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Jordan CO
On 16 February 2017, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considered the sixth periodic report of Jordan on its implementation of the CEDAW provisions. Ahead of the CEDAW Committee session, UN Women presented the UNCT CEDAW shadow report to the Committee developed in 2016. The development of Jordan’s 6th Periodic Report is also the result of the technical support provided by UN Women, in partnership with UNICEF and UNFPA, to JNCW through a dedicated joint programme which allowed extensive national consultations. Following the issuing of the Committee’s concluding observations, the CO continues to engage UN partners, donor and the civil society in the discussion over Jordan’s international commitments, with a particular focus on issues related to patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes. A new pilot programme has been launched in November 2017 funded by the Government of the Netherlands.
2017 was a UPR reporting year for Morocco, UN Women’s support to the coalition focused this year to the civil society advocacy on Member States recommendations and the National Report. In this respect, UN Women supported the Moroccan civil society coalition for the defense of women’s human rights in intergovernmental human rights processes and bodies. The coalition is composed of 32 civil society organizations based throughout the whole national territory and works following a participatory approach and inclusive processes. UN Women has supported three consultations related to the UPR process were convened with the civil society: (i) the first one between four representatives of the coalition and four UN Women staff on the coalition advocacy strategy, (ii) the second one with the UN system through the Gender thematic group to which 13 UN staff and 6 members of the coalition participated, (iii) the third one with bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies with the European Union Delegation, with about 30 representatives of cooperation agencies.
UNRWA has made regular submissions to the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation of and Assistance to Palestinian Women in the occupied Palestinian territory; SG Report pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/138 entitled “The girl child”; reporting on the UN Systems-Wide Action plan on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women(UN-SWAP); and submissions to the International Human Rights System including the relevant treaty bodies and Special Rapporteurs.
UN Women internal policies:
UN Women has policies which are available to its personnel. They receive these through their welcome letter the moment they join the organization, available links on our intranet pages, and in house non/mandatory courses and information sessions.
Here are the policies:
- The UN-Women Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct defines misconduct and the mechanisms within UN-Women for reporting and investigating it. The investigations function for UN-Women is assumed by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which has the mandate to investigate all reports of alleged misconduct involving staff members and allegations of fraud and corruption, whether committed by staff members or outside parties.
- TheUN-Women Policy on Protection Against Retaliationestablishes "whistleblower protection."
- The UN Women Policy on Workplace Harassment and Abuse of Authority is a helpful document in providing definitions, measures of prevention, and steps to resolving improper conduct.
The Department of Public Information’s Development Section worked closely with the European Union to launch a strategic partnership, called Spotlight, for ending violence against women and girls on 20 September 2017. This includes an initial pledge of EUR 500 million from the EU to finance programmes on EVAW. DPI developed a website as well as video, web and social media products to raise awareness and drive advocacy. We conducted interviews with and supported media outreach for high-level officials, including the EU European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, the Deputy Secretary-General as well as heads of UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP on Spotlight during the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The Section also continues to support UN Women communications efforts to raise awareness and action around the International Day to End Violence against Women (25 November 2017), cross-promoting advocacy materials across the UN platforms.
All communication messages and products on EVAW were shared across the Department, including with our network of 59 operational United Nations Information Centres who communicate the UN’s work to local audiences in more than 80 local languages.
Gender units invest in targeted SGBV prevention activities that include prevention against VAW across the Missions through targeted capacity strengthening training, implementing gender analysis to identify enablers of SGBV; invest in community based early warning mechanisms and inclusion of specific SGBV indicators and reporting benchmarks across all functions to identify timely identification of SGBV risks; and establish partnerships with women civil society organisations to collectively develop strategies for an enabling environment that prevents and mitigates SGBV
In March 2017 DPKO produces a range of communication materials in line with the new gender policy have been developed to provide coherence and consistent advocacy on SGBV prevention.
DDR/CVR teams across 5 peacekeeping missions (MONUSCO, MINUSCA, MINUSMA, UNAMID and MINUJUSTH ) missions have designed and implemented a series of Community Violence Reduction (CVR) projects, aimed at preventing and reducing violence at the community level in both ongoing and post-conflict scenarios. While interventions target a wide set of actors (e.g. members of armed groups, youth at-risk and community members), these initiates particularly improve security conditions for vulnerable groups, including women and children. Moreover, by ensuring their participation, CVR projects serve to mobilize and empower women within their communities and, as a result, contribute to the constitution of a protective environment.
Gender-specific mine action programming: UNMAS makes every effort to ensure that its mine action programming is tailored according to specific cultures and gender of the beneficiaries. In some settings, this means women conducting single-gender risk education sessions (e.g. in Iraq in 2017).
Recruitment of women in mine action programming: Research in Colombia and Lebanon indicates that women employed in mine action (which is traditionally male -dominated) increase their voice and influence in their communities: http://www.gmap.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/final-report-ARS-2016.pdf
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.
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.
In Ukraine and Cambodia, OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop a Strategy to prevent and address gender based violence and conflict-related sexual violence.In Honduras, OHCHR supported the implementation of a State-CSO mechanism developed for monitoring the advances of the investigation of crimes of femicide, also providing technical assistance on the drafting of the regulations of such Commission and briefing the institutions that conform it, on the contents of the Latin American Protocol For the Investigation of Femicide.In Mexico, OHCHR’s technical cooperation focused on the incorporation of human rights and gender perspective in Protocols on investigation of cases of gender-related killings and gender based violence crimes. OHCHR also provided technical support for the evaluation and monitoring of the Early Warning Systems for Gender Based Violence implemented at Federal and State level. In Guatemala, OHCHR worked on the development of a public policy to protect human rights defenders
View MoreIn Ukraine and Cambodia, OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop a Strategy to prevent and address gender based violence and conflict-related sexual violence.
In Honduras, OHCHR supported the implementation of a State-CSO mechanism developed for monitoring the advances of the investigation of crimes of femicide, also providing technical assistance on the drafting of the regulations of such Commission and briefing the institutions that conform it, on the contents of the Latin American Protocol For the Investigation of Femicide.
In Mexico, OHCHR’s technical cooperation focused on the incorporation of human rights and gender perspective in Protocols on investigation of cases of gender-related killings and gender based violence crimes. OHCHR also provided technical support for the evaluation and monitoring of the Early Warning Systems for Gender Based Violence implemented at Federal and State level.
In Guatemala, OHCHR worked on the development of a public policy to protect human rights defenders
OCHA refers to and disseminates key guidelines of the IASC, such as the IASC GBV Guidelines and IASC Gender handbook.
OCHA also systematically integrates prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) for consideration in intergovernmental policy processes and inclusion in the normative framework for humanitarian action. In close consultation with the IASC, OCHA drafts the annual reports of the Secretary-General on Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations, and on International cooperation on humanitarian assistance in the field of natural disasters, from relief to development, which contain policy discussions and recommendations on strengthening the gender and GBV aspects of humanitarian action. Importantly, in close collaboration with the IASC, OCHA also advocates for the report topics and recommendations in the intergovernmental fora, including at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, as well as in the Protection of Civilians discussion in the Security Council, including in OCHA’s briefings on behalf of the humanitarian community to the Security Council’s informal Expert Group on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. OCHA briefed the PoC Expert Group eight times in 2017, covering the situations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan (Darfur), on conflict-related and broader sexual violence concerns such as rape, sexual slavery, trafficking of women and girls, sexual exploitation and abuse, and broader violence against women.
OCHA also facilitates an online platform - Platform for Action, Commitments and Transformations - www.agendaforhumanity.org, and tracks the implementation of WHS commitments and initiatives through an online reporting system.