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ESCWA, and its partners UN Women and the League of Arab States, organized a regional workshop to support National Women Machineries in the Arab region in their efforts to address violence against women. Discussion topics included the role of international mechanisms in providing increased protection to survivors of violence, the importance of gender-sensitive national legislation, and the various services that contribute to addressing violence against women. The workshop sessions also covered the regional frameworks that address violence against women, as well as the needed national data to deal with this issue, and the importance of establishing partnerships with national stakeholders to address violence against women.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, held a meeting to discuss new guidelines on costing violence against women in the Arab region. Experts held in-depth discussions on how to enhance the forthcoming “Step by Step Guide” and identify tools on estimating the cost of violence in the Arab region, especially intimate partner/marital violence.
ESCWA drafted a series of briefs to better inform policy in member States, including: “Women in the Judiciary: A Stepping Stone towards Gender Justice,” which examines the presence of women in the judiciary in the Arab States and explores implications for the achievement of gender justice, including on the capacity of judicial institutions to deal with cases related gender-based violence; and “The Due Diligence Standard, Violence against Women and Protection Orders in the Arab Region,” which discusses the need for protection orders in the Arab region through the concept of the due diligence standard and its applicability to violence against women in both the public and private spheres.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, supported the Lebanese Ministry of State for Women’s Affairs to develop a national strategy on violence against women. This consultative national strategy, included interviews and focus group discussions with line ministries; several national and sub national validation workshops; and a high-level meeting to discuss the draft strategy.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, UN Women, OHCHR and UNDP in Lebanon, is providing technical support to the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) to develop a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, supported the Lebanese Ministry of State for Women’s Affairs to develop a project on costing violence against women. This included developing a project proposal, conducting field work, holding national consultations, developing an operational model for Lebanon, holding a second national consultation, developing a national survey to measure the prevalence of violence against women, analysing the government budget, and developing a national survey for services.
ESCWA conducted three field visits to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a national consultation to discuss elements of an operational model on estimating the cost of marital violence. This involved engaging with the National Family Affairs Council, in addition to other stakeholders such as governmental entities and civil society members providing services for survivors of family violence.
ESCWA conducted a field mission to Iraq to prepare for the implementation of a project on costing violence against women in Iraq.
ESCWA participated in a consultation with the Egyptian National Council for Women and the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) to discuss practical steps towards carrying out a national study on violence against women with disabilities. This meeting was the second such consultation facilitated by ESCWA to determine the parameters and methodology of the study.
ESCWA facilitated a Regional Workshop on the Measurement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Violence against Women and Time Use Statistics Indicators with senior gender experts/statisticians from national statistical offices, ministries of gender equality and women’s affairs. The workshop addressed selected SDG indicators, focusing on the following gender concerns: physical, sexual, psychological violence against women perpetrated by an intimate partner and sexual violence against women perpetrated by a person other than an intimate partner.
ESCWA supported the Ministry of Women, Family, Childhood and Elderly in Tunisia to better understand the availability and quality of data needed to carry out an estimation of the cost of violence in Tunisia.
ESCWA, the League of Arab States and UN Women, in partnership with the Swedish Institute in Alexandria and UNDP held a workshop on the different pillars of reporting when preparing National Voluntary Reports (VNR). Discussion included the tools available at the regional level to report on SDG 5, and the role of national stakeholders in preparing the VNR.
ESCWA and UNFPA Regional Office in Beirut organized a workshop on monitoring, control and protection of human rights including sexual and reproductive health and rights. This workshop targeted national human rights institutions and National Women’s Machineries in the Arab region, as well as in some countries of the Horn of Africa. The workshop sought to strengthen collaboration between National Women’s Machineries and national human rights institutions, especially in documenting the status of women and women’s sexual and reproductive health within the framework of international conventions.