Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

Under the UNAIDS Action for Results: Outcomes Framework 2009-2011, UNFPA, UNDP, UN WOMEN, WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Men Engage Alliance (Sonke Gender Justice and the Athena Network), as well as the Interagency Working Group on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV – supported select pilot countries in addressing the linkages between GBV and HIV and AIDS in national strategic plans; building effective partnerships at the national level in order to integrate a comprehensive response to violence against women and girls into national AIDS strategies and plans; and strengthening the engagement of men and boys for promoting gender equality. A West Africa regional meeting was held in Senegal in September 2013 to develop capacities of stakeholders to address the above. Hide

UNAIDS Gender Assessment Tool for National HIV Responses, including gender-based violence was developed and implemented in 20 countries in 2013. ECLAC has continued its work on awareness-raising by providing training as requested by Member States: Hide

The Violence Against Children Survey part of the Together for Girls Initiative (including UNICEF, UN Women, UNFPA, UNAIDS and WHO as partners) has collected prevalence of and circumstances surrounding violence, targeting females and males aged 13-24, and has already been completed in Kenya, Haiti and Zimbambwe. Results were released in Zimbabwe and Kenya, in May and Novemer 2012, respectively. The results will be released in Haiti, in early 2013. Hide

UNAIDS produced two publications on transgender people and HIV which highlighted the extremely high prevalence of HIV amongst transgender persons (30 – 38% in Argentina, 10 – 42% in Asia), and the fact that violence against transgender men and women is a significant risk factor for them both in terms of contracting HIV as well as deterring them from accessing health and justice services. Hide

UNAIDS presented an external mid-term review of UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women Girls and Gender Equality to its Programme Coordinating Board in December 2012. The review found UNAIDS has contributed to scaled up country-level action on violence and HIV but further work is required to strengthen the evidence base. Hide

UNAIDS supported countries to collect data and report on the proportion of ever-married or partnered women aged 15-49 who experienced physical or sexual violence from a male intimate partner in the past 12 months. This was reported for the first time in the 2012 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/epidemiology/2012/gr2012/20121120_UNAIDS_Global_Report_2012_en.pdf Hide

The interagency initiative Together for Girls and UNAIDS co-hosted an event to commemorate World AIDS Day and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, focusing on the progress made toward addressing gender-based violence and the interface with HIV and on the leadership within the HIV and gender communities to raise awareness and increase access to prevention and care services. UNAIDS also supported Lesotho to use the Campaign on 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence to raise public awareness. UNAIDS supported Sri Lanka to integrate awreness-raising of HIV into its national advocacy and communication under the UNiTE campaign to end violence.The inter-agency intiitative Together for Girls brought greater visibility to empowering women and girls in the context of HIV at the International AIDS Society AIDS 2012 meeting in Washington DC, where the partnership was able to make the connection between child abuse, gender inequality and HIV. Hide

UNAIDS and DPKO collaborate in implementing the SRC 1983, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo. AIDS programmes are helping address sexual and gender-based violence, sensitise perpetrators, and promote integration of human rights standards in national legal and policy frameworks. http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2012/september/20120926hivandsecurity/ Hide

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

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