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In 2019, DPPA continued to provide technical assistance to improve electoral laws, processes, and institutions, including from a gender perspective; and providing good offices and support for political dialogue to enable a conducive environment for elections. 

ESCWA, in partnership with UNDP, UNFPA, and UN WOMEN launched a new report entitled “Gender Justice & Equality Before the Law in the Arab States Region: A Regional Analysis of Progress and Challenges” that brings a unique regional lens to laws and law enforcement practices – examining social and economic contexts in which laws are made and pointing to examples of good practice from across the region to encourage exchanges of experience and ideas to advance gender justice. The report builds upon 18 country reports that partners produced, one year ago, under their joint Gender Justice Initiative and which highlighted successful legal provisions and identify gaps that countries can target to meet their international obligations and commitments.

The framework for ILO action to implement the June 2019 International Labour Conference Resolution concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work was approved in the latter part of 2019 by the ILO Governing Body. The framework, among other things, included elements of a strategy for wide ratification of Convention No. 190 such as – and based on constituents’ requests -- promoting national reviews that assess relevant laws, collective agreements, policies and practices, and helping member States to understand what is required for effective implementation and possible future ratification. 

Besides legislative reviews undertaken with a view towards the ratification of the Violence and Harassment Convention, No. 190, technical support and assistance in terms of legislative development remains at the heart of ILO’s core role. Therefore, support for legislative development is also provided by the Office through the comments and observations adopted by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, as well as through the technical assistance provided in the adoption of labour laws, particularly those tackling sexual harassment.   

UN Women ESARO in partnership with the country offices, UN partner agencies and the African Union is engaging traditional authorities across Africa by working with AU to launch Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA) / Conseil des Autorites Traditionnelles D’Afrique (CONATA), so that it effectively drives a pan-African movement of Traditional Leaders to end child marriage, FGM/C and other harmful practices. Throughout the year the African Union engaged COTLA/CONATA as an advocacy institution following the AU statutory meeting of ministers in charge of Social Development, Labor and Employment who took a decision calling for an extension of the campaign to end child marriage for a five-year period from 2019 to 2023. In the year, COTLA/CONATA convened an annual steering committee meeting in Lusaka through the support of the Republic of the Government of Zambia, and with financial and technical support of UN WOMEN. 

UN Women is also supporting the framing of by-laws to harmonize the national laws with the customary laws in line with the international conventions. At least in 5 countries such initiatives are ongoing, these include, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Liberia.  

In Burundi, The new law No. 1/11 of 20 May 2019 on electoral code reform, improves the level of positioning women on the electoral roll and offers more opportunities to women to stand as candidates in legislative elections. In addition, the code allows women to be elected in their husbands’ origin regions contrary to the provisions of the reformed law which limited the candidacies of women to their origin regions.

In Ethiopia: During the reporting period, UN Women supported the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to undertake a gender analysis of Ethiopia’s draft electoral law. When the law was adopted not including all the proposed changes, UN Women ensured that the legislative committee that was working on directives based on the Electoral Law was provided with a technical support about gender sensitive stipulations to make the derivative legislations gender responsive. The gender analysis identified issues that need to be addressed in terms of affirmative action stipulations, media use during elections, security of voters and candidates, voters that may need assistance during registration and voting and representation of women in different election management bodies etc.
Moreover, UN Women conducted a National Comprehensive Mapping and Analysis of National Laws in Ethiopia as a step towards the elimination of discriminatory laws. The assessment is a comprehensive legislative analysis from a gender perspective to provide an in-depth understanding of the current legal framework and the existence of gaps and discriminatory provisions, with the long-term vision of advocating for law reform to enact new laws or repeal or revise discriminatory legislation. The first draft of the assessment first draft was submitted for review. The gender analysis will explore the vast spectrum of laws to assess their gender responsiveness and will highlight discriminatory provisions and gaps that would require to be repeal, amended or enactment through a law reform process.
Another initiative led by UN Women was the different advocacy sessions towards the adoption of the family law in the Somali region. To this end, an assessment on the general socioeconomic status of women and girls in Somali and Afar regions and barriers hindering the adoption of the family law was conducted. The key findings of the study revealed that in almost all measures of socio-economic indicators including access to education, health, water, electricity, and sanitation, women and girls in both regions have significant challenges compared to other regions of Ethiopia. With regards to the prevalence of VAWG in the two regions, findings of the study show a much higher percentage of sexual violence against women with 14.7 percent in Somali and 13 percent in Afar regions when compared with that of the EDHS, 1% in Somali followed by 4% in Afar.

Most importantly, the study identified the factors hindering the adoption of family laws in Afar and Somali regions to be lack of political commitment, structural and institutional factors (competing priorities and inadequate financing) and social and cultural factors which are highly influenced by religion. The controversy on marriageable age, bigamy, period of widowhood, irregular union, child adoption, and Paternity issues were also among the causes for the resistance towards adopting Family law. UN women will continue popularizing the findings and recommendations of the study and undertaking policy advocacy at different level with the aim of harmonizing the regional family laws with that is the international standards.

