Measures

UNHCR continues work through the newly established Stabilization and Recovery (STAREC) funding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR received support for its consolidated program in South Kivu and Ituri provinces in the east. The main activities will be developing standard sensitization tools, training of military personnel and National Police, bolstering the capacity of community networks and targeted groups to better prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, and facilitation of the establishment of community networks and mediation committees. Hide

UNHCR and the U.S.Center for Disease Control (CDC) continue to work together on a population based survey on the magnitude of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and the barriers to protection and other services among refugee populations. A feasibility mission was carried out in one refugee settlement and one urban site in Uganda. Hide

Members of UNHCR’s Executive Committee prepared a draft Conclusion on the rights and protection needs of refugees with disabilities, which included the need to prevent and respond to violence against women refugees with disabilities. Hide

UNHCR, UNICEF and UNFPA are currently implementing a Capacity Development Project on gender-based violence, funded by ECHO, which focuses on Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan. UNICEF focuses on Ivory Coast, CAR and Chad, and UNFPA focuses on Sudan, Occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Iraq. The objective is to train 63 capacity promoters, who will bolster the capacity of 360 international and national staff in the coordination of gender-based violence programming in these nine countries Hide

The UN Trust Fund is finalizing its Strategy for 2010-2015, entitled “Vision 2015”. Consultations have involved sister agencies and UNIFEM staff at global and field levels; the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE); and representatives of Member States. Furthermore, over 20 UN agencies and funds have to date participated in the UN Trust Fund’s governance through regional and global Programme Appraisal Committees.Since 2008, the UN Trust Fund has funded UN Country Team programming to end violence against women and girls. Currently, the UN Trust Fund supports eight UN Country Teams – in Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Ecuador, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Thailand, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – fostering a more coordinated and coherent UN system-wide action in this area. In some countries, synergies between UN agencies and NGO grantees of the UN Trust Fund are resulting in leveraged efforts for prevention and response. For example in Albania, UNDP is coordinating programming against domestic violence under the ONE UN pilot in the country and is working closely with a current UN Trust Fund grantee, “Refleksione”, to upscale local-level platforms for community coordination including referral and data collection systems.Under its portfolio of over 80 ongoing initiatives in 70 countries and territories, many UN Trust Fund grantees focus on prevention. For example, in a multi-country initiative implemented in Brazil, Chile, India and Rwanda, UN Trust Fund grantee, Instituto Promundo, seeks to systematically evaluate the most effective approaches to involving men and boys in the prevention of violence – the results and lessons learned from impact evaluation studies in the four countries will provide a significant contribution to the evidence-base for engaging young and adult men in ending violence against women and girls. UN Trust Fund grantee, Equal Access Nepal, won the One World Media Special Award 2010 for its radio programme Samajhdari (“Mutual understanding”) that links media and community mobilization to address the intersection between violence against women and HIV. The radio programme, produced by community radio reporters from vulnerable groups, reached potentially 90 percent of the Nepalese population. Seven UN Trust Fund grantees working on addressing the intersection of violence against women and HIV participated in a Poster Exhibition at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, bringing in their experience on the critical role of addressing violence as part of the HIV response from Botswana, India, Nepal, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and the Russian Federation.The UN Trust Fund translated its training curriculum on evidence-based programming, monitoring and evaluation into Spanish and French. The translated curriculums were piloted in two regional skills-building workshops, which were held in Nicaragua and Senegal, in June 2010. The training events were attended by 16 UN Trust Fund grantees throughout Central and South America and the Africa region. As a result of the training, grantees have revised their monitoring and evaluation systems for a stronger tracking of results, for building evidence base, and for demonstrating what works to end violence against women and girls. Hide

In June 2010, the International Labour Conference will hold the first round of discussions on a draft instrument on decent work for domestic workers, and in 2011 will discuss the standard(s) with a view to its adoption. A new standard on decent work for domestic workers will contribute to the effective abolition of child labour within domestic work and help to prevent and eliminate violence against domestic workers of any age. Hide

In every region, UNDP – with its national partners and in collaboration with UN Country Teams- continues to support the development and implementation of strategies and actions plans on domestic violence. As convener of the gender thematic window of the MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F), UNDP supports and partners in the implementation of a number of joint programs which address gender-based violence in an integrated manner, including in many cases through the development of national strategies. Joint programmes with an explicit focus on gender based-violence are supported by the MDG-F Trust Fund in Bangladesh, Colombia, Guatemala, Morocco, OPT, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.UNDP Kosovo supported the development and implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings (2008-2011). UNDP works with partners to ensure that background and contextual information on gender discrimination and gender-based violence is included in national plans and through them reflected in Common Country Assessments/United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (CCA/UNDAFs). Hide

With the support of UNDP Kosovo, five Legal Aid offices, became fully operational in Gjakove, Dragash, Ferizai, North Mitrovica, and Gracanica, providing legal aid services to residents. Hide

In Sierra Leone, UNDP provided grants to 6 civil society organisations to provide support services to SGBV victims, including legal aid, primarily in Bo and Makeni. The referral mechanism for SGBV cases has been enhanced across communities and several perpetrators have been convicted. Services provided by civil society organisations to victims of SGBV has also led to the conviction of several perpetrators. UNDP also supported legal aid clinics in the Kivus area, located in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in the conviction of several perpetrators of SGBV. UNDP is supporting the Family Support Units in the Police, both in Sierra Leone and DRC, by developing guidelines on SGBV case management and by ensuring the necessary equipment for their implementation. Hide

In Somaliland, Somalia, the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) operates in Hargeisa, as a ‘one-stop’ location, where victims of SGBV can receive medical care, counselling, free legal advice and representation. The victims are also given the opportunity to report the assault to the police. In Puntland, in Somalia, the Puntland Elders Network has been established in line with the State Conference for Traditional Leaders of Puntland Declaration, according to which the elders are committed, inter alia, to refer cases of rape to the formal justice system. Hide