United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

DAW, now part of UN Women, completed the first issue of Words to Action, a quarterly newsletter designed to disseminate information about measures undertaken to address violence against women by: intergovernmental bodies of the United Nations; expert bodies, including the human rights treaty bodies; entities of the United Nations system; and States at the regional or sub-regional level.DAW, now part of UN Women, produced a brochure on the database on violence against women and the related questionnaire, which was distributed to Member States during the sixty-third session of the General Assembly and is available online. DAW participated in the closing conference of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence, in Strasbourg, France, in June, and in the 13th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in California, United States of America, in September 2008. Hide

In May 2008, UN-INSTRAW, now part of UN Women, undertook an assessment of gender-based violence in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Noel in the Dominican Republic. The study revealed that there was very little attention to, or provision in post-disaster reconstruction efforts to address gender-based violence, particularly among residents of temporary shelters. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, advocated for the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) on sexual violence in conflict. As Chair of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, UNDP/Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) advocated with Security Council members for the adoption of Security Council resolution 1820 (2008). Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, contributed to the development of national strategies and plans on gender-based violence in Afghanistan, Liberia and Ecuador. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported the issuance of two publications to raise awareness about the linkages between violence against women and HIV, namely “The Multiple Faces of the Intersections Between HIV and Violence Against Women” and “Women, Violence and HIV&AIDS: Exploring Interfaces”. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, prepared reports of the Secretary-General to the sixty-third session of the General Assembly on intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (A/63/214), trafficking in women and girls (A/63/215), and eliminating rape and other forms of sexual violence in all their manifestations, including in conflict and related situations (A/63/216). Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, provided legislative reform support to the Alliance on the elimination of violence against women in Pakistan; and support to the Regional Rights Training Team and UNDP in advocating for the passage of sexual and gender-based violence bills in Fiji and Vanuatu. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, co-sponsored, together with the Permanent Missions of Canada and of Finland to the United Nations, the presentation of the book "Violence against Women: An International Perspective" which presents comparative results for nine of the countries which have implemented the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS). Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, through its gender-responsive budgeting programme in South East Europe, supported civil society, which led to increased regional and municipal budget allocations in 2008 for domestic violence shelters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and amendments to the domestic violence law to ensure co-financing for shelter operations. Hide

In February 2008, UN-INSTRAW, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), published the Gender and Security Reform Toolkit that aim to support gender mainstreaming; the participation of women in the security sector; the capacity-building of the security sector to respond to violence against women. The toolkit includes 12 tools and corresponding practice notes on gender and police reform, gender and border management, gender and justice reform, and gender training for security personnel, among other topics. The Gender and SSR Toolkit was launched during the fifty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Advocacy is being carried out among Member States and other stakeholders to encourage the use of the toolkit in ongoing security sector reform processes. Hide