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WFP has developed comprehensive protection and gender policies which outline that WFP programmes and interventions must not create, exacerbate or contribute to gender inequalities or discrimination, and must mitigate risks of gender-based violence (GBV). In line with these policies, WFP has developed protection and GBV guidance manuals, which specifically look at concerns of GBV associated with implementing food assistance programmes, including in conflict settings.
In 2018, WFP Ethics Office organised the roll-out of the “Guidance Note about the Prohibition on Engaging Prostitution Services”, aimed at helping employees understand WFP’s expectations of conduct as related to prostitution, considered a form of SEA.
Iraq CO
UN Women, in collarboration with UNDP, provided 935 survivors of gender based violence and conflict related sexual violence with psychosocial support, legal assistance, and referrals as part of the Stop Rape Now United Nations Against Sexual Violence and Conflict fund. Many of these women were survivors of violence perpetrated by ISIS, and were able to register their cases with the Genocide Committee based in Dohuk, Iraq, contributing to documentaion of ISIS's crimes and providing them with access to justice. In the context of Security Council resolution (SCR) 2106 (2013), the UN agreed with the Government of Iraq a joint , (the “Joint Communiqué”) as a framework of cooperation to prevent and address conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) committed in the country on 23 September 2016. During 2017 and 2018, UN Women has been actively engaged in developing the Action Plan for implementation of the Communique and the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) Mechanism, contributing to the systematic gathering of timely, accurate, reliable and objective information on CRSV against women, men, girls and boys in Iraq. UN Women also supported development of and participated in the SRSG on CRSV visit to Iraq in March 2018, reinforcing its work to combat GBV and support government response for survivors.
Under the UN Action- funded project, UN Women provided technical guidance to JNCW and its partner, NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions (contracted by NATO), as they conducted a Gender Audit of the Police, Civil Defense and Gendarmerie. The audit seeks to identify gaps and recommendations for securing the meaningful participation and leadership of women in all parts of the security sector. The audit’s findings will also support the identification of gaps that must be addressed within the security sector as it increases its capacity to respond to incidents of CRSV.The prime minister and cabinet endorsed the JONAP 1325 on 3 December 2017. Throughout the year, the JONAP 1325 benefitted from substantial engagement across all sectors, including consultations with civil society in the different governorates throughout Jordan. The final JONAP includes the following CRSV specific outputs: 3.3.2: “Instruments to monitor, document and report GBV and CRSV are created – linked to national structures and systems,” and 3.3.3: “Prosecutors, judges and the security sector are trained on how to handle GBV and CRSV, and promote access to safe reporting channels”
During the reporting period , UN Women lebanon succeeded to push forward progress on WPS through its leading role to develop the NAP 1325 for Lebanon. Substantive progress was achieved in terms of : a) conducting training sessions to the members of the national Council for Lebanese Women, Meetings with more than 17 focus groups representing Syrian, Palestinian and Iraqi refugees, in addition to meetings with religious leaders. The aim of the meetings is to enhance their knowledge on the UNRC 1325 themes and also collect information oin the challenges they are facing and their concerns. All these will feed in the formulation of UNCR 1325 NP for Lebanon. Furthermore, UN Women as leading UN agency, finalized the situation Analysis, held more than 5 meetings with other UN agencies and 3 meetings with the national counterpart. WPS addresses the 4 pillars which includes Prevention, Protection and Recovery for women within conflects.
The importance of up-scaling efforts to prevent violence against women is increasingly being acknowledged both by the international community and by civil society organizations. The SASA! methodology is a ground-breaking community mobilization approach developed by Raising Voices for the primary prevention of violence against women and HIV transmission. The methodology has been rigorously evaluated through a randomized controlled trial which demonstrated that SASA! is an effective approach, leading to a 52 per cent reduction in the risk of physical partner violence against women in communities where it was implemented. As a result, a wide range of actors, including NGOs, governments, UN agencies and faith-based groups are up-scaling implementation of this innovative and evidence-based approach. Currently, the SASA! methodology is being implemented in over 20 countries by more than 60 organizations. From 2010 to 2012, the UN Trust Fund supported Raising Voices’ first cohort of organizations across Eastern and Southern Africa to up-scale the SASA! methodology. Building on the learning from this previous grant as well as the increasing requests around the world to implement SASA!, this project works to meet the need for improved learning from, and guidance for, the wide range of organizations using and/or planning to use the SASA! methodology. Raising Voices collaborates with three partner organizations implementing SASA!—in rural Tanzania, in refugee camps in Kenya and in a community in Haiti—to improve guidance on how to adapt the methodology most effectively, maximizing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of interventions. To date, two rounds of data collection have occurred in the research sites leading to key lessons about how to adapt the SASA! methodology in diverse settings. For example, in Kenya, SASA! is being adapted in the Dadaab Refugee Camp by the International Rescue Committee across their prevention work. Overall the methodology has been highly regarded by project staff and participants. The data collected to date shows that behaviours and attitudes are changing and community members are explicitly denouncing all forms of violence against women as unacceptable. Important lessons are also being learned though, on the importance of actively involving religious leaders and adapting the materials to suit the Somali culture prevalent in the camp. Tools will now be developed for use by other NGOs to help adapt the successful methodology to other contexts.
