United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

During the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in 2008, OSAGI, now part of UN Women, and UNFPA organized a panel discussion with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, which reviewed 15 years (1994-2009) of work of the mandate. OSAGI coordinated the performance of a play, “MIKA”, which highlighted the far-reaching impact of violence against women and which was also performed at United Nations Headquarters in December. Hide

In Venezuela, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported gender-responsive budgeting work that resulted in the earmarking of funds for shelters, in selected municipalities. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, continued to promote and disseminate the ‘Model Framework for Legislation on Violence against Women’, including through presentations at: UNICEF’s Expert Consultation on ‘Legislative Reform to Achieve Human Rights’, held in New York, in November 2008; the Third Conference for Members of Parliamentary Committees on the Status of Women and other Committees Dealing with Gender Equality, convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, in December 2008, on ‘A parliamentary response to violence against women’; the OSCE Experts’ Seminar on ‘Innovative Approaches to Combating Violence against Women’, held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in October 2008; and a round table discussion on domestic violence legislation in Tajikistan, held at the United Nations Office in Tajikistan in October 2008. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported the financing of domestic violence courts with senior African judges and, gender-responsive budgeting work that resulted in the earmarking of funds for gender-justice courts and women's prisons in Venezuela. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNIDO, UNICEF and UNDP, participates in the organization and support of the “International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security”, scheduled to take place in Monrovia, in Liberia, from 7 to 8 March 2009. OSAGI provided substantive contributions to the consultations organized by Member States and United Nations entities on the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo regarding the increase of sexual violence. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, identified experts and undertook research in preparation for an expert group meeting on legislation on harmful practices. Hide

In partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported: a police training on violence against women and human trafficking in Nigeria; a training on sexual and gender-based violence for all police recruits in Uganda; the establishment of gender coordinating desks within the Defense Forces in Sudan and Burundi; trainings of Gacaca judges in Rwanda dealing with sexual and gender-based violence cases; training of 100 Vietnamese National Assembly deputies on the implementation of the Family Violence Prevention Law. It also provided technical inputs to the African Union’s Committee of Inquiry in Allegations of Sexual Misconduct in Sudan. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, continued to work on developing a common set of indicators for monitoring the implementation of resolution 1325 at the international and national levels, and participated in consultations with key United Nations system entities on the development of indicators on gender-based and sexual violence. Hide

The results of the 2008 grant cycle were announced on 25 November 2008, at an event with the Secretary-General and UNIFEM’s (now part of UN Women) Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Nicole Kidman. A total of US$22 million in grants were approved, reflecting both multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder interventions. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, provided support to national surveys on gender-based violence in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda, as well as the second iteration of the Cambodian Gender Assessment, including in regard to violence against women. Hide