Oct 2010 - Feb 2011

In November 2010, the United Nations launched the "United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children" that has been established by General Assembly resolution on the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Fund will be administered by UNODC, as the designated Fund Manager.

UNRWA continues its collaboration with UNICEF in Jordan to address violence in schools against girls and boys and to establish mechanisms in the health centres to address child abuse. During 2010 UNRWA focused on building referral systems. In Syria, UNRWA has identified its mechanism of referral in Yarmouk and Deraa camps, and worked to enhance staff capacities for detection of gender-based violence victims. In West Bank, UNRWA has collaborated with various stakeholders to develop its referral system, based on a community participation approach, and to organise trainings for medical staff.

The OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in participating in the 2010 General Assembly, including convening a side event on reparations for women who have been subjected to violence.

The FAO regional project “Eastern Africa regional response to food insecurity, HIV and GBV” supports victims/survivors of gender-based violence to rebuild their livelihoods, improve their technical and practical knowledge in farming leading to increased self esteem and their reintegration in their communities and households (see http://www.disasterriskreduction.net).

WHO Guidelines for the health sector response to intimate partner and sexual violence are under development, with a final draft of the Guidelines being available at the end of 2011.

Advocacy and assistance by former UNIFEM now part of UN Women contributed to: improved policies and service delivery for women survivors of violence in Kazakhstan, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan; increased access to legal assistance in Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, FYR Macedonia, Colombia, Argentina and Thailand; and economic empowerment initiatives for women survivors of violence in Morocco and Georgia.

In Asia-Pacific, the work of the inter-agency initiative “Partners for Prevention” (P4P) was ongoing. Engagingmen.net (www.engagingmen.net) is a website where practitioners can share resources and learn about training opportunities. “Partners for Prevention” (P4P) organized several training sessions to support national social media campaigns in China, India, and Indonesia. Demand Media, a leading online media company and expert in developing social media platforms, provides pro bono support for the national campaigns.

OHCHR Regional Office for Europe provided a briefing (21 October) on the work of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women at an International Conference on Violence against Women in Central America which took place in London and was organized by the Central America Women's Network (CAWN).

UNICEF has provided support to awareness-raising and advocacy addressing violence against girls, including through the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Accelerate the Abandonment of FGM/C.

Awareness on gender-based violence and livelihoods was raised through a documentary produced by UNAIDS “Empowered over their fields, empowered over their lives, food security response to HIV and gender inequities” (http://vimeo.com/14921424 or http://www.fao.org/emergencies/current-focus/hiv-aids-and-emergencies/en/), a brochure http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/al315e/al315e00.pdf and several articles in FAO Dimitra newsletter and IRIN Media Centre (Kenya: growing self-esteem at farm schools (IRIN)) http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89179).