As the Global CCCM Cluster lead agency for natural disasters, and in line with the objectives of the global Call to Action, IOM is working to ensure that proper prevention and mitigation measures are in place to reduce the likelihood of GBV taking place in camps and camp-like settings in crises . At the global level, IOM continues to mainstream GBV prevention and mitigation through a range of activities, including the deployment of RRAs. In 2017, IOM deployed RRA to 15 emergency operations to support the GBV mainstreaming activities in humanitarian crisis. RRAs ensured the integration of GBV considerations into programmatic and cluster responses. RRAs have also looked at longer term capacities to pursue efforts in-country, encouraging the appointment of GBV focal points in emergency response teams, and supporting the recruitment of dedicated staff to coordinate GBV mainstreaming activities in countries facing high GBV risks - including in Nigeria, South-Sudan and Bangladesh. IOM also undertook safety mapping and audits in conflict settings to help identify and address immediate GBV risks in conflict settings. The organization adopted programmes based on these findings, for example, it designed and implemented a project for the provision of fuel efficient stoves in South Sudan.
IOM also works to fight impunity, facilitate access to justice and promote accountability. IOM advocates the inclusion of sexual crimes committed against women and girls during conflicts into large-scale victims’ reparations programmes and policies. The organization is currently expanding support on access to care and justice for conflict-related sexual violence survivors in Sri Lanka and Central African Republic.
UNODC published “Evidential Issues in Trafficking in Persons Cases – Case Digest ”, a handbook that aims to assist criminal justice practitioners worldwide in addressing recurring evidential issues that are typical to trafficking in persons cases. It has analysed 135 cases from 31 jurisdictions and provides the reader, based on these real cases tried, with a range of options and possibilities to deal with particular evidential challenges.
In 2010, UNODC has received the GA mandate to collect data and report about trafficking in persons’ patterns and flows at national and international levels. This mandate is fulfilled with the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, published every two years. Data is collected according to sex disaggregation and forms of exploitation. Still nowadays, female represent the vast majority of the victims trafficking and sexual exploitation is the most reported form of trafficking worldwide.
UNODC is developing methodologies to monitor SDG indicator 16.2.2, on estimating the number of victims of trafficking by sex, age and forms of exploitation. This indicator is used to monitor SDG targets 16.2 and 5.2 on trafficking in children and women trafficking.
UN Women undertakes several measures to address sexual violence in conflict situations related to the UN Women workforce such as:
- Message of prohibition of sexual misconduct and SEA and importance of reporting repeatedly communicated by ED.
- Since February 2017, UN Women has provided training to personnel in over 20 field offices and HQ sections.
- Launch of UN Women’s initiative “Take a Stand” in 2016, which provides guidance not only on how to report cases but also on services available to the affected staff member – from telecommuting, to salary advances, to advanced leave requests, and assisting in facilitating their access to safe and secure spaces.
- Established a network of focal points on SEA in headquarters and its Regional Offices from whom staff can request guidance on reporting allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Ensuring that where there are ANY allegations of SEA or other sexual misconduct committed by UN Women personnel or partners, they are promptly referred for investigation.
- Ensuring that alleged victims are referred to the appropriate service providers for protection, medical care and support.
- Collaborating with the Secretary-General’s Victims’ Rights Advocate Ms. Jane Connors on sexual exploitation and abuse and victims’ assistance.
In Mali, OHCHR training military and government officials in relation to the prevention of CRSV by Malian actors. In 2017, 446 security officials, 132 members of the civil society organizations and 89 officials of the governmental institutions were trained to address and prevent CRSV.
In Ukraine, OHCHR documented and reported instances of CRSV, affecting women and men, both in the territory controlled by armed groups, and in Government-controlled territory. Following the release of the report in February 2017, OHCHR in Ukraine participated in 15 events to present the key findings of the report and recommendations. Overall approximately 495 people participated in these events at national and local levels from various groups – civil society, State institutions, international community. The report was instrumental to get the Government commitment to work towards addressing CRSV. OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop the Strategy to prevent and address CRSV. In 2018, OHCHR and UN Women will continue joint work to integrate the developed Strategy to prevent and address CRSV into 1325 National Action Plan.
