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“The training had a lot of impact on my life because I [now] have knowledge about the misdeeds of excision [cutting] and child marriage. I'm pregnant and if I have a girl I will not make her go through this practice”, said Fatoumata N.*, a peer educator in Mali. She was speaking about the harmful traditional practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), which is inflicted on 89 per cent of women and girls in Mali, according to the World Health Organization. FGM/C has devastating health ramifications for women and girls, including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death. This harmful traditional practice is not yet banned in Mali.
The UN Trust Fund is supporting the Malian organization AMSOPT to change social norms and provide access to medical and psychosocial services for survivors of FGM/C. The project’s awareness-raising efforts in the Kayes region, which has the highest rates of FGM/C in the country, have already led two villages to publicly renounce the harmful traditional practice as well as child marriage, and six others are in the process of doing the same. The two villages held public assemblies bringing together counselors, women, youth and village leaders to agree on the abandonment of FGM/C, and created a committee to ensure the application of the decision
*Name has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.
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.
The ILO-GIP Project aims to reduce poverty and contribute to the empowerment of Myanmar women working in the garment industry by improving labour relations, social dialogue and gender equality. A report containing a gender equality assessment in several garment factories is expected to be released in September 2018.
View MoreThe ILO-GIP Project aims to reduce poverty and contribute to the empowerment of Myanmar women working in the garment industry by improving labour relations, social dialogue and gender equality. A report containing a gender equality assessment in several garment factories is expected to be released in September 2018.
A network of field ethics focal points has been created to receive and escalate complaints related to sexual exploitation and abuse. Trainings have been conducted for focal points on ethics procedures and the handling of these complaints, as well as on Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and FAO's PSEA procedures.
In Honduras, OHCHR organised several conference and meetings addressing challenges in combatting VAW, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the promotion of the work of women’s networks. It also organised information campaigns on gender based violence and women human rights defenders.
In Haiti, OHCHR funds helped for the development and production of communication tools (audio-visual)/ messages to build resilience and prevent natural disasters for groups and populations at risk with a gender approach.
In Liberia, during the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, OHCHR and the UNCT provided support for the organisation of a conference on “Consolidating National Efforts against FGM’, with the participation of government officials, traditional and community leaders and other stakeholders.
One of OCHA’s 7 priority commitments on gender is to promote gender-responsive Humanitarian Programme Cycle processes. It ensures the systematic inclusion of SGBV programming through the mandatory use of the Gender Marker in funded initiatives, and in reports on how gender and SGBV were addressed during project implementation. As an example, the CERF project application and reporting templates require sex- and age disaggregated data. The application template also includes the IASC Gender Marker which is then recorded in the CERF’s Grant Management System Database for tracking and analysis purpose.
In addition, information and knowledge on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls have been disseminated through OCHA’s various advocacy platforms such as the corporate website, social media accounts, content websites (such as Medium, Exposure and YouTube) and email. OCHA has updated and edited two “OCHA on Message” products on Gender in Humanitarian Action and Sexual and Gender-based Violence. “OCHA on Message” are reference products that enables staff to communicate OCHA’s position on key issues. OCHA has also delivered remarks and statements containing messaging on gender and SGBV for the Commission on the Status of Women, the 2017 Global Humanitarian Policy Forum, the Center for Global Development and the Royal Institute of International Affairs and as well as briefings to the Security Council, among others.. For International Women’s Day, OCHA launched a successful social media campaign with its “Messengers of Humanity” community around their “Female Humanitarian Heroes” highlighting the professional achievements of women working in humanitarian affairs.
In August, OCHA’s annual World Humanitarian Day campaign centered around the hashtag #NotATarget and advocated for the protection of civilians in armed conflict. The campaign included a strong focus on sexual violence in conflicts, and what can be done to empower and support survivors. As part of a unique collaboration with Facebook, OCHA launched a brand-new Live filter, allowing users to step into the shoes of people affected by conflict as they read real stories from civilians trapped in conflict. The filter included a series of stories by women and girls to highlight the unique challenges they experience in crisis. As part of the campaign, SCB collaborated with UNFPA on a blogpost “Dispelling five myths about sexual violence in emergencies” which was published on OCHA’s Medium platform.
OCHA also supports the International Day to end violence against women and the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. In 2017, OCHA launched a digital campaign, which included an updated Facebook Live filter from World Humanitarian Day that exclusively featured stories of survival from women and girls affected by conflict. The Emergency Relief Coordinator and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, as well as staff members from OCHA’s field offices, participated in the campaign by recording videos, where they shared the real stories of women trapped in conflict.
In line with commitments to the global Call to Action and in accordance with the GBV Guidelines, IOM continues to work to improve GBV prevention and risk mitigation in emergency response operations worldwide. Efforts are geared towards the needs of front-line field staff and, to this end, experts from global support teams in Headquarters deploy experts to provide technical and coordination support to field offices to strengthen GBV prevention. The deployments generate several results, ranging from infrastructural site improvements and establishment of women friendly spaces, to integration of GBV prevention in emergency strategies, creation and dissemination of GBV referral pathways and other information, education and communication materials.
At field level, in South Sudan, IOM is working to strengthen social norms, values and existing capacities that support positive health outcomes, violence prevention and gender quality, and to transform harmful social norms which perpetuate high rates of morbidity and mortality, perpetuate violence against women and girls, and undermine gender quality in the POCs and host communities. In Nigeria, under a joint CCCM, MHPSS and Shelter action plan, IOM carried out awareness raising sessions on GBV targeting IDPs.
Moreover, a second edition of the Site Planning and GBV guidelines has been published, which will be used for training and capacity building purposes, Shelter/NFI Distribution Guidelines completed, and a site planning and GBV video created. IOM also advocates the inclusion of sexual crimes committed against women and girls during conflicts into large-scale victims’ reparations programmes and policies.
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.