Capacity Building for UN

UNFPA and WHO jointly hosted a meeting on “Prenatal Sex Selection for Non-Health Reasons” in June 2009 in order to build a common understanding that will lead to the issuance of a joint UN inter-agency statement on the subject.

In West Africa, DPKO Gender Advisers from missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia (ONUCI, UNIOSIL and UNMIL) have attended a regional meeting to share best practices and lessons learnt for addressing SGBV.

WFP contributed to the development of the guidelines for the Secretary-General's Bulletin on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13).

At the global level, UNICEF is actively involved in efforts to develop policies aimed at the protection of women and girls from sexual abuse and exploitation by United Nations staff and related personnel.

UNHCR has assigned country-level focal points in each of its offices to carry out the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (ST/SGB/2003/13). The Office continues to promote and report on the implementation of the Bulletin and provides annual refresher sessions for staff on its Code of Conduct. UNHCR’s Code of Conduct includes a section on sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian workers.

In November 2004, the World Bank held a workshop on “The Development Implications of Gender-Based Violence” to inform staff about the causes and development impacts of gender-based violence; and identify actions that the World Bank can take to address gender-based violence in its work. The workshop recommended that the Bank include gender-based violence in its core work and that further evidence of the costs of gender-based violence be gathered in order to convince client governments to take action.

In 2007, UNFPA developed a draft corporate strategy on gender-based violence to identify priority areas of focus for investing its resources strategically at country, regional and global levels, based on its comparative advantages and experience. The draft strategy also lays out the organization’s capacity development initiatives, resources and partnerships for an effective approach to addressing gender-based violence.

UNHCR organizes training on SGBV to enable the organization to meet standards in prevention and response.UNHCR’s system for measuring progress in operations includes standards and indicators on SGBV, and offices are required to report on their performance in relation to meeting the standards. In addition, the UNHCR’s global strategic objectives and measurable targets include a requirement that all UNHCR operations will have in place standard operating procedures for SGBV prevention and response by the end of 2007.

OCHA staff is sensitized on the prevention of gender-based violence, and all partners and staff are informed about applicable codes of conduct. The Office implements confidential complaints mechanisms on gender-based violence, including sexual violence against women and is responsible for managing the sexual exploitation and abuse focal point network.

Several DPKO missions have supported, or implemented training activities for mission personnel and other stakeholders on gender-based violence against women, as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste.