Prevention, Including Awareness Raising and Advocacy

DPI promoted the 45th session of the Commission on the Status of Women/15-year review of the Beijing Platform and International Women’s Day 2010, including the issue of violence against women. The Department conducted media outreach and produced information materials, including a poster and information kits for media, delegates and civil society. The Department facilitated a four-week online discussion on “Women and the Media”, one week of which focused on violence against women journalists. In all regions the Department’s network of UN Information Centres organized numerous activities and events to mark International Women’s Day, several of which focused on violence against women. The United Nations Information Office in Baku held a series of town hall meetings in remote villages and districts in Azerbaijan, which also included a session on early marriage and gender-based violence. In Sri Lanka, a one-day interactive forum on the theme "Discrimination against women: Our side of the story", organized by the United Nations Information Centre in Colombo, with the support of Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, generated recommendations for institutional measures to tackle gender discrimination and gender-based violence. The United Nations Information Centre in Yaounde organized a group discussion on violence against women journalists with media professionals in Cameroon.Two articles on gender-based violence were published in DPI’s quarterly Africa Renewal magazine: “Security reform key to protecting women” (January 2010), and “Even with peace Liberian women struggle” (April 2010). The Department’s UN Television produced programmes on the subject, including short features under the UN in Action series on women in prison in Afghanistan; women on the frontline in Liberia; and a programme entitled “Haiti: Violence Against Women.” In addition, UN Television produced two long-form reports for its half-hour magazine programme “21st Century”, aired by broadcasters in different regions of the world. These covered women in Liberia and the violence faced by female journalists in Iraq. Seven footage packages were prepared for broadcasting partners, through UN Television’s UNifeed team, which addressed violence against women, and presented United Nations activities to prevent it.In partnership with UNFPA and UNIFEM, DPI produced and broadcasted a series of radio programmes called “Beijing + 15” which explored the impact of the commitments made at the Beijing Women’s Conference on the lives of girls today. UN Radio staff travelled to Africa, Europe and Latin America to tell the stories of 15-year-old girls, and hear about their problems, including on the subject of violence. The series were adapted from English into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, Kiswahili and Portuguese, and were broadcasted by many UN Radio partners including, for example, Moldova National Radio. Hide

The Department of Public Information continued to provide communications support to the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, including through managing the campaign website (endviolence.un.org) and related online platforms. Several social media platforms managed by the Department, including the UN Twitter account – which had approached 100,000 followers – regularly featured content on violence against women. News and developments in the global campaign to end violence against women were also covered by the UN News Centres in all the official languages. In English and French alone, 55 stories on the subject were produced, covering issues including violence against women in times of conflict and activities of United Nations experts and intergovernmental bodies. The Department produced a total of 17 official press releases related to the issue in English and French as part of coverage of six intergovernmental meetings, and another six press conferences at United Nations Headquarters. Hide

ECLAC continued to participate in the regional inter-agency working group, responsible for the regional implementation of the Secretary General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. ECLAC contributed to the preparations of the Caribbean launching of the campaig Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, coordinated and supported the launch of the first regional campaign with UN sister agencies in Guatemala City (November 2009), in which ECLAC participated; advanced inter-agency consultations with multiple stakeholders in Africa and Asia; secured a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment for the Campaign related to the UN Trust Fund resource mobilization benchmark; and launched Phase II of the Say No - UNiTE campaign aiming for 100,000 actions by March 2010. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, participated in UNCT programmes and other inter-agency initiatives in many countries, including: the South Asia Anti-Trafficking Think Tank (formed in partnership with UNODC) and the Amal Coalition in Gaza. UNIFEM supported advocacy and survivor support networks in Algeria, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay, as well as men’s networks in Cameroon and Mozambique. UNIFEM awareness-raising support included: a workshop on CEDAW and gender-based violence in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (with the Open Society Institute); a South African sexual harassment campaign; and various events for the 16 Days of activism against gender violence campaign. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, produced an updated brochure on the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women in all official United Nations languages. Hide

UNFPA carried out advocacy activities that link up with the Secretary-General’s campaign, such as hosting an exhibition on “Congo Women” and “Women in the Frontline” in October 2009, at the UN Secretariat in New York, in which the Secretary-General’s Campaign featured; supported the launch of the Secretary-General’s network of men leaders to combat violence against women and a photo-exhibition on the theme of men and boys in this event; it was a key partner in the launch of the Secretary-General’s campaign in Latin America and Africa; and initiated country-level efforts on the campaign in Africa and Latin America. Hide

In November 2009, UNFPA hosted a consultation in Dakar, Senegal, on engaging men and boys in gender equality and preventing HIV, aimed at sharing promising practices among UNFPA staff and partners, while identifying ways of strengthening and institutionalizing this work, particularly at the policy level. Hide

WHO held the Fourth Milestones Meeting of the Global Campaign for Violence Prevention in September 2009, focusing on strengthening violence prevention. Hide

FAO has prepared a module to be included in the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) and Farmers Field Schools (FFS) Curriculum in order to include gender based violence prevention. This module is being tested in several FFS in Kenya and Uganda, and focuses on legal empowerment. This approach has been scaled up and is being used in the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda. Women farmers’ field schools have also been put in place with additional modules on GBV, reproductive health, rights and other issues.FAO supported the creation of community listeners clubs in Katanga (DRC), involving women and men of the community, including violence against women as a topic. The local community radios have aired several round tables and sketches on gender based violence.FAO’s Dimitra Project partner works on a programme entitled “Synergies of the women and men communicators against HIV-AIDS and sexual violence against women and girls in rural areas”, collaborating closely with rural community radios to raise awareness of women’s role and help women’s voices be heard in South Kivu. The first ever women’s radio, “Radio Bubusa”, has been created. Hide