Training and Capacity Building

WFP, in collaboration with UNICEF and Save the Children/UK designed, developed and implemented a regional training initiative in Southern Africa in 2002/2003 on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse for almost 5,000 staff from the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, government, and commercial partners, including truck drivers involved in food distribution. The training materials were reviewed in 2004 to reflect lessons learned and feedbacks from country offices. In collaboration with Relief International, WFP implemented a food-supported training programme on fuel-efficient stove-making that aimed at tackling sexual and gender-based violence in North Darfur by reducing the need for, and the time women spend outside camps collecting firewood. Hide

UNHCR formulated Guidelines for the Protection of Refugee Women in 1991. In 2003, it released Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees, and Internally Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and Response, which was an update of its existing 1995 guidelines. The guidelines have been published in the six United Nations languages and in 13 other languages, and have been distributed to persons of concern, government counterparts, and implementing and operational partners. In addition, a Handbook on the Protection of Women and Girls was provisionally released in 2006. Hide

ILO’s Labour Standards Department, in cooperation with ILO’s field offices, provides technical advice on policy and legislation, and conducts training on sexual harassment legislation and policies for constituents. Recently work has been undertaken in this area in the Asian region, in particular Malaysia, China and Pakistan, as well as in the context of the annual training at the ILO training centre in Turin on international Labour standards and gender equality. ILO also implements technical cooperation projects on child labour, migration, trafficking and forced labour in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Hide

In 2001, ILO established a broad-based technical cooperation programme, the Special Action Programme to combat forced labour, to spearhead ILO activities against forced labour, including trafficking, irregular migration and bonded labour, aimed at addressing all aspects of forced labour. Under this programme, projects have been implemented in Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, and Nepal. Hide

UNDP supports and undertakes the development of training modules for policy makers, law enforcement agencies and communities aimed at addressing violence against women, and contributes to capacity development at national and local levels. Hide

Furthermore, UNICRI developed a multi-disciplinary training manual for all the stakeholders involved in preventing and tackling trafficking in minors in Thailand and three major training courses took place. In Ukraine, in 2005-06, UNICRI focused on training, especially for specialists working for the national hotline on trafficking dealing with children, and prevention/awareness-raising activities. Hide

UNICRI also developed training courses for immigration and border police in Costa Rica to strengthen their capacity to address cases of trafficking in children for sexual exploitation. As a follow-up to the programme of action against trafficking in minors for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, UNICRI is currently carrying out in Costa Rica specialized training for judges and prosecutors and hotline operators, in collaboration with Fundaciòn Paniamor. Hide

Throughout 2003-04, technical cooperation activities (e.g. training of law enforcement officials and NGO staff, creation of National Monitoring Center on Trafficking in Human Beings, pilot police cooperation activities, signature of a Memorandum of Understanding, between the Italian National Anti-mafia Bureau and the Nigerian Attorney General, to establish and improve cooperation on trafficking in persons and other related organized crimes) were implemented within the framework of the UNICRI Programme of Action against trafficking, targeting the trafficking of women from Nigeria into Italy for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Hide

In 2004 UNICRI prepared and tested a training manual to combat trafficking in human beings in peace operations, which targeted peace support operations’ personnel deployed in the Balkans. In 2006, within the framework of the project “Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) and Peace-Support Operations (PSOs): Pre-Deployment/ In-Service Training Programme for International Law-Enforcement Personnel”, UNICRI updated the training manual and carried out three training sessions, targeting, in particular, police officers deployed or to be deployed in peace-support missions through the South-East European region. The courses involved a total of 35 participants from 17 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and United Kingdom). Hide

The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) missions assist governments in preparation for reporting under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. UNOGBIS assisted the Government of Guinea-Bissau with the preparation of, and advised on the content of, its initial report under the Convention. Hide