Oct 2010 - Feb 2011

A Second Expert Group Meeting on Measuring Violence against Women was organised by UNECE in Geneva (18-19 November 2010) to review the results of the testing of a survey module on violence against women developed by UNECE. The aim of the module is to enable countries to collect a minimum set of information to measure the prevalence of physical, sexual and intimate partner violence. Other regional commissions helped with preparations and participated in the meeting.

The OHCHR Country Office in Mexico has completed the first stage of validation of the indicators on violence against women, involving several stakeholders. The OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences to conduct three country visits, namely to Algeria (1-10 November), Zambia (6-11 December) and the United States (24 January-8 February 2011). The OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women in attending the civil society regional consultation for the Asia-Pacific region (January 2011).

In 2010, UNICEF in collaboration with Religious for Peace, published the guide “From Commitment to Action: What Religious Communities Can Do to Eliminate Violence against Children”, aimed at helping religious communities harness their spiritual, moral and social strengths to prevent, respond to and eliminate violence against children. This was followed up by a discussion, convened by Religious for Peace and UNICEF, in November on the role that religious communities can play in eliminating all forms of violence against children across the work.

In October 2010, UNICEF, the OHCHR and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, supported by the Government of Sweden, organized a panel discussion on the promotion of better data and research to inform child-sensitive and effective laws, policies and action, where UNICEF presented the results of its forthcoming report on Child Disciplinary Practices at Home.

UNFPA is a key member of the Inter-agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security and worked with Task Force Members to develop the global indicators under UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (and which was presented by the UN Secretary General to Security Council Member States in end-October 2010).

As the result of the concluded program “Preventing and Combating Trafficking of Minors and Young Women from Nigeria to Italy” Phase 2, UNICRI adapted a centralized database - the software system SIDDA 2000 of the Italian National Anti-mafia Bureau (DNA) on investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases, to the Nigerian legal framework and context. The new project aims at upgrading the software system SIDDA 2000 and expanding it to all 7 Zonal Offices..

UNICRI is participating in the Pilot/Pre-testing survey on violence against women, which is carried out within the work programme of European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). In December 2010, the FRA awarded the contract to the consortium of six partners, which was established for the purpose of this pilot study, led by the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI). UNICRI is responsible for consortium coordination in this study in six Member States – Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain.

Support provided by former UNIFEM now part of UN Women for data collection and research provided the basis for informing the development of effective public policies and advocacy initiatives in countries such as Afghanistan, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Serbia and Uganda.

In 2009, the World Bank launched the study “Risky Business for Poor Women Traders in the Great Lakes Region”, and the results of the study were captured in a report in January 2011. It identified challenges, including harassment and physical violence against women, and opportunities for cross-border trade between the Eastern Democratic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, and brought both national and regional technical and political recommendations to key stakeholders.

The UNESCO project on “Transforming the Mainstream: Addressing Structural Gender-related Vulnerabilities to HIV and AIDS”, initiated in January 2010, strengthened national and international capacities and skills to support gender-transformative strategies that help eliminate the structural gender inequalities that are driving the HIV pandemic. The project includes the dissemination of the main findings of the research conducted in the context of the UNESCO/Social Science Research Council (SSRC) publication entitled “The Fourth Wave: Violence, Gender, Culture & HIV in the 21st Century”.