Measures

During the World Soccer Cup in South Africa, UNFPA released globally the video-game that uses football as the medium to address violence against women, to be found at http://www.breakawaygame.com. Country-level efforts, under the umbrella of the Secretary General’s campaign, are being initiated by UNFPA country offices in Africa and Latin America, being related to the five key outcomes of the campaign’s Framework for Action. Hide

UNFPA is leading the coordination efforts of the gender-based violence cluster to address GBV/VAW in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake. UNFPA Country Offices – in more than 32 countries – are operationalizing various components of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, under the four pillars of the Resolution. UNFPA’s partnership with UNICEF globally and in 17 country offices in co-chairing and implementing activities under the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme and Trust Fund on Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) and activities under the Trust Fund are ongoing. Hide

UNFPA organized the panel of the Commission on the Status of Women on “Women, Peace and Security”. Hide

In DRC,in order to strengthen assistance and support to victims of sexual violence, OHCHR has assembled a high-level panel of experts that will convene in the end of September 2010. The panel, led by the Deputy High Commissioner, will hold a series of hearings in various parts of the DRC with survivors of sexual violence as well as other actors. It will examine how victims perceive and evaluate institutional responses to the crimes committed against them. Ultimately, this project will provide a much needed advocacy tool not only for developing a reparations mechanism for all victims of sexual violence, but also for addressing the many weaknesses in the judicial system that affect prosecution of this crime in the DRC. Hide

The OHCHR/Human Rights and Transitional Justice Section in the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste worked on the Draft Laws on Reparations, through an OHCHR-funded consultant, tasked with producing the original draft laws, and the follow-up institution for the truth commissions, such as the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) and the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), advocating for the inclusion of victims of sexual violence. Hide

As Protection Cluster chair, the OHCHR promoted coordination on strategy and advocacy among actors working to address violence against women in Timor-Leste. Hide

OHCHR, along with the Office of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict, DPKO and UNDP, worked on the operationalization of the team of experts to be deployed to situations of particular concern with respect to sexual violence in armed conflict, in order to assist national authorities to strengthen the rule of law, as called for under Security Council Resolution 1888. At the headquarters level, UNDP and other UN entities have developed a joint programme document and secured seed funding from the UN Action Against Sexual Violence Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for an initial six month period to recruit and put in place the team of experts. Hide

In Panama, the OHCHR has participated in the Common Country Assessement (CCA)/UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) processes of Panama throughout 2010 and has an active role in the inter-agency group of gender and the SG UNITE Campaign. The OHCHR organized a human rights-based approach training in Costa Rica, highlighting, inter alia, issues related to women’s rights and violence against women. The OHCHR participated, with a resource person, in a human rights-based approach training, at the UN Staff College, for the UNCT in El Salvador, in connection with the preparation of CCA/UNDAF.Gender Advisors of OHCHR were deployed in four regional offices (Fiji, Lebanon, Panama and Senegal). In the Regional Office in Panama, for example, the role of the Gender Advisor, is to integrate gender analysis into the Office’s areas of work and to raise awareness about violence, against women. Hide

In El Salvador, officials of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Public Prosecutor Office and the Police participated in an expert seminar, organized by the OHCHR, on legal frameworks to protect women from violence, including femicide. Hide

The OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in strengthening partnerships with other human rights mechanisms, both special procedures and treaty bodies, particularly the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences and CEDAW held discussions on ways to strengthen cooperation in a number of areas of their work. In Panama, the OHCHR Regional Office led the preparation of the United Nations Country Team’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) submission, which includes a section on the situation of women in the country, including an alarming increase in cases of femicide. Hide