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OHCHR commissions and conducts research and analysis on access to justice for victims of sexual violence, clarifies and draws attention to this issue, and develops materials to assist the development of policy and advocacy strategies. One of the mechanisms for so doing is through the development of legal analyses, guidelines and principles based on human rights, which address issues of critical importance for women. These will be developed in response to regional priorities but the aim is to ensure global resonance, with a focus on the current jurisprudence relating to the prosecution of rape, both under international humanitarian law and human rights law, and on the inter-linkages between access to justice and the protection of women’s economic, social and cultural rights, with the aim to influence legal standard-setting and subsequently policy development. In addition OHCHR conducts research and analysis of all forms of violence against women and girls. Hide

Awareness-raising activities, including on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the International Day for the Elimination of Racism and Racial Discrimination, addressing violence against women are a key feature of OHCHR strategic management plan. Hide

OHCHR field presences address violence against women at the national or regional levels, through technical assistance in law reform and monitoring of Government’s and other stakeholders’ compliance with their international commitments. Hide

In order to ensure gender mainstreaming, OHCHR works directly with a range of UN partners in the areas of development cooperation, humanitarian affairs, and peace and security to ensure that human rights principles, norms and standards relating to gender equality and women’s rights are integrated into their work, including as it relates to violence against women. OHCHR is contributing to various UN initiatives to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel with a view to placing such acts within the framework of violations of human rights, trying to push specifically for UN accountability in this area. Hide

OHCHR extends legal assistance to victims of violence and members of their families. In Côte d’Ivoire, OHCHR has initiated a series of high visibility activities on the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights of women as a tool to empower them in their efforts against gender-based violence. Hide

OHCHR continues to cooperate with various agencies such as UNICEF, UNIFEM and WHO on the development of particular tools, such as “Manual on Caring for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Conflict-Affected Areas” (with UNICEF) and “Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Researching, Documenting and Monitoring Sexual Violence in Emergencies”. Hide

OHCHR participates in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Sub-Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming in Humanitarian Assistance. OCHA is a co-chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) Task Force on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance. OCHA is facilitating the production of an IASC document on members’ policies in addressing gender-based violence in order to establish a coordinated programme built on the expertise and capacities of the IASC members. Hide

OHCHR has the responsibility to provide support and advice to country and thematic special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, including the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. In addition to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, over the past year the following special procedures have addressed issues related to violence against women in their reports, including from field missions, to human rights bodies:- The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons (trafficking for the purposes of forced labour, particularly in factories and domestic work; forced marriage; and/or for purposes of sexual exploitation including in conditions of slavery and debt bondage);- The Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution (violence against girls pertaining to abduction and rape practices; sale of girls forced to marry; domestic labour or sexual exploitation of girls; and domestic violence);- The Special Rapporteur on the right to education focused his annual report of 2006 on the girl child’s education (the socio-cultural context of gender discrimination under a patriarchal society, underpinning discriminatory behaviour, and domestic work by children as a major cause of exploitation and violence);- The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing has received an explicit mandate by the Commission on Human Rights to specifically study the issue of women, adequate housing and land. From 2002 to 2006 regional consultations were held with grass root women in Eastern Africa; Asia; Latin America and Caribbean; Central-Asia/Eastern Europe; and Euro-Mediterranean. Based on the regional consultations, the Special Rapporteur has regularly drawn the attention to linkages of lack of adequate housing with violence against women (domestic violence; impact on forced evictions accompanied by violence; and vulnerability of homeless women to violence);- The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (so-called “honor killings”; executions of women accused of adultery; and allegations of a pattern of killings affecting women or femicidio);- The Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons (sexual and gender-based violence against internally displaced women and girl-children); Hide

In February 2007, OHCHR formally joined the UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict. Hide