OHCHR-Guatemala provided technical assistance and closely followed up on key transitional justice cases in the country related to sexual violence committed during the armed conflict. This includes the Sepur Zarco case, in which two ex-military officials were found guilty (affirmed on appeal in July 2017), of crimes against humanity in the form of sexual violence and slavery against Q’eqchi’ women during the armed conflict and the ongoing Molina Theissen case, which involves the alleged 1981 rape of Emma Molina Theissen and the disappearance of her 14-year-old brother.
DRC
Database on sexual and gender-based violence based at the Ministry of Gender, Child and Family is regularly updated. To facilitate its updating, communication spaces have been set up and made operational by UNFPA to facilitate organizations involved in data collection on sexual violence to enter data into the database.
SENEGAL
Studies conducted by the research laboratory of the University of Saint Louis on gender and ANSD (Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie) have provided Senegal with some representative data on the situation of violence. However, thanks to the efforts and advocacy of UN Women, the violence module will be integrated into the ongoing DHS (Demographic and Health Survey).
CABO VERDE
• Support the elaboration of IX CEDAW report;
• 2 evaluations conducted: assessment of the 6-years of GBV Law implementation and evaluation of the Programme of Rehabilitation of Men Offenders of GBV
• Development and public presentation of the study on Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for women with disabilities – “Leaving no one behind” (implementing CEDAW’s recommendations for Cabo Verde – 2013)
• Technical and financial support to the ongoing DHS Survey (to be finalize in 2018), in which VAW data will be collected. UNW supported the DHS planning process by providing technical and financial support specially in the VAW module. New data that includes new types of VAW such as Genital Female Mutilation will be available for the first time in Cabo Verde mainly due to UNW advocacy.
• Technical and financial support to the integration of GBV data and information in the information system of the operational management (SIGO) of the Ministry of Internal Administration. The integration of a specific module on GBV will allow a quicker answer to the risk situation that GBV victims with gender specialized support provided by police sector. The data system is well prepared to integrate, and report complains of GBV crimes and to provide timely and useful information for data analyses and operation at a national level.
MALI
A study conducted in 2015 by UN Women in the health services revealed that the hospital environment is a place of prevalence of several forms of violence against women. Both medical personnel and patients testified to the existence of acts of violence, including physical violence, particularly against women in childbirth. Faced with this bitter situation, UN Women, in partnership with the Ministry in charge of gender, developed a draft strategy with CSOs and health actors to combat GBV in health facilities. The adoption and operationalization of this new strategy should enable health actors to be more accountable for the treatment inflicted on women, who, in addition to suffering such violence, have limited access to basic social services in general.
CAMEROON
UNW Cameroon had been implementing with UNFPA the GBV IMS in the north of Cameroon(training of actors, tools...)
LIBERIA
Through the Government of Liberia/United Nations Joint Programme, UN Women along with UNDP and UNFPA is supporting the establishment of the GBV Information Management System to replace the simple excel spread sheet that is presently used by the Ministry to collate data information received from the county. In 2018, UN Women Liberia Office will compile reports of investigation and prosecution of SGBV cases to determine baseline and target for indicators and conduct a regular assessment on the prevalence of SGBV, FGM, Child Marriage and other HTP to inform the results at the end of the project period.
NIGER
The Islamic argument and the study of the impact of radio programs helped communities understand Islam's position on GBV, women's rights, gender equality and women's rights. UN WOMEN Niger also carried out two studies on the national gender profile and the profile of survivors, documents with considerable data used by all actors. Thanks to the support of the office for the implementation of the AGDI study, gender-disaggregated data are available for all actors.
NIGERIA : The Development Partners Group on Gender(DPGG) including the federal and state ministries of women affairs were mobilized and technically guided to carry out various activities for the 16 Days of activism 2017
A Report on “The Impacts of the Crisis on Gender Equality and Women’s Wellbeing in European Union (EU) Mediterranean Countries” was prepared with the involvement of researchers from France, Greece, Italy and Spain. The report included the findings of the gendered impact of the crisis and its consequences for women in the EU Mediterranean Basin.
This study was intended to address the gap in the research about gendered impacts of the economic crisis at national and regional levels and to contribute to the Post-2015 development framework.
