Measures

UN-HABITAT also published the “Global Assessment on Women's safety.” This assessment was completed in collaboration with the Huairou Commission, Women in Cities International and Red Mujer y Habitat, with a review of tools and strategies promoting women’s safety at the global, regional, national and local levels. This has resulted in the creation of a database of close to 200 institutions, local authorities and grassroots initiatives working on women’s safety. Hide

On 3 June 2009, UN-HABITAT and UNIFEM signed a new Memorandum of Understanding regarding a global programme to tackle violence against women and girls in the world’s cities. This programme will focus on the development, testing and delivery of a new global model for safer cities, based on proven strategies and best practices that can be replicated in different cities around the world.UN-HABITAT, in partnership with the UNIFEM South Asia Sub-Regional Office and the NGO “Jagori”, has developed a framework for a Safer New Delhi, with women's safety being the entry point.The UN-HABITAT Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) was adopted by the Governing Council in April 2009, focusing on the rolling out of the women's safety audit tool to other cities and training of local governments in adopting this approach; developing guidelines and a capacity building program for local authorities on women's safety in public spaces. Hide

In collaboration with “Jagori“, UN-Habitat initiated a Youth and Safety Project in slums in New Delhi. The project is implemented in the relocated community of Madanpur Khadar and focuses on gender-based safety by involving young men and young women, in order to enhance security in the slum for the most vulnerable.A National Youth Crime and Violence Prevention Conference was held by UN Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, with providing safe spaces for young women and girls, as one of the thematic areas. Recommendations were made to local government to be proactive in providing these spaces, especially in disadvantaged communities. Hide

DPI worked to promote the Secretary-General's Campaign, focusing on raising awareness of violence against women globally; mobilizing public opinion to urge decision-makers to implement or change policies, in order to end violence against women; and generating awareness about the role of the United Nations in efforts to end violence against women. DPI’s network of UN Information Centres (UNICs) actively participated in promoting the Campaign at the national and regional levels, including through work with governments, students and civil society. UNICs organized media workshops, panel discussions, performances, photography and art exhibits, as well as film screenings. DPI also worked to further develop a visual identity for the campaign, as well as a campaign slogan and poster, a campaign ideas brochure, and a brochure setting out the campaign’s Framework for Action. The campaign website was updated on a regular basis in the six official UN languages.A segment on domestic violence, entitled Austria: Showing the Red Card, was completed for the “21st Century” television series, and new radio programmes on ending violence against women and promoting gender equality were produced. Hide

The International Women's Day in 2009 was used to highlight the campaign, with the theme of “Women and Men United to End Violence against Women and Girls.” DPI carried out promotional activities and media outreach to promote the day at UN Headquarters and around the world, including the dissemination of information materials and press conferences. DPI also facilitated the placement of op-eds by the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights for International Women's Day; these were published in major publications in all regions, particularly Europe, North America and Latin America. The Secretary-General’s message for International Women's Day was picked up in articles in the international press. Hide

UNECE participated in the "International Conference on a Joint Approach to Family Violence: legislation, indicators, enforcement" organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, European Commission, Soros Foundation, UNECE, World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Center for Research of Democratic Processes. UNECE provided a presentation on international initiatives to develop indicators on violence against women. Hide

UNECE conducted a workshop on measuring violence against women for users and producers of statistics in the Kyrgyz Republic. The workshop included participants from the national statistical system, crisis centres and gender machineries. Hide

Implementation of the project "Enhancing capacities to eradicate violence against women" was commenced, being coordinated by ECLAC in collaboration with the other four regional commissions, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women and the UN Statistics Division, as observers. A meeting was held in May, in Geneva, in order to coordinate the main activities of the project. The objective of the project is to strengthen national and regional capacity to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women, through enhanced statistical data and indicators on violence against women, as well as to create or reinforce knowledge-sharing networks at the regional and interregional levels. The project recognizes the importance of collaboration, participatory action and the sharing of good practices, including the need for Regional Commissions to promote active participation of national machineries for the advancement of women as well as national statistical institutions and civil society. Hide

ECLAC contributed to the proposal on indicators on violence against women which was put forward in the report of the Friends of the Chair to the United Nations Statistical Commission and adopted as an interim set of indicators at the Commission’s 40th session. Hide

Work continued on the Gender Observatory, coordinated by ECLAC in collaboration with INSTRAW, PAHO, UNDP, UNIFEM and UNFPA together with the technical assistance of the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation (AECID) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Hide