Measures

UNFPA, supported by AusAID, has carried out research on the sexual and reproductive health needs of women with a disability in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga, and carried out a study on prevalence and women’s health, in Samoa, in Republic of Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Nauru. It aslo supported data collection in the Central American region, in collaboration with INGO Ipas. The project Comprehensive security for women, with an emphasis on sexual violence: Campaign to combat impunity related to sexual violence is implemented in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and it proposes recommendations on data collection and indicators monitoring. Hide

UNFPA supported the UN Special Rapporteur on VAW (SRVAW) on the global research relating to the interpretation and implementation of the international law principle of the due diligence obligations of States in the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in general and to a life free of violence in particular. Hide

UNFPA and UNHCR are in the process of supporting the Ministry of Gender in Liberia to develop a GBV Information Management System. The GBV IMS will be modelled on the global GBV IMS which is already being piloted in several countries. The work will be supported by the Global IMS surge team and locally by the Liberia Institute for Geo- Statics and Information (LISGIS). The system aims to harmonise all existing data sources on GBV and strengthen systems for storage and dissemination. Hide

OHCHR supports the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, whose work during 2012 included: submission of a report on gender-related killings of women to the Human Rights Council in June 2012; submission of her report to the General Assembly on violence against women with disabilities; and official country missions to Italy, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Support was also provided to the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, whose work during 2012 included: submission of a report to the UN Human Rights Council on integrating a human rights-based approach into the prosecution of cases of human trafficking; her report to the General Assembly on the issue of trafficking in supply chains; country visits to the United Arab Emirates, Gabon and the Philippines; and an address to the UN Conference of the State Parties to the Convention on Transnational Organized Crime.OHCHR hosts the Working Group on Discrimination against women in law and in practice, which held four sessions and presented its first annual report at the 20th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2012. The Working Group conducted three country visits to Morocco, Moldova and Tunisia. OHCHR also submitted a study on violence against women and girls and disability to the same Human Rights Council session. Hide

OHCHR published a Guide on indicators for human rights which integrates indicators and methodological tools in relation to violence against women; and supported fact-finding missions to Mali and Commissions of Inquiry on Syria which, inter alia, look into violence against women including sexual violence. Hide

UNODC released the "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" that revealed an increase in the number of girl victims, who make up two thirds of all trafficked children. Girls constitute 15 to 20 per cent of the total number of all detected victims. The vast majority of trafficked persons are women, about 55 to 60 per cent of victims detected globally and the total proportion of women and girls together soars to about 75 per cent. Hide

Two research papers, from the WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence database, examine the risk and protective factors for intimate partner violence among young women (15-24 years old) and the association between intimate partner violence and induced abortion, respectively. Hide

WHO, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Medical Research Council in South Africa, is finalizing global and regional estimates of prevalence of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence, drawing upon up to date data from 90 countries. Estimates of the health impacts of violence against women are also being produced. Hide

Two WHO systematic reviews of prevalence and risk factors of violence against sex workers and its links to HIV were finalized and submitted for publication. A recommendation to address violence against women was integrated into WHO Guidelines for Sex Workers released in December 2012. Further information available at:http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/violence/en/index.html; http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/en/ Hide

WHO held consultations among researchers from different parts of the world on interventions research for addressing violence against women in health care settings in order to identify common tools, methodologies and ethical considerations for undertaking such research. As outcomes of the meeting, an international network of researchers conducting interventions was launched and a handbook of interventions research will also be developed. Hide