Measures

UNRWA has continued to regularly participate in the various UN taskforces, such as the UN Country Team Gender Taskforce, which aim to build national strategies to end violence against women in Lebanon, Syria and the Occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). In the latter, UNRWA has continued addressing gender-based violence through its participation in interventions and activities within the Millenium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) Gender equality and Women’s Empowerment Project (Joint agency project). Hide

In Lebanon, UNRWA conducted a training on detection, counselling, referral and follow up of gender-based violence and child survivors was conducted in December 2011 for 20 frontline staff members from Relief, Education, and Health sectors (Medical officers, midwives, Gynecologists/Obstetricians, head teachers, school counsellors, teacher counsellors, SWs, CDSSW/WP, CDSW/DP). An in-depth training will be conducted in March 2012 with the same participants. In December 2011, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNHCR concluded an 18-month project funded by ECHO in 9 countries (Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ivory Coast, CAR, Chad, Sudan, occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Iraq) on Capacity Development around coordination of gender-based violence prevention and response. This project hasenabled 170 Gender-based Violence “Capacity Promoters” from those 9 countries to complete two-week train the trainers workshops on context-specific roll-out of standard good practices for gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response in emergencies, which resulted in over 360 multi-sectoral actors having being trained to effectively address GBV in their contexts. 9 Standard Operating Procedures for GBV prevention and response were updated or developed and principles of good coordination were reinforced in the 9 settings through roll-out of the GBV Coordination Handbook. An online, multi-language Community of Practice was established to foster ongoing learning and information exchange.UNRWA developed data collection and tracking systems to monitor gender based violence in the communities in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan and Syria, and will also establish this system in Lebanon in 2012. The information gathered is allowing UNRWA staff to better understand the prevalence of gender based violence, its impact, consequences, trends and patterns. UNRWA developed a training manual on addressing survivors of gender based violence, which includes identifying, detecting, counselling and referring cases. 1316 UNRWA frontline staff representing the health, education, relief and social services departments in addition to other staff from Gaza, West Bank, Syria and Jordan were trained on this manual. Hide

UNHCR office in India and in cooperation with the government, in response to one of the recommendations from the Dialogues with refugee replaced paper refugee certificates with smart ID cards, resulting in enhanced protection and access to services. In refugee camps where UNHCR has SGBV programs, UNHCR and its partners ensured that 95% of known survivors received support services; in urban areas the support reached 87% of survivors. Hide

In 2011, according to most recent data available, UNHCR and partners received reports of 6,218 incidents of SGBV in refugee camps, and 4,868 incidents among urban refugees. Hide

In May 2011, UNHCR and partner staff from ten countries participated in a workshop on UNHCR’s Updated Strategy against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), which emphasizes a multi-sectoral approach to prevention, along with identification and response activities, starting the roll out of country-specific strategies to all operations. Hide

In June 2011, UNHCR published its “Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy”, which highlights six action areas: protecting children, persons with disabilities and LGBTI persons against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), addressing survival sex, engaging men and boys and providing safe access to domestic energy and natural resources. It also includes recommended actions in three institutional focus areas, in order to strengthen UNHCR’s capacity and expertise in addressing SGBV. This global strategy framework forms the basis for all UNHCR operations to develop five-year, country-specific SGBV strategies, embedded in their overall protection strategy. Hide

In Somalia, UNHCR is working with UNDP on several programmes to improve security and prevent sexual violence. Neighbourhood watch scheme were set up, and cooperation with the police was strengthened to prevent and respond to sexual violence in IDP camps. In Colombia, UNHCR established partnerships with government agencies and civil society organizations to address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) at national, regional and local levels, to ensure implementation of prevention and response strategies at all levels. Hide

In December 2011, UNHCR organized a ministerial meeting marking the 60th anniversary year of the Refugee Convention, during which a number of states made pledges related to the implementation of the Refugee and Statelessness Conventions, including on eliminating sexual and gender-based violence and gender discrimination in nationality legislation. Hide

ESCWA has implemented the project on "Enhancing Capacities to Eradicate Violence against Women (VAW) through Networking of Local Knowledge Communities” in coordination with all other United Nations Regional Commissions, the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and the former United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW) (now UN Women). This project addresses the need to strengthen the capacity of the countries to regularly and appropriately measure violence against women in respective regions. Effective policies and programmes to eradicate violence against women need to be planned on the basis of extensive knowledge. Hide

ESCWA reported that an e-learning course delivered by the Development Account Project entitled “Measurement of Violence against Women through Statistical Surveys” was conducted from 26 November to 10 December 2011. The e-learning course focused on the following objectives: 1) enhancing knowledge of the conceptual understanding of pervasiveness of violence against women (VAW), in addition to increasing awareness about the available sources and use and limitation of statistics on VAW; 2) enhancing understanding of the importance and use of the core indicators recommended by the Statistical Commission; 3) enhancing the understanding on how to use the UNECE module as part of a questionnaire developed for a dedicated survey; 4) being able to develop, adapt, translate and pre-test a questionnaire for a survey on VAW; 5) being able to develop an appropriate training curriculum for training of field staff and knowing how to use training materials as developed for the UNECE module; 6) enhancing knowledge on the role of stakeholders to ensure use of statistical data on VAW. The training targeted persons working in different ministries in the ESCWA region. Hide