Search
ACDemocracia worked in Ecuador to promote access to justice for women and girl survivors of violence. The UN Trust Fund-supported project seeks to promote the application of normative frameworks and policies for the protection of women’s rights by influencing legislative reform and changing cultural norms. The project is working with the Decentralized Autonomous Governments to strengthen the institutional response to violence at the local level.
At least 20,000 people received information on women’s right to live free of violence through various publicity initiatives, including broadcasts on the national and international media. By providing short six-week courses for 92 people, the project was able to increase the number of women and girls survivors supported to 699, an almost 10-fold increase from the start of the project.
A petition was launched in support of a comprehensive law on violence against women and girls which gathered 27,000 physical and 10,000 virtual signatures from all over the country. In January 2018, ACDemocracia led advocacy along with the National Coalition of Women and UN Women for the adoption of a new Comprehensive Law for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women, which was approved with 90 per cent votes in favour by the parliament in Ecuador.
IOM’s reparations programmes are supporting governments to identify and rehabilitate survivors through dedicated trainings for professionals and by promoting sensitive and non-stigmatizing services. These tools and services are embedded in a holistic mechanism that encompasses psychosocial, physical and social rehabilitation with transitional justice and memory preservation/validation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Colombia and Nepal, IOM has delivered training and capacity building to stakeholders to improve long-term access to justice and care for victims of CRSV; for example in BiH, progress towards harmonization of legal and administrative frameworks is enabling access to care and justice across the country; and in Nepal awareness of CRSV is rising across the spectrum of stakeholders. NGOs and victim associations have been trained on reparations and psychosocial support, and referral mechanisms have also been established.
View MoreIOM’s reparations programmes are supporting governments to identify and rehabilitate survivors through dedicated trainings for professionals and by promoting sensitive and non-stigmatizing services. These tools and services are embedded in a holistic mechanism that encompasses psychosocial, physical and social rehabilitation with transitional justice and memory preservation/validation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Colombia and Nepal, IOM has delivered training and capacity building to stakeholders to improve long-term access to justice and care for victims of CRSV; for example in BiH, progress towards harmonization of legal and administrative frameworks is enabling access to care and justice across the country; and in Nepal awareness of CRSV is rising across the spectrum of stakeholders. NGOs and victim associations have been trained on reparations and psychosocial support, and referral mechanisms have also been established.
Peace Operations regularly support national legal, judicial and correctional institutions in gender-sensitive reform processes, including legal and policy reform. Peacekeeping missions, in partnership with the UNCT and the women civil society actors have been supporting gender responsive legislative development, including addressing SGBV and VAW. Particular missions to mention – Haiti (MINUJUSTH), CAR (MINUSCA), DRC(MONUSCO), Mali(MINUSMA) and Sudan (with UNAMID)
ESCWA participated in a number of side events at the sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2018. This included a side event with the Permanent Mission of the State of Palestine on “The Social and Economic Situation of Palestinian Women and Girls under Israeli Occupation”; a side event with the Permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on “The Development of a Comprehensive Response to Address Violence against Women in Jordan” and a side event with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Tunisia and UN Women on “The Fight against Violence against Women.”
A guidance note (“Gender, food security and nutrition in protracted crises”) was developed as part of a series of materials for improving food security and nutrition in protracted crises. Drawing on FAO technical experience, the guidance notes series supports implementation of the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA), endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in October 2015.
The document build on past experience to provide guidance on how to address gender equality as part of food and nutrition security interventions in situations of protracted crisis. It includes case studies from FAO's interventions in protracted crisis situations.
The ILO has embarked on a process towards the possible adoption of international labour standards on violence and harassment in the world of work. This is pursued through the International Labour Conference Standard Setting Committee on violence and harassment in the world of work, which is scheduled to meet on June 2018 and June 2019.
In line with commitments made to the global Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies (Call to Action), IOM has started the development of its first institutional framework in GBV in Crises (GBViC). The framework will articulate IOM’s approach to GBV in crises, define the scope IOM’s GBV response, and help IOM missions to operationalize commitments to protect populations crisis-affected populations from GBV. The development of the framework represents a major step to institutionalize GBV prevention, mitigation and response as standard component of IOM’s humanitarian programming, resonating also on other IOM institutional frameworks – including the Migration Crisis Operational Framework (MCOF), and key institutional policies on PSEA and Protection Mainstreaming.
In Cambodia, OHCHR provided technical assistance for the drafting of a Law on Surrogacy in line with international human rights standards.
In Ukraine, OHCHR report on conflict related violence influenced the content of the amended the Criminal Code considered in December 2017 by the Parliament. In particular, a gender sensitive definition and the criminalization of sexual violence.
In Serbia, OHCHR provided substantive and legal advice for the drafting of and amendments to the Law on Domestic Violence and the Criminal Code.
In Honduras, OHCHR jointly with UNWomen, through technical assistance contributed to the strengthening of the definition of the crime of rape – in relation to the concept of “consent” – it also provided support for drafting a proposal on decriminalizing abortion in line with HR standards.
In Guatemala, OHCHR provided technical assistance to Congress in relation to draft bills both to support rights of women in the context of violence (such as the recently adopted reforms to the Criminal Code to prevent child marriage under 18 years) and to ensure that there are not regressions in this regard (draft bill 5272 to criminalize abortion).
In Haiti, OHCHR helped national stakeholders in identifying and addressing discriminatory laws against women for revision of the draft SGBV law in relation to the draft criminal code and criminal procedure code, in accordance with international standards.
UN Women is working with UNDP in the finalization of a policy and programming guidance for prevention of violence against women in elections (VAWE). The guidance aims to fill gaps in current knowledge by providing an overview of the specific forms of VAWE, including scope, types, victims and perpetrators, and the range of actions that can be taken at each phase of the electoral cycle to prevent and mitigate it. The Guide is targeted at the key stakeholders and actors who are positioned to act to prevent and mitigate VAWE, and to international organizations and those providing programming support on electoral assistance, women’s political participation and ending violence against women. It is also targeted at members of political parties, particularly the leadership of those parties, civil society organizations (CSOs), women’s groups and gender equality activists.
UN Women supported the office of the UN Secretary General in drafting three Secretary General’s reports on " Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations", "Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls" and "Trafficking in women and girls”. These reports were presented to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly and have served as a basis for the negotiations of new resolutions on these subjects, which were approved at its 71st Session.