Protection, Support and Services for Victims/Survivors

WHO’s guidelines for medico-legal care for victims of sexual violence have been pilot-tested in Jordan, Nicaragua and the Philippines. Hide

In Northern Uganda, WFP works in particular with formerly abducted girls, providing support for counselling and facilitating their reintegration in the community of origin. In Côte D’Ivoire, WFP supports young girls raped by military groups and children born out of rape. Hide

IOM implements a cross border project at Beitbridge, Zimbabwe and a project for internally displaced persons in Colombia to assist returnees and facilitate their protection, particularly women, by building capacities of local entities and liaising with existing health facilities to ensure access to needed health services. Hide

UNRWA supports women’s programme centres in all refugee communities, where awareness-raising, support sessions on gender-based violence, and often legal advice, are provided to women. Women’s programme centres have kindergartens, where possible abuse of children and women occurring in the home can be detected and counselling and advice are provided in such cases. Violence against women and children is also addressed through theatre and role playing. Hide

UNHCR operational activities include establishing and maintaining drop-in centres to facilitate access to health and psychosocial service providers, safe shelters, and legal justice for survivors. Hide

UNHCR collaborates with health partners, to ensure that survivors of violence have proper access to services, including access to post-exposure prophylaxis and emergency contraception. Such collaboration with UNFPA and other partners includes training on clinical management of rape survivors for health professionals. Hide

UNESCO created a digital library in Kazakhstan. There is also an online legal service which answers questions related to domestic violence, marriage and family, gender policy issues, and maternity. Hide

A technical cooperation project, established by ILO, to address trafficking in human beings covering Albania, Moldova and the Ukraine provides social, economic and psychological support to victims of trafficking. IOM has one global assistance project targeting all developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and over 120 counter-trafficking projects targeting over 100 countries in Africa, Asia, Central, Eastern and Western Europe, and Latin America. In 2005, IOM’s Working Group on Gender Issues at Headquarters supported and contributed funding for staffing a 24-hour hotline for victims of trafficking in South Africa. Hide

UNDP supports the provision of free legal service, counselling, mediation and rehabilitation, as well as micro-enterprise activities. Hide

The World Bank is executing pilot projects in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua to improve the health system’s ability to identify and appropriately refer cases of violence against women. These projects are designed to promote sustainable institutional change in the way that the health sector deals with violence against women. Hide