Mar 2012 - Feb 2013

UNDP is working to strengthen access to justice, including: in Guinea through training of magistrates and auxiliaries, CSOs and CBOs to establish credibility, professionalism, independence and efficiency of the justice system; in the Dominican Republic,through capacity development of the Justice System on monitoring and integration of citizen safety and security and through the inclusion of gender and GBV in the observatories under the auspices of the Nation’s Attorney General; in Sierra Leone through support to CSOs operating nationwide providing shelter, legal and prosecution assistance; in

UNDP, UN WOMEN and UNICEF have collaborated on a number of initiatives, including: development of “Integrated Responses to Gender-Based Violence in Serbia" to be implemented in 2013-2014 with funding from UN Trust Fund to end Violence against Women; the joint programme “Every Safe Home: Supporting Thailand towards Effective Implementation of Protection of Domestic Violence Victims” aimed at strengthening coordination, capacity-building and public awareness to end violence against women in public and private spaces; and integration of GBV in the security sector reform process of Guinea.

An ILO programme, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction along Transport Corridors in Southern Africa, reported that acceptance attitudes towards violence, through project interventions, such as education on gender equality, had significantly decreased. The project has a strong component on violence against women and focuses on building women’s economic resilience, business skills and related capacities.

In 2012, UNFPA responded to crises under the GBV cluster coordination mechanism with special focus on the health needs of women and girls in Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Georgia, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

In 2012, around 3,144 health facilities have integrated FGM/C in their reproductive health services, particularly in their antenatal and postnatal care, with the support of UNFPA. UNFPA has ongoing collaboration with the Auckland University of Technology to support health systems in Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Kiribati to better respond to survivors of violence, including through the development of protocols and multi-sectoral referral mechanisms, as well as training for doctors and nurses.

WHO clinical and policy guidelines on “Responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women” and the programming tool on “Addressing violence against women in the context of HIV” have been finalized in 2012 for publishing in 2013.

UNODC, in cooperation with UN Women, undertook a mission in Viet Nam to assess the situation women facing when dealing with the criminal justice system, including women subject to gender-based violence, with a view to identify recommendations and programming suggestions.

The establishment of Special Projects is a key development in the UNHCR protection response for survivors. They support multi-sectoral projects in 15 countries and cover a wide range of activities, including strengthening psychosocial response for urban refugees in India, provision of safe houses for IDPs in Haiti, and promotion of livelihoods for refugees in Ethiopia.

UNHCR launched a policy on Access to Justice for Survivors of SGBV, in 2012, aimed at strengthening provision of legal services for survivors. The policy included conducting advocacy and awareness-raising with high-level and local authorities, and capacity-building activities in both formal and informal justice fora.

During the reporting period, UNRWA detected more than 600 survivors and over 400 formal referrals to services were made. Those survivors who did not want to be further referred benefited from counselling by trained staff. UNRWA is continually extending support services into less well-served areas. In Gaza, UNRWA is working through 21 one-stop shops located in UNRWA health centres, while in West Bank, Family and Child Protection Committees have been established in 17 refugee camps with links to 11 health centres.