The legal adjustment in the main electoral law has been finalized with the legislative drafting team taking some of the recommendations provided. However, the legislative process for matters that will be guided by directives from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, it is still an ongoing process that will also continue in 2020 which is the election year and beyond.
In regard to the preliminary work on the “Assessment of the discriminatory law” conducted for legal adjustments that will support and recommend the repeal or revision of all formal laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women and girls, UN Women will continue supporting the Federal Attorney General and other relevant institutions on the legal adjustment based on the recommendations provided.
The draft Somali and Afar assessment on the barriers for adoption of the federal revised family law, which was conducted in 2019, identified key areas that needs better advocacy coupled with continuous dialogues to bring the expected changes. Some of these areas include; enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the grass root community on the benefit of putting in place an alternative family dispute resolution in addition to the customary and religious systems, enhancing capacity of women and men parliamentarians to advocate for the adoption of family law, and facilitate a knowledge exchange with other Muslim dominated countries who have adopted family law that is in line with international standards. Using the existing partnership with the regional government and faith actors, UN Women will work towards the repeal of the existing regional law in 2020.

In Mozambique, the government of Mozambique continued to demonstrate strong commitment on advancing GEWE including fulfilment of regional and international obligations, which are evidenced by the following achievements: approval of the “Lei contra os casamentos Prematuros[1]” (Law against early marriage) (The Law was approved by the Parliament on 18th July 2019 and with its approval early unions in Mozambique are considered a crime. The law condemns until 8 years of imprisonment to adults who consent or obliged a child to accept a union and 12years for an adult who live in a forced union with a child girl); approval of the revised “Lei fa Familia (Family Law) e “Lei das Sucessões” (Inheritance Law). Additionally, 4 other Laws were reviewed to better respond to the issues included in the approved laws, namely: “Lei da Familia”- Family Law (Lei 22. 2019); “Lei da Revisão do codigo Penal”- Law of criminal code (Lei 24 de 2019); “Lei da revisão do Código do Processo Penal”- Law of review of the Criminal process code (Lei 25 de 2019) and the “Lei da revisao do Codigo de execução das Penas” –Law of review of the criminal process code- (Lei 26 de 2019).

In Rwanda, Under the equality in law by 2030 initiative, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Legal Aid Forum, a network of 38 national and international NGOs, universities, lawyers’ associations, faith-based organizations and trade unions to conduct an assessment aimed at determining whether there are any discriminatory provisions in Rwandan laws. The implementation of this initiative involves different actors from government and civil society organizations through a steering committee put in place for quality assurance. The Legal Aid Forum has submitted a draft report waiting for final validation by stakeholders. The report recognizes tremendous achievements for gender mainstreaming in Rwanda’s legal framework. However, there are still few provisions that need to be worked out through legislative reforms. 
In South Sudan, the Reconstituted National Constitution Amendment Committee (R-NCAC) has been working on reviewing the various laws including the security sector laws.  UN Women provided technical support in review of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army Act 2009, the National Security Services Act 2014, the Police Service Act 2009 and the Prisons Service Act 2011.

In Sudan, UN Women has supported the women’s movement to voice their concerns and claim the repeal and reform of laws violating women’s human rights such as the public Order Law which was then repealed in December 2019.   
In Somalia, UN Women in close collaboration with UNFPA, UNDP and UNSOM is actively engaged in passage of the Sexual Offence Bill and FGM Bill. The Sexual Offence Bill has already been approved by the cabinet of ministers and awaits endorsement at the parliament. The FGM bill is in the final stages of drafting and soon will be presented to the cabinet of ministers. The Sexual Offences Bill (SOB) seeks to serve the purpose of combating sexual violence and consolidating laws of sexual offences, providing for punishment of perpetrators of sexual offenses, providing for procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and other related matters.
In Tanzania, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA), Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG), Women Fund Tanzania and the Women’s Coalition on the Constitution Review and Leadership For advocacy to repeal the following laws that discriminate against women and girls:  The Law of Marriage Act (LMA) of 1971 sanctions the marriage of girls as young as 14 years, while requiring boys to be adults. During 2019, the Tanzania Court of Appeal upheld a previous High Court judgment declaring the minimum age of marriage for girls, as set out in the Law of Marriage Act, unconstitutional. As a result, the National Assembly of the United Republic of Tanzania will need to pass legislation bringing this law in line with international standards. UN Women is currently strategizing with and supporting the Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG) and the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA) for advocacy to pass the required legislation.

