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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.”
DRC
Multisectoral assistance to over 30,000 victims of survivors of sexual violence by organizations supported by United Nations agencies (UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UN AIDS, UNJHRO, UNHCR).
SENEGAL
UN Women supported the women's collective for peace in Casamance (Senegal) to set up a centre for the care of victims of violence, by providing them with health, justice and security services. This same "one stop center" model is replicated in 2 health centers through the Muskoka project for the medical care of women and girls’ victims of violence.
CABO VERDE
Continued technical support in strengthening capacities of CAV and Rede Sol, as the main existing structures for the assistance of victims, in the context of the GBV Law implementation.
MALI
To facilitate access to services for women and girls’ survivors of GBV, two "one-stop" holistic care centres where all care services will be available were initiated.
The first Centre is initiated by UN Women through the Police Social Service on the left bank of Bamako and the second by UNFPA through the Commune V reference health centre on the right bank. These two centres will provide sufficient quality services to meet the specific needs of women and girls’ survivors of violence in and around Bamako District. In the light of the lessons learned from the previous programmes on care units, UN Women has begun to reflect on the functioning of victim care units in order to define a more practical content, which will increase the flow of functioning of these units and respond to recurrent difficulties encountered, such as conflicts of interest. To make the process of dealing with GBV victims effective and uniform, UN Women started the process of updating the Standard Operating Procedures with the involvement of all stakeholders
CAMEROON
UWN Cameroon, women and girls among refugees, IDPs, and host communities, including Boko Haram survivors know and use the protection mechanisms available to them through Un Women intervention in collaboration of others humanitarian actors. GBV survivors benefited from integrated services through different mechanisms: a) Women Cohesion Spaces, b) four GBV units in the Women Empowerment Centers c) Gender desks at police stations, and d) mobile clinics.
LIBERIA
In 2017, 1,685 GBV survivors accessed the referral pathway and obtained services based on need. A total of 1,225 survivors accessed health services, 1,028 reported case to the Women and Children Protection Section; 1,199 obtained psychosocial support with 88 provided legal aid. 120 were lodged in safe homes and 7 persons out of 1,225 were provided economic support.
NIGER
Through the gender and humanitarian action projects, the UN Office for Women in Niger provided important support to displaced women, refugees and returnees in 2015-16. This is how he developed a holistic approach with the Gender and Humanitarian Action programme in Diffa where violence reached its paroxysm with the intervention of Boko Harm through a holistic approach, prevention and care of women, girls.
The aim of the anti-violence component of this programme is to prevent violence through awareness-raising and the establishment of a system for dealing with victims of violence:
Activities implemented:
- The creation of cohesion spaces in Cablewa, Boudouri and Sayam Forage;
- The creation of gender units in the services of the National Guard, the Gendarmerie and the Police to care for survivors of GBV in Diffa;
- Training SDFs on gender, taking gender into account in their security actions;
- Awareness campaign on GBV with parliamentarians in Diffa;
The following results were achieved:
- More than 100,000 people were sensitized on women's rights and gender-based violence with parliamentarians in the Garin Wazam, Kablewa, Buduri, Tam, Mainie Soroa and Sayam Forage camps in the Diffa region;
- More than 400 police forces (police, gendarme, national guard) were trained on gender, GBV, GBV survivor care, etc;
- Three spaces of cohesion have been created in the camps (these spaces allow women to get together in a safe environment and discussed issues related to women's rights, GBV with the support of a psychologist) for discussions on GBV and GBV management.
- An alert system is created between the camps equipped health centres gender law enforcement units for a coordinated intervention between these different services for faster care;
- Five units were created to take charge within the FDS structure: 2 units in the gendarmerie; 2 units in the police and one unit in the National Guard;
- Five documentary films were made as part of this awareness campaign on women's rights, the fight against GBV and harmful practices.
All these achievements have contributed to raising awareness of women's rights, significantly reducing GBV, and taking care of survivors with great innovations through cohesion spaces and gender units.
