Search
During 2020-2021, UNHCR has continued its proactive engagement with numerous commitments and Inter-Agency initiatives at the global level. UNHCR supported the revision and made renewed commitments to the revised roadmap of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies.
UNHCR engaged with the Gender-based Violence Area of Responsibility (GBVAoR) and its Task Teams, particularly on the GBV Minimum Standards, Localization and the Policy and Advocacy Reference Group, supporting the development of the GBViE Minimum Standards Facilitation Guide and Contextualization tool, the development of Covid-specific guidance, as well as several advocacy pieces.UNCHR also participated regularly in the Inter-Agency standing committee (IASC) Gender Reference Group (GRG) and in the IASC Guidelines Reference Group.UNHCR serves as a member of the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict and has supported the SRSG SVC’s Office with human resources to support coordination.UNHCR co-chairs Results Group 2 on Accountability and Inclusion supporting humanitarian leaders and responders in demonstrating system change through collective approaches to accountability and inclusion. It includes PSEA as well as ensuring consideration of diversity characteristics such as gender.UNHCR is a member of the GBVIMS Steering Committee and its technical team, PRIMERO coordination committee and PRIMES.
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.
The United Nations Trust Fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women (UN Trust Fund) is a global, multilateral grant-making mechanism that supports effort to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The UN Trust Fund, which was established in 1996 by the General Assembly in the resolution 50/166, is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. With the strong institutional support of UN Women and its regional, multi-country offices, and working closely with the rest of the United Nations system through its inter-agency Programme Advisory Committee, the Trust Fund plays a vital role in driving forward collective efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
WFP participated at a global level in the various meetings and initiatives led by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action (IASC). This includes contributions to the development and facilitation of an E-learning course on GBV risk mitigation and prevention and inviting the IASC colleagues to participate in WFP led webinars.
WFP celebrated both Orange Days as well as the 16 Days Campaign against GBV, in collaboration with the other Rome-based agencies (FAO and IFAD).Extensive webinars and events were held with various member states, ambassadors, and key actors from other agencies.
In 2020,WFP continued to advocate for dedicated financial and human resources for country offices to be able to integrate protection and gender. WFP maintained humanitarian advisors at the regional bureau level, dedicated protection and gender officers in selected countries and at the HQ/global level a gender office, a protection and AAP team and a PSEA team. WFP also advocated for the allocation of funding to meet GBV survivor food security and nutrition needs and mitigate the adoption of negative coping mechanisms.
WFP also continued to actively participate in the GBV the GBV Accountability Framework and the Call to Action on Protection from GBV and multiple for a related to promoting gender equality. At the national level WFP participated in the GBV sub-cluster.
WFP also continued to participate in relevant global UN/interagency coordination on PSEA.
In 2019, DPPA prepared a “Standard Operating Procedure Guidance Development” (effective 1 January 2020), which includes gender as a cross-cutting issue to be mainstreamed into draft guidance, in consultation with relevant UN entities/offices. The DPO-DPPA Policy and Best Practice Database (PPDB) includes a dedicated section on WPS, that contains policies, guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures and best practices in related to gender and WPS. DPPA has also developed a gender page on the UN Peacemaker website, which will be launched in early 2020, and which includes a dedicated section on sexual violence in conflict.
ILO was member of a panel, held 9 September 2019 in New York by UNFPA and UN Women, on “Where do we stand within the UN system on addressing sexual harassment?”, which was part of a special briefing for UN system gender focal points on progress against sexual harassment.
ILO held a webinar on Convention No. 190 for UNWOMEN ECA RO staff on September 18th, 2019.
ILO also held seminars, webinars and training sessions for ILO staff both at HQ and in the field on the new ILO Convention NO. 190.
UN Women capacities at the regional and national level have enhanced through its triple mandate and technical leadership on EVAW in Africa region. This is evidenced through the leadership on Africa Spotlight Initiative at both regional and country levels, steep increase in the mobilization of resources, strengthening of partnerships with AUC, regional and national CSOs, government and other partners. UN Women in Africa also by leveraging on the Africa Strategy and harnessing the technical capacities of the team through establishment of a regional EVAW Community of Practice (COP) and sharing of innovation and technical knowledge through South-South learning. This helped immensely in initiating, strengthening and up-scaling programs on ‘safe markets and safe public spaces’ in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe; addressing tech violence against girls in education institutions through a research and advocacy document; partnerships with regional traditional leaders in establishing a movement of “Council of Traditional Leaders in Africa (COTLA)” and its launch in the sidelines of the African Union Summit in February 2019 through the President of Zambia in grassroot advocacy and prevention of child marriage, FGM and other harmful practices. Strengthened partnerships with the government and CSOs also helped in technical support in legislative reform, strengthening institutions, establishment of referral pathways and multisectoral responses in EVAW in the region.
UN-Women continued to support the mainstreaming of gender and development of training sessions on violence against women in politics, which were delivered in the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) 2019 courses on Political Approaches to Preventing and Responding to Election-Related Violence.
UNHCR has improved data management and analysis on SGBV, which strengthened programming and enhanced services for survivors and those at risk. Moreover, UNHCR has deployed senior-level protection staff to ten emergency operations in 2019, covering all L3 emergencies, where they strengthened coordination among partners, ensured access to quality of SGBV services, trained staff, and worked with diverse communities to address SGBV. An evaluative review found that this technical support increased the efficiency of SGBV programming from 35% to 82%, and increased coverage of SGBV programming from 25% to 59%. Moreover, SGBV mainstreaming projects have been implemented in areas such as livelihoods, energy and cash-based interventions.
UNODC established a new professional network on violence against women, composed of staff working on gender-based violence across UNODC, in order to more effectively assist countries in preventing and responding to violence against women.
UNODC conducted an internal survey on efforts and potential progress regarding gender equality and the empowerment of women in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda. The results indicated increased internal knowledge and understanding due to the provision of accessible and regular information, as well as gender being included more clearly in the 2030 Agenda and given greater priority. Respondents indicated that further training was needed, especially regarding project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, the appointment of a dedicated gender focal point and the adoption of a clear gender strategy were mentioned as helpful to facilitating greater progress.
In 2019 UNRWA dedicated crucial efforts to standardizing and institutionalizing GBV related interventions in interplay with evidence from recently developed monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Combining different tools and methodologies developed between 2017 and 2019, UNRWA developed a capacity building approach, finalized in 2019, that worked on changing knowledge, practice, and attitudes of staff in a large organisation (with over 30,000 staff) that provide direct services to over 5 million Palestine refugees. The 2018 field-specific capacity-building plans continued to be implemented in 2019 and integrated the latest tools: the on-the-job-coaching and the UNRWA GBV competency framework.