Measures

UNHCR advocated for legal reforms related to gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence in 2012. For example, in Georgia a new law on domestic violence requires police to respond immediately to cases of domestic violence, and even if there is no apparent injury but violence has occurred, the police is required to issue a restrictive order. Hide

UNHCR launched a policy on Access to Justice for Survivors of SGBV, in 2012, aimed at strengthening provision of legal services for survivors. The policy included conducting advocacy and awareness-raising with high-level and local authorities, and capacity-building activities in both formal and informal justice fora. Hide

The establishment of Special Projects is a key development in the UNHCR protection response for survivors. They support multi-sectoral projects in 15 countries and cover a wide range of activities, including strengthening psychosocial response for urban refugees in India, provision of safe houses for IDPs in Haiti, and promotion of livelihoods for refugees in Ethiopia. Other examples include one-stop services to all survivors of SGBV in Jordan, regardless of their legal status; an agreement between the government and Lawyers without Borders to assist UNHCR and partners in facilitating legal services for refugees in Burundi; mobile courts in Uganda and Colombia to ensure that persons in areas lacking judicial infrastructure can have access to justice. Hide

UNHCR headquarters staff conducted missions to emergency operations in order to strengthen SGBV response in conflict zones in Niger, Burkina Faso and Jordan. Remote support was also provided to operations in Mali, Lebanon, Turkey and Syria. UNHCR also conducted reporting and monitoring on sexual violence in conflict as part of its activities under the United Nations Security Council resolutions 1960,1820 and 1888. UNHCR also liaises with UN Country Team members and Gender Working Groups, where applicable, to consolidate data on SGBV. Hide

UNHCR continued its prevention work, in a coordinated and multi-sectoral approach, and with the participation of multiple stakeholders, including communities. For example, SGBV committees, consisting of both men and women persons of concern, take the lead in conducting awareness-raising campaigns, both en masse and door-to-door, as well as discussions and debates, theater pieces, and caravans related to SGBV prevention themes. In 2012, UNHCR also began a two-year Special Project on the prevention of female genital mutilation (FGM), in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen, focusing on awareness-raising relating to FGM and its consequences, and will culminate in the production of a documentary film and health responses. Hide

Demand for UN Trust Fund support remained steady in 2012. The UN Trust Fund completed its 16th grant making cycle, which involved the review of 2,210 applications by 105 reviewers at the global and field level. The participation of 18 UN agencies in the extensive review process demonstrated the Fund’s ability to bring together different agencies to address violence against women, and ‘Deliver as One’ in action. The UN Trust Fund awarded US$ 8.4 million in new grants to 12 initiatives in 19 countries. The new grants are expected to reach nearly 2 million beneficiaries by 2015. By the end of 2012, the UN Trust Fund’s active portfolio included 95 programmes, covering 85 countries and territories, for a total value of over US$ 63.5 million.The UN Trust Fund continued its support of global learning initiatives through its Special Thematic Windows. The Special Window under the 16th grant-making focused on addressing violence against women in conflict, post-conflict and transitional settings. The UN Trust Fund awarded close to US$ 3.5 million to four new programmes working on this issue, including its first ever grants to Libya. Grantees will scale-up proven approaches to service delivery for gender-based violence in humanitarian contexts, address the urgent matter of accountability for gender-based crimes in these settings and work to ensure transitional justice mechanisms are designed in ways to better address the specific needs of survivors of violence.As part of the UN Trust Fund’s US$ 9.6 million Special Thematic Window addressing the intersection of HIV/AIDS and violence against women, grantees are working to access critical services for marginalized groups such as street-involved and homeless women, sex workers and women living with HIV/AIDS. In 2012, the UN Trust Fund produced a policy paper, Effective Approaches to Addressing the Intersection of Violence against women and HIV/AIDS, based on lessons learned from its programmes addressing the twin pandemics. The paper, presented at the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. in July, reinforced the message that investing in long-term interventions and challenging discrimination and harmful norms against women and girls is investing in a future with zero violence and zero HIV/AIDS.Given that exposure to violence at a young age has devastating and potentially life-long physical and mental health consequences, the 17th cycle Call for Proposals, launched in Iceland on 17th November 2012, includes a special focus area on addressing violence against adolescent and young girls. The special focus capitalizes on the first ever International Day of the Girl Child celebrated on the 10th October 2012 in order to seize the momentum and reinforce the commitment to respect, protect and realize the human rights of girls.The UN Trust Fund also continued its efforts to develop the capacities of grantees to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation and enhance its overall processes for capturing and disseminating knowledge. It held a five-day capacity building workshop in Mexico City that brought together 14 organizations from across the globe to ascertain how their evidence-informed approaches can be strengthened. Close monitoring and collaboration will continue with these partners throughout programme implementation.In June 2012, the President of the 66th Session of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, hosted a cultural event in the General Assembly Hall with the aim of boosting support for the UN Trust Fund and celebrating UN Women. Through this event the General Assembly reaffirmed its commitment to the cause of ending violence against women and the mandate of the UN Trust Fund to take action on behalf of the UN system. The increasing commitment and partnership was illustrated by first time donor contributions from countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and Arab States that followed this special event. Hide

An ILO programme, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction along Transport Corridors in Southern Africa, reported that acceptance attitudes towards violence, through project interventions, such as education on gender equality, had significantly decreased. The project has a strong component on violence against women and focuses on building women’s economic resilience, business skills and related capacities. Hide

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the ILO, in collaboration with the UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UN Women and the NGOs IBFAN-GIFA, launched the “Maternity Protection Resource Package. From Inspiration to Reality for All”. The package provides information, inspiration and tools to help organizations and individuals everywhere to strengthen and extend maternity protection to women in all types of economic activity. An ILO feature story on the issue of maternity-related discrimination at work was also published, available at: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/features/WCMS_193975/lang--en/index.htm Hide

UNDP supported services provision in various countries, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, through support to investigations and hearings of the military courts, leading to the imprisonment of the accused for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from 7 to 16 October 2012 in Mupoke (Walungu territory) by the FARDC elements against the civilian population; in DRC it also supported the establishment of specialized police units and provided training on the judicial treatment of cases relating to sexual violence; in Afghanistan, Legal Help centres were established in order to provide support to survivors for access to justice; in Colombia, several initiatives were organized to encourage victims of sexual violence in armed conflict to seel support. Hide

UNDP engaged in a number of prevention, advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives throughout the year. Efforts included: working with Ministry of Justice and women’s groups in Niamey, Niger to reach 1,500 young people through their youth groups; collaborating with CSOs and the Family Support Units in Sierra Leone to reach 8,022 school chidren and their teachers from 54 schools; awareness raising campaigns targeting community leaders, youth and teachers in primary schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo; initiatives using social mobilization techniques and internet platforms to reach broad audiences in Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Serbia, India and Cambodia; monitoring of social media platforms under the P4P programme in the Asia Pacific Region to draw practical lessons from the campaigns in New Delhi, Hanoi and Beijing; development of the first ever comprehensive knowledge space dedicated to the Goverhnment’s efforts on violence against women; and continued operation of the “Community Legal Empowerment for Women” clinics in Sri Lanka to improve legal awareness on sexual and gender based violence and rights related to marriage, divorce and maintenance. Hide