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UNODC is leading an initiative, jointly with the UNODC-INEGI Centre for Excellence for Statistical Information and the Inter-American Development Bank, to develop a common methodology for the conduct of victimization surveys in Latin America and the Carribean.
UN Women launched the Global Database on Violence against Women website during the Commission on the Status of Women 2016. The Global Database is an online resource, designed to provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on measures taken by 193 United Nations Member States to address all forms of violence against women, in the areas of laws and policies, prevention, services, and statistical data. It also serves as an important tool to monitor the implementation of SDGs and its target areas on violence against women. The Global Database is one of three websites on the Global Knowledge Platform to End Violence against Women. The platform aims to improve knowledge and coordination among different actors in order to address violence against women more effectively, and it offers a comprehensive picture of interventions addressing VAW, both by Governments as well as by the UN system. In addition to the Global Database, the other two websites on the platform are: the Inventory of UN Activities to End Violence against Women, and the Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls.
UNICEF contributed significantly to building the global evidence base, leading or co-leading on major research, studies and publications. In 2014, UNICEF published the largest-ever compilation of data on violence against children – “Hidden in Plain Sight: A Statistical Analysis of Violence against Children”, followed by a dedicated statistical report on violence against adolescents’ girls - “A Statistical Snapshot of Violence against Adolescent Girls”. In 2015, UNICEF released an analysis of current levels, trends and projections of child marriage in Africa. Despite persistent challenges, an increase in the quality and rigor of data around violence against children, including sexual violence was noted in 2015, with 32 data-driven studies produced globally. In addition, a “Diagnostic Review and the Study on the Structural Determinants of violence against children and women” was completed by UNICEF in 2015 by the University of Cape Town. Jointly with WHO, Center for Disease Control and other partners, a multi-sectoral package of evidence-based interventions to prevent and respond to violence against children was developed.
Within the framework of UN Secretary-General’s campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, UNIC (United Nations Information Centres) Beirut, Lebanon in partnership with the Theatre Club at the Balamand University in Lebanon produced a theatre play on the issue of violence against women targeting school students - a work that was fully supported and sponsored by the Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education. The play, entitled “We Are All Humans”, presented real cases of violence against women within families in Lebanon through a vibrant script and a combination of gestures, songs, music and dance performed by university students. It tackles the hereditary violence against women and sheds light on physical and moral violence practiced directly or indirectly against girls in society. UNIC took part in the script drafting and the directing process to reflect the real objectives of the UNiTE campaign aiming to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls and eliminate this scourge.
In March 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women (UNiTE) launched its call to action for the 16 Days of Activism, ‘Orange the World: End Violence against Women and Girls’. The theme of prevention of violence against women and girls was selected as a focus to provide opportunities to highlight the need for greater investment in ending violence against women and girls at global, regional and country level in the particular context of the new SDG framework with a focus on prevention as a long term solution.
In June 2014, OHCHR launched a paper on “Eliminating Judicial Stereotyping: Equal Access to Justice for Women in Gender-based Violence Cases”. The paper is a tool to raise awareness of, and encourage advocacy related to, judicial stereotyping in gender-based violence cases.
FAO facilitates the preparation of Country Gender Assessments for agriculture and food security, as part of the implementation of its Gender Equality Policy. The CGA aims to inform evidence-based planning towards gender equality and women's empowerment to improve food and nutrition security and reduce poverty. The CGA usually relies mainly on secondary sources and existing data, although data collection is also conducted as part of the process, for example through key informant interviews to identify the most critical issues. The specific aspects looked at in each country depend on the available data and national priorities. During 2015, 5 CGA's - Albania, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe - were finalized with GBV analysis forming a part of the assessment.
In June, 2016, UN Women held Results-Sharing Meeting on Leveraging Technical Tools, Evidence and Community Engagement to Advance the Implementation of Laws and Provision of Services to Women Experiencing Violence in South-East Asia. Over 40 government officials, UN Women officers and Civil Society Organizations across South-East Asia region shared results from EVAW work, affirming the importance of a two-tier approach, where policy-level interventions are undertaken in parallel to interventions at the community level.
In an effort to improve the identification of GBV risks and the response to the needs of GBV survivors, IOM has incorporated protection and GBV risk indicators into CCCM tools, such as the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), in an innovative manner. DTM is a system which regularly captures, processes and disseminates multi-layered primary data and information on the mobility, locations, vulnerabilities and needs of displaced populations, both in country and at the regional and global level. Through an initial project piloted in nine countries including the Philippines, South Sudan and Iraq, IOM has integrated context-appropriate GBV risk indicators relating to site layout and infrastructure; security; women’s participation; and knowledge about and availability of services to address GBV in camps and camp-like settings into the DTM system. The newly incorporated indicators complement general DTM assessments which provide sex- and age-disaggregated data, population profiles, and information on general needs and service provision to provide a more holistic understanding of the protection context in a given site. The data collected through the DTM is analysed and shared with GBV responders, as well as all other relevant service providers to improve operational responses.
In 2016, ESCWA started to develop a study entitled “Status on Arab Women Report - Violence against Women: A Costly Bill”. This study is mandated by various international legal and policy frameworks, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, with a particular focus on the integrated measures to prevent and eliminate Violence against Women. Besides, the study is aligned to the SDGs and particularly Goal 5 on gender equality and the empowerment of women, which sheds light on combatting violence against women as a key factor to achieve the goal. Finally, this study is mandated by the recommendations emanating from the 7th session on the Committee on Women held in January 2016, which requested ESCWA to “estimate the economic cost of violence and provide Member States with a model to be issued for this purpose”.