Oct 2008 - Feb 2009

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, prepared the annual report of the Secretary-General (S/2008/622) to the Security Council in follow-up to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). OSAGI continued to chair the Inter-Agency Task Force on women, peace and security, which supports the full implementation of resolution 1325. The Office serviced the open debate of the Security Council on 29 October 2008 and organized side events in partnership with other United Nations entities, Member States and NGOs.

OCHA’s Policy Development and Studies Branch organized an experts meeting to review current research on, and identify gaps in relation to: 1) Sexual violence in armed conflict: understanding the motivations; and 2) The nature, scope and motivation for sexual violence against men and boys in conflict. Key outputs of the meeting were: 1) Identification of research priorities in order to design more effective strategies for preventing sexual violence in armed conflict; and 2) Identification and agreement on next steps to build on the current knowledge-base and establish communities of practice.

OCHA is the co-chair of the Executive Committees on Humanitarian Affairs and Peace and Security (ECHC/ECPS) UN and NGO Taskforce on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. It led the development of field-guidance for the implementation of a victim’s assistance programme in accordance with GA resolution 62/214. Since 2008, 25 OCHA advisors have been deployed through GenCap to 18 humanitarian emergencies.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, participates in the work of the task force responsible for preparation of the Secretary-General’s report on Security Council resolution 1820 (2008).

A first pilot training on conducting women’s safety audits for the Caribbean was held in Kingston, Jamaica, in mid-November 2008, with 30 participants from Jamaica, Grenada, St Lucia, and Haiti. A concept note by UNDP and UN-HABITAT, submitted to the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund for up-scaling this programme to cover other municipalities in Jamaica, has been accepted.

UNHCR supported the training of community and health services staff to improve their response to sexual violence and exploitation, to ensure safe access to services and to develop peer HIV prevention programmes for vulnerable groups.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported the financing of domestic violence courts with senior African judges and, gender-responsive budgeting work that resulted in the earmarking of funds for gender-justice courts and women's prisons in Venezuela.

In Turkey, more than 2 million soldiers were trained by UNFPA-supported initiatives on gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health. Also in Turkey, by the end of 2008, 250 police facilitators were trained on domestic violence prevention who, in turn, trained 40,000 of their peers.

In partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported: a police training on violence against women and human trafficking in Nigeria; a training on sexual and gender-based violence for all police recruits in Uganda; the establishment of gender coordinating desks within the Defense Forces in Sudan and Burundi; trainings of Gacaca judges in Rwanda dealing with sexual and gender-based violence cases; training of 100 Vietnamese National Assembly deputies on the implementation of the Family Violence Prevention Law.

In November 2008, ESCWA held the second regional workshop on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women for Judges and Parliamentarians, with a special focus on the role of judges and parliamentarians in preventing and responding to violence against women.