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UNHCR is a member of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies and contributed to the Call to Action’s five-year roadmap that reflects collective goals and focuses on the systemic changes that must be made in policy and practice to transform humanitarian response to SGBV. The Call to Action is a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to transform the way SGBV is addressed in emergencies, so that every humanitarian response provides safe and comprehensive services for those affected by SGBV and mitigates SGBV risk from the earliest phases of a crisis. UNHCR has made ten commitments aimed at changing UNHCR’s internal institutional policies, improving inter-agency systems, and implementing SGBV prevention and response programmes from the onset of emergencies.
In 2015, an agreement between UNICEF and the Child Soldiers Initiative was reached to second a child protection adviser to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom). As part of a new cooperation arrangement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), UNICEF participated in the training in Zaragoza, Spain (October 2015), which resulted in a pre-deployment training of 32,000 NATO troops and civilians on practical field-oriented measures in preventing, monitoring and responding to violence and violations against women and children. This led into the integration of child protection in NATO-led operations, and establishing a violations alert mechanism when deployed in peace-keeping operations.
The 'Global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children’ was endorsed by the 193 Member States of WHO at the May 2016 World Health Assembly. This plan encourages actions by MS, national and international partners and WHO along 4 strategic directions: Strengthening the health systems leadership and governance; providing comprehensive health, including SRH, services and training health providers ; strengthening prevention programming; and improving evidence and information to address violence against women and girls.
OHCHR assisted CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) and the CRC (Committee on the Rights of the Child) in elaborating joint General Recommendation No. 31/General Comment No. 18 on harmful practices and the update of General Recommendation 19 on violence against women.
WHO, with support from UNA, developed a methodology for measuring the experience and perpetration of violence among women and men in conflict/humanitarian settings, which has been further developed by partners and is currently being tested.
UNODC convened an open-ended intergovernmental expert group meeting on gender-related killing of women and girls in Bangkok in November 2014, adopting recommendations for action against gender-related killing of women and girls (E/CN.15/2015/16).
UNODC was involved in the work of the global focal point for police, justice and corrections in post-conflict and other crisis situations, in relation to joint field missions, planning and programming, and in strategic and operational discussions at headquarters. Led by UNDP and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in partnership with Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN-Women and UNODC, the global focal point supports UN country presences in mission and non-mission settings.
In 2015, the Central African Republic saw an increase in the number of reported cases of sexual exploitation and abuse involving children by United Nations personnel or by foreign military personnel associated with a United Nations mandate, rising to 28 cases from 9 reported cases in 2014. 1)In response, UNICEF implemented a Notification Alert to senior management to strengthen the reporting of child rights allegations and incidents, this contributed to improving timely reporting and monitoring of cases. 2)UNICEF increased the scale up assistance and support to victims, through medical care, psychosocial support, and legal assistance, complemented with provision of food, clothing and hygiene kits. UNICEF also provided training to partners from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the NGOs providing care to victims, an important step in expanding response capacity within the country. 3)In order to avoid stigma and media attention and in the best interest of the child, UNICEF worked with NGOs to relocate the victims to different neighborhoods. This work has been critical not only for providing support to child victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, but also as an entry point for strengthening a broader programmatic approach to prevention and response to gender-based violence in emergencies.
In 2015, ESCWA produced a study entitled “Endurance, Resistance and Survival – Women and Girls in Conflict and Humanitarian Settings in the Arab region”, focusing on the gendered typology of conflicts in the region and their implications on the status of women.
ESCWA has implemented a project to build the capacities of parliamentarians from selected Arab countries and other stakeholders in implementing UNSCR 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security. This project has resulted in the delivery of training workshops to foster the formulation of national action plans aiming at amending specific discriminative legislation to better protect women during armed conflicts, enacting new laws to facilitate women’s access to decision-making positions in peace process and endorsing financial implications by Governments to carry out action plans accordingly.