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In Albania, UN Women has worked with civil society groups, the government and media to stop human trafficking that feeds the sex trade. A national campaign has raised awareness, including through a powerful anti-trafficking video broadcast on national television. A 30-member Advisory Media Forum supports professional and ethical reporting among journalists by providing information and training, and tracking gaps in accuracy of reporting. Since employment or small enterprise by women can be among the most critical elements of successful reintegration for trafficking survivors, UN Women has helped service providers in shelters stress economic empowerment as core to their assistance.
In Egypt, the provision of support to SGBV survivors among Syrian refugees includes a shelter and the use of creative approaches to psychosocial support. Female survivors have access to women’s centers where awareness raising, counselling and psychosocial support is made available. Special projects and approaches were put in place, such as the individual and group art therapy focusing on issues such as child marriage, training of trainers (ToTs) on art therapy.
In Azerbaijan, IOM is working with Azerbaijan Lawyers Confederation (ALC), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the State Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs (SCFWCA) to provide staff members of the Domestic Violence Support Centre with thorough knowledge, skills and competencies to better assist victims. IOM also sought to empower beneficiaries of the centre by providing direct support, including medical, legal and psychological assistance, temporary housing, when needed, access to childcare and social benefits, as well as skills-building and training in business development. Small grants were awarded to help the participating women initiate businesses of their own. The economic empowerment of women was a key aspect of this project, as helping individuals become economically self-sufficient is one of the most effective ways to address domestic violence, and improve self-esteem and self-confidence of victims. IOM also raised public awareness of the existing problems by producing and disseminating information materials on gender equality, the rights of women and men in families, domestic violence, as well as on services available at the Domestic Violence Support Centre.
WHO is developing a health systems manual for managers, based on the clinical guidelines, to design, plan, and implement services for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual violence.
In Jordan, through the support of the Governments of Norway, UN Women - in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF - implements the second phase of the joint project “Hemayati: Promoting Women and Girls’ Health and Well-being”. The project is also implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Ministry of Health (MoH) and partner NGOs including the Jordanian Women Union and Un Ponte Per (UPP). The project’s overall aim is to increase sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors’ access to comprehensive lifesaving protection services, including health, psychosocial and legal services. Building on a successful first phase (2013-2014), the second phase of the project is being implemented in five governorates of Jordan (Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq and Maan) benefiting from the expertise of all participating UN agencies and partners. The objective is to bring all the services necessary for women and girls who have experienced violence in a one-stop shop to ensure that they receive quality, survivor-centered support when they need it most.
Compared to the previous year, in 2015 significantly greater levels of assistance were provided to survivors across a range of key core services: psychosocial counselling was provided to survivors in 27,616 reported SGBV incidents (38% increase compared to 2014); legal assistance in 7,342 reported incidents (31% increase); medical assistance in 4,518 reported incidents (7% increase); material assistance in 5,542 reported incidents (27% increase); and safe spaces in 3,948 reported incidents (50% increase). Additionally, over 6,000 survivors were enrolled in income generating and occupational activities doubled the number enrolled in the previous year.
In Central African Republic, where the current crisis has affected the social fabric of society and survivors of GBV are stigmatised, deprived of support and known to engage in risky coping strategies such as transactional sex for survival, FAO has partnered with UN Women to ensure that women affected by the conflict, including GBV survivors, benefit from livelihood strategies.
WHO is developing clinical guidelines to respond to children and adolescents who have been sexually abused for use by health care providers.
The programme of work to develop the Essential Services Package has been a partnership between UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, UNDP and UNODC. The 5 modules comprising the package, identify the essential services to be provided by the health, social services, police and justice sectors as well as guidelines for the coordination of Essential Services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms. Service delivery guidelines for the core elements of each essential service have also been identified to ensure the delivery of high quality services, particularly for low and middle income countries for women and girls experiencing violence. This is being supported by the development of other tools including an implementation manual and a monitoring and evaluation framework for the implementation of the guidelines in different contexts. Negotiations are underway for the formalization of a UN Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence by the five agencies for Phase II of the work to implement the guidelines in up to ten countries.
In Kenya, among Somali refugees over 500 survivors received some form of legal assistance and 62 percent of reported cases were prosecuted. Among the activities, the deployment of 10 translators to police gender desks located at various police stations in the camp strengthened confidential reporting and enhanced the investigation of reported cases. Additionally, close to 40 percent of police stations in the Dadaab operation have uninterrupted access to the Internet, which facilitates the police’s participation in an online training platform covering SGBV.