy framework
UNODC’s policy framework for addressing violence against women is contained in the following documents: (i) General Assembly resolution “Crime prevention and criminal justice measures to eliminate violence against women” (52/86); (ii) General Assembly resolution 48/104 (adopting the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women); (iii) General Assembly resolution 65/228 (adopting the Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice;(iv) General Assembly resolution 65/229 (adopting United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)); (v) Economic and Social Council resolution “Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime” (2005/20), which is pertinent to girls; (vi) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; and General Assembly resolutions on taking action against gender-related killing of women and girls (A/Res/68/191 and A/Res/70/176).
Areas of Focus
UNODC works to prevent and address violence against women and human trafficking , as well as to develop policies in support of women victims of violence, and women in prisons. UNODC integrates gender dimensions and the question of violence against women into its efforts to build the capacity of criminal justice systems. UNODC also assists Member States in addressing specific vulnerabilities of women and children who fall into the hands of smugglers.
UNODC offers assistance in strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice system responses to violence against women. Such responses include more efficient laws and policies and enhanced capacity of criminal justice systems to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish related crimes, to provide access to justice and legal aid and to assist and protect victims and witnesses. UNODC provides legal and policy advice, training and capacity building to Member States upon request.
The Office supports and undertakes research related to trafficking in persons, including on the nature of trafficking and national and regional responses to trafficking. UNODC implements technical assistance projects, produces and disseminates public service announcements to counter trafficking in persons, and conducts outreach activities.
Further, UNODC manages the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, that enables the provision of protection, humanitarian and legal assistance to victims of this crime, in particular women and girls who have been sexually exploited. Assistance is provided through a careful selection of projects implemented by specialized, grassroots NGOs worldwide.
Resources
- Gender in the Criminal Justice System Assessment Tool (2010). The tool forms part of the Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit and it addresses inter alia the treatment of survivors of violence against women by the criminal justice system.
- Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Violence against Women (2014). This tool contains an implementation plan for criminal justice systems to prevent and respond to violence against women.
- Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women (2010).
- Training Curriculum on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women (2010).
- Handbook on Effective Prosecution Responses to Violence against Women and Girls (2014).
- Resource Book for Trainers on Effective Prosecution Responses to Violence against Women and Girls (2017).
- Toolkit on Strengthening the Medico-Legal Response to Sexual Violence (2017).
- Gender-Related killing of Women and Girls Brochure (2015).
- Essential services package for women and girls subject to violence (2015).
- A Practitioner's Toolkit on Women's Access to Justice Programming (2018).
- The Bangkok Rules-United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders with their Commentary (2015).
- Handbook on Women and Imprisonment (2014).
- Training curriculum on Women and Imprisonment Version 1.0 (2015).
- Information note for criminal justice practitioners on non-custodial measures for women offenders (2015).
- E-learning course on Alternatives to Imprisonment for Women Offenders.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported a female police mentoring programme focusing on crime and gender-based violence prevention.
In Viet Nam, UNODC trained 140 criminal justice officers and legal aid professionals on providing legal assistance for survivors of violence against women and girls.
IN Mexico, UNODC continued its training programme on violence against women for police officers and emergency call operators in 26 states, reaching 7,500 professionals.
In Peru, UNODC trained judges, prosecutors, police officers and victim advocates on effective investigations of VAWG with a victim-centred approach, and contributed to the establishment of 10 specialized prosecution offices on VAWG and 5 courts in Lima.
In Egypt, UNODC trained more than 300 criminal justice practitioners (police, prosecutors, judges and forensic doctors) and provided the Forensic Medicine Authority with medical equipment to facilitate receiving the ISO certificate that will allow the clinics to meet international standards.
In Namibia, UNODC organized 5 training-of-trainers workshops on GBV for criminal justice practitioners to facilitate sensitization and strengthen the multi-sectoral response to gender-based violence.
Under its Global Programmes on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, in 2018. UNODC delivered over 250 Technical Cooperation activities in 80 countries, training over 4,500 practitioners, government officials and civil society representatives.
UNODC, Gender-related killing of women and girls (2018). The study gives an overview of the scope of gender-related killing of women and girls within and outside the family sphere.
UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2018). The report shows that most of the victims detected across the world are females; mainly adult women, but also increasingly girls. Conflict situations create increased vulnerabilities for women and girls to become trafficking victims.
UNODC organized an Expert Group Meeting on interlinkages of trafficking in persons with marriage, including forced, child, temporary and sham marriages, bringing together international experts in the field for the development of a UNODC issue paper on these issues (to be published in mid 2019.
In Guatemala, UNODC supported the establishment of an inter-institutional coordination roundtable with the National Police and the Attorney-General’s Office for the investigation of cases of violence against women and assisted both institutions in the development of joint investigation plans and protocols on the subject.
In Uzbekistan, UNODC supported the Government in the development of a draft law on the prevention of domestic violence. In Egypt, UNODC is supporting the Government to develop fair and effective procedures to deal with cases of violence against women and girls, and thus to ensure a victim-centred approach as well as a fair and just prosecution of perpetrators.
In Myanmar, UNODC strengthened the capacity of the police to provide survivor-centered responses, effective investigation and inter-agency coordination among the criminal justice system to better respond to gender-based violence. The Office supported the Union Attorney General’s Office in the prosecution of cases involving violence against women and children through a training curriculum and accompanying materials piloted at two initial trainings of trainers.
In Nepal, UNODC undertook a study about women in the criminal justice system, with a focus on women criminal justice professionals, violence against women and women alleged offenders and prisoners.
In the State of Palestine, UNODC and other UN agencies launched a joint project to support the forensic science laboratory in analyzing evidence on sexual and gender-based violence cases, to sensitize criminal justice personnel and improve cooperation among the stakeholders involved in handling SGBV cases.
Half of the projects funded by the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in 2018 explicitly provided direct protection and assistance to victims trafficked in a situation of armed conflict or fleeing conflict identified within mass refugee and migration movements.
UNODC published a thematic paper on countering trafficking in persons, including the exploitation of women and girls, in conflict situations.
UNODC participated in a consultation meeting for a General Recommendation by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration in Geneva in December 2018. UNODC will be closely involved in the development of the General Recommendation, including a keynote statement during CEDAW’s 72nd session in Geneva in February 2019.
UNODC organized a number of side events in cooperation with relevant partners, including on essential services for women and girls subject to violence and on the importance of gender equality and human rights for victims of trafficking in persons, during the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 2018 and the Conference to the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime in October 2018.
UNODC promotes the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking. In the framework of the UNODC Education for Justice Initiative, the Office raised awareness on trafficking in persons through education, working closely with youth and academics to look into key concepts of trafficking and how this affects in particular women and girls, and how education can contribute to crime prevention and promotion of legality and justice. This includes dedicated modules and resources on gender and organized crime, including trafficking in persons. UNODC published an article on gender-responsive approaches in evaluation and programming to better address trafficking in persons (p. 22 ff.)
In Mexico, UNODC supported the development of a videogame called Chuka, which aims to teach children to recognize the most common types of violence against women and girls, and act assertively when facing different representations of such violence.