Prevention, Including Awareness Raising and Advocacy

DPI’s UN Radio produced a variety of programmes in the six UN official languages plus Kiswahili and Portuguese on the issue of violence against women (VAW), including features on gender selection of boys and a special programme on honour crimes in Jordan. UN Television covered the issue of violence against women in several of its features for the magazine programme 21st Century, including on a woman’s fight for justice in Bangladesh, and the fate of widows in India. DPI’s UNifeed disseminated 10 relevant news stories, while UN Webcast made meetings and 23 events on the issue at UN Headquarters available to audiences online.DPI’s UN News Centre produced 61 news stories highlighting the issue, with stories available online, through social media and by email to 40,000 subscribers. A special package was produced focusing on the UN's efforts to end violence against women in Haiti. The Department produced a total of 29 official press releases (in English and French) on the issue.DPI raised awareness on VAW throughout the UN Secretariat via several stories published on iSeek, the Organization’s intranet, and deleGATE, the site aimed at diplomatic missions. DPI’s Group Programmes unit organized nine in-house briefings at UN Headquarters on the issue for 274 students. Hide

In Haiti, the eight regional offices of the Human Rights Section of MINUSTAH conducted several sensitizations activities on international human rights instruments for the protection and promotion of the rights of women, the Haitian legal procedures for the prosecution of sexual crimes and the protection of women’s rights in the event of natural disasters. Hide

The ECA organized a sub-regional workshop in Morocco in March 2011 on the CEDAW Convention which focused on the removal of reservations and the ratification of the CEDAW Optional Protocol in North Africa. Violence against women was one of the key issues deliberated upon. Hide

In October 2011, the ECA organized jointly with Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW) a sub-regional advocacy workshop in Zambia on violence against young women and girls in centers of learning. The workshop identified issues affecting girls’ performance and retention in the context of VAW and made recommendations to improve policy and practice. Hide

In commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ESACP reported that an awareness raising exhibit was displayed in the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, including winning T-shirts from the UNiTE campaign T-Shirt Design Competition. Hide

At the country level, UNAIDS has provided catalytic funding through its Joint UN Teams to twenty-three (23) countries for actions to reduce gender‐based violence through HIV responses, in particular highlighting the critical contribution of violence to HIV transmission, as well as its consequences in terms of non-utilization of services. UNAIDS also supported advocacy and capacity development on addressing violence against women in eight countries, through the civil society coalition Women Won’t Wait and resulting advocacy messages used for the High-Level Meeting on AIDS. Hide

During the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, UN Volunteers carried out a series of initiatives in Bangladesh refugee camps, a reproductive health assistance was set up and worked with medical teams from partner organizations; in Cambodia, more than 28 UN Volunteers have been trained to be able to carry out activities during the campaign; in Sudan, UNV collaborated with UNFPA, civil society organizations, universities, governments and volunteers and joined efforts to fight gender-based violence (GBV). Hide

Through support for local organisations in India and Pakistan, UNV engaged boys and men to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) through a network of local and UN Volunteers. The project “Hamqadam – male involvement initiative to address GBV” initiated and sustained behavioural and attitudinal change in boys and men and sensitized them to violence against children and women. Hide

The UNV-run Takalm project in Jordan supported women’s empowerment and tackled gender based violence through a community radio shows in the Zarqa region advocating for women’s legal rights. Specific concerns were identified by a women’s community development committee aiming to foster civic engagement in local development while drawing the attention of decision makers to the challenges faced by marginalized groups including women. Hide

The Interagency Gender Group (IGG) organized and facilitated a workshop on “masculinities and men responsibilities towards ending violence against women” for 70 participants who were UN volunteers from universities and civil society currently collaborating with the UNV office. Hide