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During the reporting period, UNODC provided training and capacity building on crime prevention and criminal justice responses to gender-based violence against women for criminal justice professional (police, prosecutors, judges, legal aid and other service providers) in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, Mexico, Nepal, Saudi, Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, State of Palestine and Viet Nam.
For example, in Viet Nam, UNODC trained 166 criminal justice officers in providing protective and justice services for victims of violence against women and girls. The UNODC Handbook on effective adjudication of violence against women was adopted by the Supreme Court.UNODC also provided training, with a focus on the gender aspect of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrant, under its GLO.ACT and TRACK4TIP programmes. This included specialized workshops for judges in Kyrgyzstan, the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency, the GBV police unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Community Justice Homes supporting Dominican-Haitian women, as well as trainings for Venezuelan women to promote early identification of TIP and safe case referral.
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.
UNODC contributed to the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign, by providing thematic briefs for the Orange Day/ UNiTE Campaign Action Circular on the core topics of the Secretary-General’s Political Engagement Strategy on GBV and COVID-19 (Prevent, Respond, Collect).
UNODC is an active member of the United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict and contributed to enhanced interagency coordination by actively participating in its Core Groups on Prevention and Advocacy and by co-leading the Core Group on the nexus between sexual violence in conflict and terrorism / violent extremism, in partnership with the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. UNODC participated in a policy dialogue on conflict-related sexual violence crimes associated with slavery and trafficking, organized by the Team of Experts.
UNODC coordinates the Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), which ensures policy coherence among its membership in their responses to human trafficking.
UNODC also participates in the UN Joint Programme on Essential Services and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative.
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 is the permanent coordinator and secretariat of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), established by the General Assembly. The principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women underpin the work of ICAT. For instance, in 2019, ICAT published a brief on the gender dimensions of human trafficking and UNODC coordinated the development of the ICAT submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to support the development of a general recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration.
UNODC is part of the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) and has implemented projects funded by the UN Action Multi-Partner Trust Fund.
In 2019, UNODC trained over 3,500 criminal justice practitioners, governmental officials and civil society representatives under the Global Programme against Trafficking in Persons and provided 25 countries with technical assistance at the national level.
In Lesotho and South Africa, UNODC enhanced police responses to gender-based violence by conducting two specialisation workshops for 70 police officers on the investigation and case management of cyber- and gender-based violence cases.
In Myanmar, UNODC, in collaboration with UNFPA, UN Women and UNICEF, trained 1,300 officers from the national police force on responding to incidents of gender-based violence. Additionally, UNODC implemented a two-stage training programme in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General, firstly with a training-of-trainers for senior prosecutors and later with regional roll-out trainings led by the Office of the Attorney General.
In Namibia, UNODC trained 103 participants (76 female and 27 male) in national training-of-trainers’ workshops on court support, preparation and trial advocacy in cases of gender-based violence.
In Viet Nam, UNODC delivered training on best practices in the provision of legal assistance to survivors of violence against women and girls for 265 police officers, prosecutors and legal aid professionals.
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.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported a female police mentoring programme focusing on crime and gender-based violence prevention.
In Viet Nam, UNODC trained 140 criminal justice officers and legal aid professionals on providing legal assistance for survivors of violence against women and girls.
IN Mexico, UNODC continued its training programme on violence against women for police officers and emergency call operators in 26 states, reaching 7,500 professionals.
In Peru, UNODC trained judges, prosecutors, police officers and victim advocates on effective investigations of VAWG with a victim-centred approach, and contributed to the establishment of 10 specialized prosecution offices on VAWG and 5 courts in Lima.
In Egypt, UNODC trained more than 300 criminal justice practitioners (police, prosecutors, judges and forensic doctors) and provided the Forensic Medicine Authority with medical equipment to facilitate receiving the ISO certificate that will allow the clinics to meet international standards.
In Namibia, UNODC organized 5 training-of-trainers workshops on GBV for criminal justice practitioners to facilitate sensitization and strengthen the multi-sectoral response to gender-based violence.
Under its Global Programmes on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, in 2018. UNODC delivered over 250 Technical Cooperation activities in 80 countries, training over 4,500 practitioners, government officials and civil society representatives.
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.