It provided insights on the impact of economic downturn on women’s well-being and supported the strategy for promoting women’s rights and gender equality, with a view of attaining the MDGs for 2015. It also explored possible strategies, which can help to minimize risks and alleviate vulnerable situations.
Egypt CO
UN Women Egypt in partnership with UN HABITAT carried out a gender analysis of transport patterns in Greater Cairo with the aim of informing the planning, design and tendering of the Bus Rapid Transit national project. A survey was conducted at public transport terminals to gather quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated data on passengers’ characteristics, travel patterns, travel costs, security and safety feelings, etc. Sex-disaggregated data proved to be useful to understand public transport usage and access by both women and men, their preferred transport modes, their experiences of harassment, threats to safety, cost of transport, etc. Then, to obtain in-depth information on women’s specific issues in relation to accessibility, affordability and safety in public transport, women-only focus groups were held in three different districts, where women’s mobility patterns were discussed, as well as issues related to their safety and security. In addition, train operators were asked a series of questions on transport, choice of routes, issues related to female passengers’ safety, including some questions on their perception and attitudes towards sexual harassment. The aim of this exercise was also to identify potential economic opportunities for women in the transport sector.
UN Women conducted two research pieces in partnership with Oxfam. A Gender and Conflict Analysis in ISIS Affected Communities of Iraq was published May 2017. A Gender Gap Analsyis is in the final review stages and is expected to be published in the second quarter of 2018.
In collaboration with the Centre for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), UN Women Regiona Office for the Arab States published the study "Estimating Costs of Marital Violence in the Arab Region" as a part of a regional project on estimating the cost of violence against women in the Arab region. This economic model measures the costs of intimate partner violence by estimating household costs associated with violence, community level costs of service provision, and costs related to women’s loss of productivity in the labour market. https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20arab%20states/attachments/2017/estimating-costs-marital-violence-operational-model-english.pdf?la=en&vs=4616
In 2017, UN Women and REACH launched a report aimed to increase the understanding of the impact of the crisis on women’s access to basic services. The report identified specific issues related to harasshment and perception of safety among women living in communities hosting a larger number of refugees, including through their experience in accessing basic services and public spaces. UN Women is currently working with the Minister of Social Development and other actors in order to address key reccomendations presented in the report through targeted programming and pilot interventions in various Governorates of Jordan.
In 2017, UN Women supported the production of 3 unprecedented reports: (i) through the regional Programme “Men and Women for Gender equality”, UN Women supported the conduct of the International Men and women for Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), a study that provides a holistic look at the lives of men and women in the region of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, including their experiences as children, (ii) through the same programme, UN Women supported the Center for Women's Studies in Islam (CERFI), a research center placed under the official religious institution to conduct a survey on perceptions regarding Qiwamah, i.e. the husband’s duty of providing financial support for his wife and children, (iii) in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, UN Women conducted the evaluation of the Family Mutual Aid Fund created in 2011 to support women who do not receive alimony payments.
Aiming at supporting the Palestinian police's Family Protection and Juvenile Unit (FPJU) in data collection and in effectively managing VAW cases, SAWASYA joint Program will support the developemnt of RIAM (case information management system that will support the FPJU of the Palestinian Police and the Specialized prosecutors on VAW to applying the risk assessment template for GBV cases and preparing for the automation of the risk assessment process through this system). UNW has supported the FPJU and the Specialized Public Prosecutors in applying the risk assessment template in preparation for the automation of the risk assessment process through RIAM system. A workshop took place in August 2017 for police officers and specialized public prosecutors to introduce the risk assessment template (RAT) that was piloted for 6 months in 2 districts.
UNW Palestine office conducted different researches on VAW and women's access to justice to generate, documemt and disseminate knowledge and awareness.These included a study on women's access to justice in East Jerusalem, entitled " In the absence of justice", a study on legal aid to women entitled " the impact of legal aid on womenn", women's access to formal and informal justice in Gaza, informal justice system and gender equality in the West Bank, the Situation of Access to informal and formal justice systems for women and girls with dissabilities.
Algeria PP
In Algeria, UN Women has reached an important milestone, in strenghtening the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women Condition's (MSNFCF) capacities to collect data on women and girls victims of violence. A modernized and common data collection framework integrating international guidelines and indicators on WSV, with a focus on SDG 5, was developed by UN Women in partnership with the MSNFCF. The new administrative databased named "AMANE" will allow the MSNFCF and its different structures to collect comprehensive data on Survivors seeking aid from its services. All 54 professionals from the Directorates for Social Action and Solidarity (DASS) and from Women Shelter's have benefited from a specific training on how to use AMANE with a component on gender-based violence and gender issues.