Measures

BONUCA, in cooperation with UNIFEM, carried out sensitization efforts as part of the campaign “16 days of activism against gender violence”, in November/December 2007, including a radio interview with BONUCA’s Gender Affairs Officer; reports and interviews with women and men participants at the sensitization meetings broadcasted on radio; sensitisation meetings to raise awareness among military personnel and civil society; a sketch and a discussion on ways to reduce and eliminate gender-based violence in the Central African Republic; and banners, posters and T-shirts with sensitization messages. Hide

ECE’s work is undertaken by a Task Force that operates under the framework of the Conference of European Statisticians. The Task Force prepared an assessment of existing surveys and methodology on measuring violence. During 2006-2007, ECE completed the following: a comparative analysis of 25 National Surveys carried out by 17 Member countries10, which highlighted the differences and commonalities of the methodology used to measure violence against women and a common basis from where it would be possible to develop standard methodology was also identified; eight indicators were identified for sexual, physical and intimate partner violence, and harmful practices while other areas were identified for the development of new indicators, such as sexual harassment, killing of women by intimate partners, psychological and economic intimate partner violence. Hide

In November 2007, ECLAC published the regional report on violence against women. The Spanish version was launched in November 2007, under the title “!Ni una más! El derecho a vivir una vida libre de violencia en América Latina y el Caribe”. In December 2007, ECLAC published a report on the follow-up to Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals, including a chapter on violence against women. Hide

In July 2007, ESCAP held an expert group meeting for senior law-making officials and national machineries for women to review the concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and integration of the Convention in domestic law. The meeting focused, as one major issue, on strategies for policy reform in the area of violence against women, including on such issues as recognition of marital rape, mechanisms to enforce existing laws - particularly on domestic violence, and personal or religious law that condones violence against women.As part of ESCAP project to build the capacity of the Pacific Islands to adopt and implement the Stockholm Agenda for Action and the Yokohama Commitments to Combat Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth, a Regional Stakeholders’ Consultation and Planning Workshop for government officials and NGOs was held. The workshop was based on situational analysis studies on the commercial sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children in the Pacific and it also addressed violence and abuse of girls and adolescents. The meeting, on 19-21 November 2007 in Suva, Fiji, was co-organized with ECPAT International and Save the Children Fiji. Hide

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (S/2007/643) of 28 October 2007, prepared by OCHA, placed considerable focus on gender-based violence in conflict and highlighted ways for all actors to strengthen their actions. The report called on states to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators, including the commanders under whom they serve, if the commanders failed to take measures to prevent the violations, in the case of the armed forces and the police. The report also called on humanitarian actors to strengthen and better coordinate their work. Hide

OCHA is a founding member of the IASC Steering Committee for the Gender Standby Roster (GenCap) which deploys senior gender advisors to work in humanitarian situations. OCHA supported the GenCap Standby capacity to deploy nine senior gender advisers to the offices of Humanitarian Coordinators to ensure strengthened coordination on programmes to address gender-based violence in conflict and displacement. OCHA participated in inter-agency efforts to develop a standard gender-based violence incident reporting system. OCHA spearheaded efforts along with other members of UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict to pay special attention to gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as to the follow-up to the UN Action mission to Darfur, Sudan. Hide

The OCHA Emergency Relief Coordinator went on mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September 2007 and placed considerable attention on gender-based violence. He followed this up with reports to the Security Council and external media coverage. He hosted the meeting of the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and gender-based violence in December 2007. The meeting further directed the United Nations system to support the field operations (MONUC and the UNCT) to accelerate and strengthen their actions to prevent gender-based violence and respond to survivors. Collective efforts also resulted in an improved mandate for MONUC to address gender-based violence. Hide

In collaboration with leading experts at the London School of Tropical Medicine, UNAIDS together with WHO and the Global coalition on women and AIDS developed costing estimates for integrating programmes that address violence against women into national AIDS programmes. Interventions on violence against women were included in the 2007 UNAIDS “Financial Resources Required to Achieve Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support”.The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS has actively provided technical and financial support to regional coalitions of women leaders. The Regional Coalition of First Ladies and Women Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean Coalition of Women Leaders are working with networks of women living with HIV in putting forward action plans and advocacy campaigns to address gender-based violence. Hide

In August 2007, UNAIDS convened a technical consultation on social change communication aimed, among other things, at examining the role of social change communication in HIV prevention, with a specific focus on tackling the drivers of the epidemic. Hide

In the UNRISD research programme for 2005-2009, violence against women is being addressed under the Gender and Development Programme. The Programme has recently launched an edited volume series, co-published with Routledge, the second of which is Gendered Peace: Women’s Struggles for Post-War Justice and Reconciliation, 2008. Its particular focus is on “post-conflict” or “post-war” period. Hide