NIGERIA
UN Women Nigeria during the reporting period continued its advocacy to end GBV at national and its programmes states levels. During the 16 Days of Activism, it organised a symposium titled; Mobilizing to Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions to discuss GBV in education, with particular reference to sexual harassment in tertiary institutions and to explore how leadership, advocacy and alliance-building can create an enabling environment for the eradication of sexual harassment in educational institutions. There were also several media advocacy by UN Women and her partners
Also UN Women supported the federal ministry of women affairs and partners to collate the Nigeria Periodic Report on CEDAW
106 Chiboks Girls rescued from Boko Haram returned to school following UN Women collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and other partners
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.
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.
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.
IOM's Migration Health Department (MHD) continues to integrate gender equality and GBV in various aspects, including starting the development its handbook on Community Based Psychosocial Support in Emergencies. The manual will include reference to specialized MHPSS support for GBV survivors in emergency settings. CCCM-MHPSS training tools have also been developed and piloted to support closer collaboration between CCCM and MHPSS teams in field locations, like Northern Nigeria. Moreover, MHD provided training on GBV and/or Clinical Management of Rape (CMR) at various missions including Bangladesh, Somalia, as well as the Regional Office for Europe (RO Brussels). The Regional Office in Brussels also organized trainings on GBV for service providers who work with migrants and refugees.
In Bangladesh, IOM continued to increase the support for GBV survivors, framed within an increase in support for women and girls in general, in particular through the establishment of women and girls safe spaces; provision of resources that specifically target women and girls safety and dignity such as NFI kits and solar lanterns; improved accessibility and safety within sites; and improved mechanisms for seeking specialized support such as case management and clinical management of rape.
IOM programs also supported access to justice. In Colombia, for example, the Victims and Inclusion for Peace programmes are supporting survivors of sexual violence to access services and protection, and building the capacity of institutions to safely and empathetically respond to reports of these violations.
OHCHR is currently engaged in the development of the UN policy on conflict-related sexual violence for peace operations.
In Ukraine, OHCHR jointly with UN Women led the drafting and finalisation of the UN Country Team Submission to the CEDAW Committee. It also participated in the consultations organised CSOs shadow reports to the CEDAW Committee. The Office thereby participated in the confidential briefing of the CEDAW committee, which led to the insertion of some of their recommendations in the Committee concluding observations – followed by the dissemination of the recommendations.
In 2017, OHCHR supported the elaboration by the CEDAW of General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, including through the active participation of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Support was also provided for the development of global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration envisaged in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (A/71/1) of the General Assembly. Including during the Fifth Informal Thematic Session on “Smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons and contemporary forms of slavery, held on 5 September 2017 in Vienna. Besides this, the SRVAW campaigned for the inclusion of the human rights aspects of possible victims of trafficking, especially women and children from among migrants and refugees, via high-level bilateral discussions.
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 2017, the WG Discrimination against women and the Special Rapporteur on VAW sent out at least 71 communications on individual cases and legislation/policies not complying with international human rights law.
In Honduras, OHCHR has been monitoring cases of domestic violence, and the protection mechanisms for victims, including through protection shelters for women and girl’s victims or survivors of gender-based violence in several cities.
In CAR, OHCHR developed protection measures for victims of sexual violence and through engagement with key GBV actors.
In Haiti, OHCHR provided life skills trainings, psychosocial and rehabilitation activities for about 150 women in detention.
In Guatemala, 2017 OHCHR carried out monitoring on the human rights situation of women working in Guatemala’s two larges employment sectors - the textile industry (sweatshops) and agriculture – including with respect to situations of violence and a violation of labour rights. The Office also worked closely with the Ministry of Labour to address these issues, such as through joint labour inspections and the development of action protocols.
In Mali, OHCHR managed to fully establish the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) technical working group and strategic group that provides systematic, timely, reliable, and objective information on conflict-related sexual violence (which in Mali affects essentially women).