In Uganda, UN Women provided technical support to the government in the legislative developments.  Some of these include:
- The Sexual Offences Bill that seeks to consolidate all laws relating to sexual offences and provide procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offences in addition to measures to check sexual harassment in public places. 
- Employment Bill 2019 that seeks to amend the Employment Act 2006 to operationalise the provisions of Art.40 of the Uganda Constitution and align it to the ILO convention No.190.
- The Marriage and Divorce bill which brings together all laws governing a Marriage and its dissolution;
- The legal aid bill that seeks to ensure indignant citizens access free legal aid services; and 
- The Domestic Violence Act (DVA) which provides protection of women from violence committed to them in a domestic setting

In Zimbabwe, UN Women supported work on the Marriages Bill by conducting a gender analysis of the bill and supported development of an alternative marriages bill as a reference document to inform parliamentary debates. The Bill seeks to consolidate the laws relating to marriages in Zimbabwe into one Act of Parliament and as such repeal the Marriages Act [Chapter 5:11] and the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07]. The Bill also criminalises child marriage and decriminalises HIV transmission (repealing Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act), both of which were key advocacy issues for UN Women in the reporting year.

Support for Legislative Development Under the Spotlight Initiative, UNICEF worked on Outcome 1 (law and policy) in 5 African countries and 1 Latin American country. For instance, UNICEF Zimbabwe provided technical support for the review of key legislations such as penal code and domestication of protocols. 

The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) undertook extensive legal reviews to cross-reference small arms laws with domestic violence provisions throughout twenty-two Latin American and Caribbean states. These studies included recommendations to incorporate restrictions on the acquisition and renewal of firearms licenses by those who have been convicted of domestic violence. 
The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) engaged in a legal and technical assistance project in Timor-Leste to develop a National Action Plan on the implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) including consideration of gender and violence aspects.

In 2019, UNODC provided technical legislative support/ services to six countries (Algeria, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, India, State of Palestine, Zambia) for drafting legislation on trafficking in persons. This included assessing legislative needs, providing substantive input on draft legislation, providing substantive and technical input and support during legislative drafting workshops and assessing compliance with existing domestic legislation. UNODC also collaborated with the Government of Uzbekistan to promote the rights of women within the framework of existing laws related to gender.

In Chile, Corporación Humanas implemented a UN Trust Fund-funded project that brought together groups of migrant women; lesbian, bisexual and transgender women; women living with disabilities; and women living with HIV/AIDS to advocate for a comprehensive law that ends violence against women and girls and under which such violence is recognized not only in the private sphere, but also outside the family context. The bill, which was presented to Congress at the end of the project, reflects the many manifestations of gender-based violence, incorporates provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women a and is aimed at encouraging institutions and regulations to take an intersectional approach to ending violence against women. More than 600 underrepresented women and girls participated in active discussions about what should be in the bill.

The OHCHR supported the work of the SRVAW who presented two thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in 2018 on online violence against women and violence against women in politic.

During the period under review, the OHCHR supported the SRVAW in producing a number of legal and policy recommendations in communications sent to over 50 Member States and recommendations issued after country visits to:  Canada (11 to 23 April 2018); Nepal (19 to 29 November 2018).

The OHCHR supported the work of the SRVAW, and SUMEX along with other relevant mandates in issuing a statement calling for revocation of a bill to amend Guatemala’s National Reconciliation Law which has been the basis of trials involving human rights violations in the country since the peace accords of 1996, and would establish an automatic mechanism for extinguishing the criminal responsibility of all those responsible for serious violations of human rights committed during that period (22 February 2019).

The OHCHR supported the Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice (WGDAW) in formulating a series of recommendations aimed at supporting legislative development following its mission to Honduras (1-14 November 2018). It recommended to:

- Repeal laws prohibiting access to emergency contraception and liberalize abortion law so as to ensure access at least in cases where the pregnancy poses a threat to the life or health of the woman, where it is the result of sexual violence or in case of severe foetal impairment, as the first step;

- End the criminalization and judicial harassment of women human rights defenders, protect them from violence (including by private actors) and investigate crimes against them;

-Ensure that the media do not promote stereotypes and gender-based violence, and raise their awareness on violence against women and human rights defenders;

- Provide the necessary support to women candidates, address political violence against women and promote women’s participation in political life;

- Conduct sustainable awareness-raising campaigns to prevent violence against women in politics and effectively investigate cases;

- End the criminalization and judicial harassment of women human rights defenders, protect them from violence (including by private actors) and investigate crimes against them;

- Ensure that human rights education is taught in all public schools, covering women’s rights and gender equality, with a focus on prevention of gender-based violence;

- Regarding indigenous and Afro-Honduran women (including Garífuna) guarantee their access and full participation in decision-making; prevent and combat violence against them;

- Eliminate violence, discrimination and stigmatization against lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex women, women with disabilities, women engaged in sex work/prostitution and women living with HIV and ensure their effective participation in political, civil, economic and social life and access to quality health services.