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As the co-conveners of IANWGE’s Task Force on violence against women, UNFPA and UNDAW drafted a proposal for joint programming on violence against women in 10 pilot countries. Hide

UN Action is providing strategic and technical support to selected UN Country Teams and Peace Keeping Operations to strengthen their efforts to prevent sexual violence, protect women, respond to the needs of survivors, and ensure judicial redress. It is also training a cadre of senior GBV Coordinators.UN Action’s advocacy efforts focus on raising public awareness and outrage about rape in war, as well as generating political will from bodies such as the Security Council and Human Rights Council to address rape in war as an issue of international peace and security, and a war crime as well as gross violation of human rights. UN Action is building a knowledge hub, mapping good practices and effective responses to the needs of survivors and their communities. Hide

In November 2007, the UN Trust Fund awarded nearly $5 million in support of effective implementation of national laws, policies and plans of action on ending violence against women, as well as to initiatives addressing the inter-linkages between violence against women and HIV/AIDS.In 2007, Member States, private-sector and other donors raised their contributions to the UN Trust Fund, resulting in more than a tenfold increase over the past four years. However, the demand for support continued to far outstrip its resource base, with more than $105 million in requests received in 2007.Donors to the UN Trust Fund in 2007 include the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States of America, and UNIFEM national committees in Iceland, Switzerland and the United States. In addition, the UN Trust Fund has benefited from partnerships with the private sector. With the support of Johnson & Johnson, a special window on the interlinkage between violence against women and HIV/AIDS was opened in 2005. In addition, there have been other modest contributions from private-sector partners such as TAG Heuer, Omega, Leo Burnett and non-profit organizations, such as Zonta International, the Transition Network and many individual donors. Hide

The OHCHR Women’s Rights and Gender Unit, established in 2006, continued the legal analysis with respect to access to justice for victims of sexual violence. An Expert Group Meeting on ‘Prosecution of rape and other forms of sexual violence’ was held in September 2007, with the aim to finalize an OHCHR legal position paper on the subject. Hide

OHCHR has funded a legal assistance project in Tajikistan for women subjected to domestic violence. UNRWA provided legal aid and counselling through Women Programme Centres. Hide

In Bolivia (Municipality of Cochabamba) and Ecuador, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported advocacy for increased allocations for services for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, resulting in the Government of Ecuador committing $2 million for implementation of the national plan of action. Hide

UNRWA’s Gaza Field Office undertook a gender equality initiative on domestic violence, including enhancing the quality of psychosocial support services and developing a hotline. Hide

In China, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, support to the Xuzhou Domestic Violence Shelter is being considered for nation-wide scale-up by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Hide

A regional programme supported by IOM is providing assistance for the return and reintegration of trafficked women and girls, mainly exploited as domestic workers, throughout the region. Medical assessments are carried out in the shelters with special attention to HIV cases. Reintegration activities involve school support or income generating activities. IOM signed an agreement with the Colombian Ministry of Justice in order to develop counter-trafficking activities in the areas of assistance to victims and prevention through a hot-line. Hide