Mar 2012 - Feb 2013

DPI continues to raise awareness globally on the UN’s efforts to address violence against women through various information dissemination mechanisms, including: articles published in the delegate; activities undertaken through the United Nations Information Centres across the globe (e.g. Azerbaijan, Ghana and Panama); the Messengers for Peace programme and Chelize Theron’s advocacy on the issue; publications (e.g. “The Future We Want"; "Involving the Forgotten: Widows and Global Sustainable Development," and "Delivering Justice"); the intra/internet (i.e.

OHCHR raised awareness amongst women human rights defenders In North Africa and the Middle East (Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen) on the UN framework on the protection of human rights defenders, including gender dimensions. OHCHR also organised a workshop in Beirut on the role of the UN in supporting the work of women human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The World Bank has approved two initiatives in 2012 to address prevention in urban contexts: the “Honduras Safer Municipalities” initiative focused on citizen security through integrated approaches (including through school-based GBV prevention programmes) and the “Urban Infrastructure Project (II) – Barrios de Verdad (Bolivia) upgrading 22 neighborhoods, benefitting 15,280 people through infrastructural improvements and the provision of technical assistance to municipalities in the planning, expansion and sustainability of urban service delivery.

UNDP engaged in a number of prevention, advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives throughout the year.

In 2012, through the advocacy efforts of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C, 1,775 new communities publically declared their intention to abandon FGM/C, with Guinea Bissau becoming the 15th country where communities have announced their commitment to abandon. Since the establishment of the joint programme (2008), nearly 10,000 communities in 15 countries, representing about 8 million people have renounced the practice.

UN-HABITAT, in collaboration with UNICEF and UN-Women, developed a global programme “Safe and Sustainable Cities for All”. During 2012, the programme was launched in eight pilot cities ─ Greater Beirut (Lebanon), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Metro Manila (Philippines), Marrakesh (Morocco), Nairobi (Kenya), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), San José (Costa Rica) and Tegucigalpa (Honduras).

UNHCR continued its prevention work, in a coordinated and multi-sectoral approach, and with the participation of multiple stakeholders, including communities. For example, SGBV committees, consisting of both men and women persons of concern, take the lead in conducting awareness-raising campaigns, both en masse and door-to-door, as well as discussions and debates, theater pieces, and caravans related to SGBV prevention themes.

UNICEF and UNMIL collaborated with Ministry of Gender and Development in Liberia to convene a retreat on Child rape in October 2012. Also in Liberia, UNFPA supported the Ministry of Gender and Development to collaborate with civil society groups to launch and build capacity of the GBV observatory to help raise awareness of the referral pathway and issues rlated to teenage pregnancy, early marriage and rape.

UNRWA supported efforts of awareness-raising in Lebanon and the West Bank, targeting also school children and local communities.

In October 2012, on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN WOMEN –co-hosted a high-level event in New York to address the issue of child marriage and called for renewed global action to end the practice.