Jul 2007

As part of its regional efforts to strengthen governmental capacity to deal with trafficking in persons in West and Southern Africa, UNODC has provided legislative assistance, trained officials, and supported regional coordination. A UNODC sub-regional project on juvenile justice that covers Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt includes components that target girl victims of crime.

The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) missions assist governments in preparation for reporting under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. UNOGBIS assisted the Government of Guinea-Bissau with the preparation of, and advised on the content of, its initial report under the Convention.

DAW, now part of UN Women, convenes training activities and workshops on women’s human rights for government officials, judicial officers and representatives of civil society, at national and regional level. For example, DAW has convened judicial colloquia on the application of international human rights law at the domestic level in Santiago, Chile, 2005, Nassau, The Bahamas, 2004, Arusha, Tanzania, 2003, Bangkok, Thailand, 2002 and Vienna, Austria, 1999, which have also addressed the issue of violence against women.

In its programming to end violence against women, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, works to support and build the capacity of duty bearers to fulfil their responsibilities to promote and protect women’s human rights, including the right to be free from violence, with primary focus on the judiciary, law enforcement officials, parliamentarians, government ministries, legal practitioners, and departments of statistics.

UNDP supports and undertakes the development of training modules for policy makers, law enforcement agencies and communities aimed at addressing violence against women, and contributes to capacity development at national and local levels.

ECA supports Member States, at their request, and undertakes capacity-building activities for non-governmental organizations on women’s human rights. ECA supports training workshops on women’s human rights, with a focus also on violence against women, in collaboration with partners from governments, United Nations entities and civil society. Examples include a regional training workshop on women’s human rights in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in 2003; and a national training workshop on gender mainstreaming in Uganda, in 2004.

Successful collaboration between DPKO and civilian police advisers has resulted in the establishment of special units within police stations to deal with violence against women, provision of private spaces for women to report gender-based violence, and establishment of safe houses for women victims of violence. Drawing from the experience in Sierra Leone, family support units have been established in Liberia. UNIFEM also supports the creation of specialised institutions, such as police gender desks.

A regional training workshop conducted by DAW, now part of UN Women, in Bangkok, Thailand, 2006 on follow-up to concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, included violence against women as one of the three areas of focus. DAW also has a programme of support to countries emerging from conflict (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Haiti and Afghanistan) to enhance their capacity for implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action.

DPKO gender units support regional and national initiatives to respond to gender-based violence, for example by working with national machineries for the advancement of women as is the case in Haiti, Timor-Leste, Kosovo and Burundi. DPKO civilian police advisers in missions assist local police in crime prevention and investigation.

IOM conducts and supports research designed to guide and inform migration policy and practice, with a special focus on violence against women, not only in counter-trafficking studies, but also in labour migration and in emergency and post-conflict research.