Measures to Address Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations

In Lebanon, UNRWA participates in the inter-agency national Sexual Gender Based Violence Taskforce (SGBVTF) and Child Protection in Emergencies Working Group aimed at providing services to Palestine refugees fleeing Syria to Lebanon through coordinated camp-based mapping of GBV and child protection services, capacity building, and case management. In Syria, UNRWA is part of the UN protection working group and participated in the GBV national matrix in addition to mapping available services for survivors, with both processes intended to support drafting the GBV responses plan at the country level. Hide

In June 2013, UNHCR issued the policy paper “Understanding Community-Based Protection” on key lessons from the delivery of community-based protection. It continued to roll-out its global strategy “Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy” and assisted individual country operations to develop country-level strategies in 2013. In this regard, three regional workshops were held in Tunis, Amman and Dakar on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in 2013, aimed at strengthening the capacity of UNHCR and partner staff in the field. Hide

UNHCR carried several awareness-raising activities which culminated in the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, which focused on the theme Safety in School: Teachers and Students Unite to Make Schools SGBV-Free. Hide

Four UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officers who are dedicated to SGBV prevention and response took up their posts in Dakar, Nairobi, Beirut and Panama with the responsibility to provide technical support to the development and implementation of country-level multi-sectorial strategies on SGBV prevention and response. As a result, an additional seventeen countries have begun developing and implementing SGBV strategies. Hide

UNHCR conducted missions to emergency operations in order to strengthen SGBV response in several countries including Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo-as part of an interagency mission with UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Action- and Jordan in order to improve collection and analysis of SGBV data. UNHCR also conducted an assessment on SGBV in the Syria crisis-affected countries in 2013 such as Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq with a view to producing an action plan to respond to the needs identified. Hide

A regional Expert Group Meeting on “Identification of legislative gaps for the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in the Arab Region”, was held by ESCWA, in partnership with ECA and IPU. Hide

ESCWA’s Centre for Women (ECW) launched its first edition of Situation Analysis on “Female refugees from Syria, in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon” highlighting the vulnerability of women and girls to all forms of VAW in conflict settings. Hide

UNDP, in collaboration with N-Peace, organized training on Building Advocacy Skills for Effective Implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) on UN SCR 1325 and 1820. In Egypt, UNDP supported the Cairo Regional Center for Training on Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping Center (CCCPA) in mainstreaming gender across its various training modules. It also provided training for police officers in Ivory Coast; supported investigation on alleged mass rapes and sensitized population in DRC. Hide

ECLAC provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Woman of Paraguay on the elaboration of their National Action Plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, which was the second one in the region to be published. A pilot course for the regional training curriculum on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 was carried out highlighting the need to involve women in conflict resolution processes and peacekeeping. Hide

UNAIDS and Department of Peace Keeping Operations are developing a toolkit related to “Shining the light on ending violence against women” in (post-) conflict settings. Hide