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Under the Spotlight Initiative join programmes for Mexico and Kyrgyzstan, UNODC promoted protection, support and services for victims and survivors of gender-based violence.
In Viet Nam, UNODC continued technical support to Domestic Violence Rapid Response Teams, composed of police officers, Women’s Union leaders and volunteers, providing immediate support and options to survivors, facilitating prosecution of perpetrators and supporting a zero tolerance culture towards gender-based violence in the community.
UNODC, through its Center of Excellence in Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimization and Justice in Mexico, continued to develop a statistical framework for the measurement of gender-related killing of women and girls. Together with UN Women, UNODC launched a Global Consultation on a Common Statistical Framework on Gender-Related Killings of Women and Girls (Femicide/Feminicide). This initiative responds to the 2019 request by the UN Statistical Commission to develop such a framework, based on the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes. National institutions, civil society organizations and academics all over the word were invited to participate in the consultation and submit their responses.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported the use of gender-disaggregated statistical forms of gender-related crimes to be included in the electronic crime registry.UNODC published the study "Abused and Neglected - A Gender Perspective on Aggravated Migrant Smuggling Offences and Response", which found that despite recurring cases where smuggled persons' life and safety is put at risk or where they are subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment there is little to no evidence of judicial responses to put an end to their impunity.
UNODC worked closely with the CECAW Committee to support the development of the General Recommendation no. 38 on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration (i.e. contributed significantly to consultations, organized the regional Expert Group Meeting for Europe, Central Asia and the Balkans, coordinated a separated joint ICAT submission).
Other activities included:
- Support to the 30th Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (May 2021), which adopted a resolution recognizing the "importance of eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation",
- Support towards organizing a Multi-stakeholder Hearing on implementation of the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons (GPA), on 13 July 2021, which discussed topics such as sexual exploitation of women and girls and the principle of non-punishment of victims of trafficking.
- UNODC also coordinated the preparation of a join ICAT submission to the GPA appraisal process, underlining the importance of integrating violence prevention measures aimed to tackle the social norms that promote the commodification of women and children and normalize violence against women and girls.
Protection and assistance for victims of trafficking and victims of aggravated smuggling are issues addressed in all training and capacity building work concerning trafficking in persons that UNODC undertakes. All UNODC responses, activities and publications on trafficking in persons are gender- and age-responsive, human-rights-based and victim-centred.
UNODC manages the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking, which financially supports grass-roots NGOs who provide direct and immediate assistance to victims of trafficking. 90% of projects support victims who are women or girls. Donations are collected from 31 States and 32 private companies. So far, USD 3.5 million have been distributed to 60 NGOs world-wide. Currently, a fourth round of applications is being evaluated by the Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section (HTMSS) with over 330 NGOs applying for grants between USD 5,000-60,000 each.
In Guatemala, as part of the Office’s support to National Civil Police under the Joint UN Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls subject to Violence, UNODC supported the attribution of additional functions to citizen service offices to help better support victims of gender-based violence.
UNODC produces a biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons covering 130-140 countries around the world. The report presents a global overview, regional analyses and detailed country profiles. It provides trends on the main indicators and explores links with other criminal and social factors. The report makes use of qualitative analysis resulting from the narrative of court cases on trafficking in persons collected by national authorities. As of February 2020, data on about 280,000 victims detected between 2003 and 2019 shows that approximately 50% of trafficking victims detected are women, while 20% are girls, reflecting the prevalence of female victims.
In Southern Africa, UNODC conducted a situational assessment of criminal justice process related to gender-based violence in the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states.
During the 28th session of the Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) from 20-24 May 2019, UNODC co-organised two side events of relevance: firstly, “The role of technology in facilitating and addressing sex trafficking,” held together with the Government of Belarus, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Equality Now; secondly, the “UNODC issue paper on inter linkages between trafficking in persons and marriage,” held together with the Government of Germany and the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI).
UNODC participated in a consultation meeting for a General Recommendation by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration in Geneva in December 2018. UNODC will be closely involved in the development of the General Recommendation, including a keynote statement during CEDAW’s 72nd session in Geneva in February 2019.
UNODC organized a number of side events in cooperation with relevant partners, including on essential services for women and girls subject to violence and on the importance of gender equality and human rights for victims of trafficking in persons, during the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 2018 and the Conference to the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime in October 2018.
UNODC, Gender-related killing of women and girls (2018). The study gives an overview of the scope of gender-related killing of women and girls within and outside the family sphere.
UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2018). The report shows that most of the victims detected across the world are females; mainly adult women, but also increasingly girls. Conflict situations create increased vulnerabilities for women and girls to become trafficking victims.
UNODC contributed to ICAT Issue Brief # 4: “The gender dimensions of human trafficking a gender issue brief providing recommendations on a gendered approach to prevention and response to trafficking that affects women and girls.