Search
A specific guidance (“How can we protect men, women and children from gender-based violence? Addressing GBV in the food security and agriculture sector”) and a policy brief (“How can food security interventions contribute to reducing gender-based violence?”) were developed to introduce FAO staff and relevant partners to both the relevance and practical know-how of addressing GBV in food security and agriculture interventions. The Guide specifically calls upon FAO and partner staff to contribute to the protection of all human rights, including the right to a life free from GBV.
- Improve understanding of the different forms of gender-based violence, their causes and consequences, and how they directly and indirectly affect the agriculture sector, food security and livelihoods;
- Better define FAO responsibilities and identify the best opportunities to address GBV;
- Provide practical information and tools to inform protection and GBV analysis at each stage of the project cycle.
ESCWA, in partnership with the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University and UNFPA, organized a youth arts competition for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 2017. The competition received over 75 submissions of artwork from youth in the Arab region and the awards event involved a presentation on engaging with visual arts as a means to respond to gender sensitive legal reform.
ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, produced a brochure targeting policy makers on estimating the economic costs of violence against women and a created a series of eight infographics conveying key messages on the impact of violence against women in the Arab region and responses by ESCWA Member States.
ESCWA facilitates a quarterly gender discussion series, open to all members of the community. The following topics have been addressed: Child marriage in the Arab region; Prioritizing women, peace and security on the Arab agenda; Estimating the cost of violence against women in the Arab region; and the Arab position on gender equality.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, screened the film ‘Nour’ (2017) about a fifteen-year-old girl from a Lebanese village who is forced to marry a much older man. In response to the film, audience members remarked that activists, government official and NGOs must strategize how to confront child marriage once it happens, in addition to promoting legal reform.
ESCWA, in partnership with the Asfari Institute on Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut, launched the “Lazim Campaign” during the weeks leading up to International Women’s Day 2018. Through the Lazim Campaign, prominent women throughout the Arab region shared their hopes for change in 2018, including criminalizing violence against women and developing gender-sensitive legislation.
“The training had a lot of impact on my life because I [now] have knowledge about the misdeeds of excision [cutting] and child marriage. I'm pregnant and if I have a girl I will not make her go through this practice”, said Fatoumata N.*, a peer educator in Mali. She was speaking about the harmful traditional practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), which is inflicted on 89 per cent of women and girls in Mali, according to the World Health Organization. FGM/C has devastating health ramifications for women and girls, including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death. This harmful traditional practice is not yet banned in Mali.
The UN Trust Fund is supporting the Malian organization AMSOPT to change social norms and provide access to medical and psychosocial services for survivors of FGM/C. The project’s awareness-raising efforts in the Kayes region, which has the highest rates of FGM/C in the country, have already led two villages to publicly renounce the harmful traditional practice as well as child marriage, and six others are in the process of doing the same. The two villages held public assemblies bringing together counselors, women, youth and village leaders to agree on the abandonment of FGM/C, and created a committee to ensure the application of the decision
*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.
In Honduras, OHCHR organised several conference and meetings addressing challenges in combatting VAW, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the promotion of the work of women’s networks. It also organised information campaigns on gender based violence and women human rights defenders.
In Haiti, OHCHR funds helped for the development and production of communication tools (audio-visual)/ messages to build resilience and prevent natural disasters for groups and populations at risk with a gender approach.
In Liberia, during the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, OHCHR and the UNCT provided support for the organisation of a conference on “Consolidating National Efforts against FGM’, with the participation of government officials, traditional and community leaders and other stakeholders.
The ILO launched on March 2018 an Office-wide campaign to combat all forms of sexual harassment and misconduct within the ILO.
UN Volunteers are an important component of capacity on the ground in the global pursuit of gender equality. The gender ratio of UN Volunteers improved from 43% female in 2015 to 47% female in 2017.
UNRWA has continued the implementation of its multi-year programme titled 'Building Safety' aimed at enhancing the Agency's capacity to address GBV in emergencies. Work has progressed during this period focusing on the following areas: i) prevention of GBV among Palestine refugees; ii) mitigation of GBV risks in emergencies; iii) enhancing the capacity of Agency staff to respond to GBV.
1) FAO, together with UN Country Teams, UN Women, UNFPA and other national and international partners, led the “16 Days of Activism to end Violence against Women” campaign in 5 regions of Niger (Maradi, Tillaberi, Dosso, Tahoua and Zinder). In 120 villages where there are Dimitra Clubs, the campaign raised awareness on gender-based violence.
As part of this Campaign”, which began on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, two further events took place to raise awareness on the links between gender-based violence and its relevance to the work of the Organization.
The first was the ESP-sponsored “Forum theatre around gender-based violence – Out of the box”. Through games and role-plays, participants worked on situations where GBV can occur.
The second event was a UN Rome-Based Agencies event that took place entitled “Ending gender-based violence to end hunger and poverty: The role we play”. As part of the UNiTE campaign, FAO, IFAD and WFP came together to raise awareness of this global pandemic.
2) FAO is actively engaged in the IASC developing global standard operating procedures (SOPs) for community based complaints mechanisms (CBCMs). In addition, FAO made to meet PSEA minimum operating standards, which currently serve as a planning and monitoring tool.
UNODC developed a “Strategy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (2018-2021) establishes the first institutional framework on gender equality for the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) and UNODC. This Strategy seeks to ensure that gender equality and the empowerment of women are integral parts of all aspects of the work of UNOV/UNODC in making the world safer from drugs, crime and terrorism and in ensuring the peaceful uses of outer space.
This Strategy will assist UNOV and UNODC-by 2021-to be workplaces where gender equality and the empowerment of women are actively promoted by staff in all aspects of institutional processes, programmatic work and activities thus fostering an enabling, inclusive and diverse work environment and improving the representation of women at all levels in order to reach gender parity.
The ILO-GIP Project aims to reduce poverty and contribute to the empowerment of Myanmar women working in the garment industry by improving labour relations, social dialogue and gender equality. A report containing a gender equality assessment in several garment factories is expected to be released in September 2018.
View MoreThe ILO-GIP Project aims to reduce poverty and contribute to the empowerment of Myanmar women working in the garment industry by improving labour relations, social dialogue and gender equality. A report containing a gender equality assessment in several garment factories is expected to be released in September 2018.