Measures

UNAIDS, together with UN Peacekeepers, distributed inflatable solar-powered lights to women and families, in Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and South Sudan, and raised the issue of sexual and gender-based violence against women and HIV. http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2012/november/20121127prshinealight/ Hide

In Guatemala, UNAIDS, with the government and civil society, jointly developed the National Action Framework with a focus on gender-based violence, which has been further incorporated into the operational plan of Guatemala’s National HIV Strategy. Hide

UNAIDS is supporting a number of actions to highlight the link between violence against women and HIV, as well as the role of the HIV response in overcoming violence against women. These include Country consultations led by the Women Won’t Wait campaign; and a high level panel during the CSW on the linkages between violence against women and HIV. Hide

During the reporting period, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) has conducted three cources of Inter-institutional Training Course on Combating Illicit Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives (IITC), which contributes to enhancing the capacity of law enforcement and legal practitioners to prevent armed violence, including against women. Participants came from across the Caribbean, as well as Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In addition, UNLIREC launched in New York the publication “Forces of Change: Profiles of Latin American and Caribbean Women in Combating Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms”, at a First Committee side event “Women Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Arms Control”, hosted by the Honorable Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Hide

The World Bank has approved two initiatives in 2012 to address prevention in urban contexts: the “Honduras Safer Municipalities” initiative focused on citizen security through integrated approaches (including through school-based GBV prevention programmes) and the “Urban Infrastructure Project (II) – Barrios de Verdad (Bolivia) upgrading 22 neighborhoods, benefitting 15,280 people through infrastructural improvements and the provision of technical assistance to municipalities in the planning, expansion and sustainability of urban service delivery. Hide

The World Bank continues to support various initiatives in post-conflict and emergency settings, including: the Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction project, through institutional strengthening, enhancement of women’s civi participation,and project coordination, monitoring and evaluation; the Knowledge Exchange Program on Women’s Access in Fragile Contexts, by developing tools to strengthen the operational competence and capacity of client country partners and Bank Staff to design interventions that address the needs of women in fragile and conflict-affected settings and support knowledge exchange among clients and practitioners; the Learning for Equality, Access and Peace Program: Conflict-Post-Conflict and Gender (Africa), through a number of inter-linked components, including a LOGiCA and Promundo project to increase operational knowledge on effective engagement of men and boys in SGBV post-conflict programming in sub-Saharan Africa; and the Protection from GBV in Cote d’Ivoire project improving commitment and capacity of local authorities and community members to prevent and respond to GBV, improving access to multi-sectoral services for victims and improving coordination and capacity of local organizations and key stakeholders. Hide

The World Bank through its Health Sector Support and Multi-Sectorial Aids Project in Burkina Faso has proposed additional financing to support the training of professionals from the mass media, such as journalists from the main daily and weekly journals, national and local radios and television on HIV infection and prevention, including on issues of gender violence. The additional funding will also support women’s organizations at all levels to strengthen their capacity to programme and implement activities focused on HIV prevention, negotiation capacity in sexual relationships and sexual violence including the problems related to female mutilation. In Solomon Islands and Kiribati, the Bank is supporting increased access to various servicices for women survivors of domestic violence and in Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo, support to strengthening of the health systems. Hide

UN Women manages the project Pacific Regional Facility Fund in Support of Organisations and Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women (EVAW), which is a regional ‘basket fund’ to support a small grants facility for Pacific Island organisations and actions to eliminate VAW. Hide

In Bolivia, under the umbrella of the UNiTE Campaign, the Interagency Gender Group, coordinated by UN Women, and the Ministry of Justice and multiple stakeholders worked together for the adoption of the Supreme Decree declaring 2012 year of No violence against Women. This decree will enable to reform legislation in order to include concepts such as femicide and sexual harassment as well as improving services for women victims of violence.UN Women provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)’ shelters’ technical committee to provide comments to the first national by-laws for the establishment of shelters.UN Women has supported the adoption of stronger legal frameworks and policies addressing violence against women (VAW) through ASEAN mechanisms, as well as by supporting national level efforts. In China, Indonesia and Thailand, UN Women and other UN agencies jointly assist the governments to establish multi-sectoral coordination systems to respond to and prevent VAW with the UN EVAW Trust Fund grant. For example, in a project of the UN Country Team in Thailand funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, UN Women, along with UNFPA, OHCHR, and UNDP, is working with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to achieve effective implementation of Thailand’s Domestic Violence Victims Act (DVVA) through pilot programmes, monitoring and evaluation, and public awareness activities.In El Salvador, UN Women offered technical support prior to the approval of the Law on Equality, Equity and Eradication of Discrimination against Women. Hide

UN Women prepared reports of the Secretary General to the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly on Violence against women migrant workers (A/66/212) and on the Girl-child (A/66/257); as well as a report of the Secretary General to the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Ending female genital mutilation (E/CN.6/2012/8). UNICEF provided technical inputs to both reports. Hide