Prevention, Including Awareness Raising and Advocacy

UNODC country projects include components of awareness-raising and advocacy on violence against women. Hide

WHO has continued to provide technical support to Member States on request, including on health sector response, and primary prevention. Within the framework of violence prevention, WHO emphasizes the role of public health in the prevention and response to violence against women. WHO is actively advocating against the medicalization of female genital mutilation. Hide

IOM Colombia also started the implementation of a project to prevent and address gender-based violence in IDPs at and across the Colombian borders with Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador. Hide

FAO drafted a fact sheet on agriculture, food security and gender-based violence. This document analyzes the main causes of vulnerability of the rural population and proposes some actions to prevent and reduce gender-based violence, with special attention to the human rights of women and youth. Hide

UNWRA undertook awareness-raising on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including gender-based violence, for refugee community members through Women Programme Centres. UNRWA’s Gaza Field Office undertook a gender equality initiative on domestic violence, including identifying prevention and protection measures through fostering understanding and discussion, and creating a radio station for and by women. Hide

UNHCR supports qualitative participatory child-centred approaches to SGBV prevention and response, including workshops that allow children to share their experiences, coping strategies, and suggestions to prevent and respond to violence in their communities. Hide

UNESCO is working on a campaign to fight human trafficking in Africa. UNESCO’s flagship initiative of community multimedia centers (CMC) provides access to information and communication resources in the areas of women’s rights and development, for poor and marginalized women. UNESCO has over 130 CMCs in more than 25 countries. Hide

UNESCO is organizing awareness-raising activities on the elimination of all forms of violence against women, such as international conferences on the occasion of International Women’s Day (“Gender Equality – Make it your Business” in 2008) and other conferences on relevant topics. Hide

UNDP advocates for the elimination of violence against women and raises awareness by promoting multi-media national and local campaigns, including the “16 days of activism against gender violence” and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Hide

With UNDP’s support, policy debates and dialogues, backed by research, on women’s security and citizenship in Lebanon, Egypt, Syrian Arab Republic, Morocco, and Bahrain were held to promote women’s human rights and draw attention to violence against women. In Belarus, the findings of an in-depth gender analysis of the situation of commercial sex workers, which was carried out with the support of UNDP, helped to integrate issues, related to human rights of commercial sex workers, including prevention of violence against them, into an on-going project.In Samoa, a Human Rights Small Grants Scheme by UNDP has contributed greatly to increasing the knowledge of community men and women on human rights, especially prevention of domestic violence against women and children. Hide