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1. WHO together with UNFPA and UN Women published a clinical handbook for health providers titled "Health care for women subjected to intimate partner violence or sexual violence". Adaptation workshops and trainings based on the handbook have been held in multiple settings in 2017, including: Pakistan, Botswana, Namibia, Uruguay, and Zambia and in regional settings (e.g. Caribbean and East and southern Africa). 2. Technical support is being provided to countries and in-country partners who want to conduct national prevalence surveys on violence against women using the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence methodology. 3. WHO is finalising the development of curricula for use in in-service and pre-service training to strengthen the knowledge, skills and attitudes of health-care professionals and ensure they can respond effectively to women suffering abuse and its consequences.
In 2017 and 2018, two key training workshops were held for FAO staff and partners in Somalia (Mogadishu and Hargeissa) and north east Nigeria (Maiduguri). The scope of the trainings was to support the integration of gender, gender-based violence and accountability to affected populations (AAP) in FAO’s programming and planning. They were articulated around participatory, practical and interactive sessions and participants were oriented on relevant global frameworks such as the World Humanitarian Summit, Grand Bargain commitments and the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on PSEA as well as have the opportunity to apply tools for gender and GBV analysis and assessment, amongst others.
In Nigeria, the importance of energy access for affected populations in the context of acute emergencies and protracted crises cannot be overstated. Vulnerable populations – including refugees, IDPs and the communities hosting them – often have very limited access to cooking fuel and other forms of energy. Women and children primarily shoulder the burden of collecting fuelwood and preparing meals for the family. This gender-differentiated role has major consequences in terms of productive time lost and exposure to protection risks and health risks. Against this background, the participatory, practical and context-specific training was delivered on challenges relating to energy access, environment and displacement, with a focus on resilience programming and gender mainstreaming in the three Nigerian states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
1. The International Training Centre of the ILO collaborated with the Fair Wear Foundation to organize the Gender Forum on October 2017, a practical training and knowledge-sharing event. 2. The Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Programme is an ILO global programme that improves productivity and working conditions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Several SCORE Trainings in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia focused on gender inclusion and violence in the workplace have taken place in 2017 or are scheduled for 2018. 1. In 2017, the project TRIANGLE in ASEAN conducted trainings on women’s empowerment and gender equality for all TRIANGLE staff and implementing partners in each of its six target countries – Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam –. These were attended by 173 people and included sessions on gender awareness, gender biases and stereotypes, different dimensions of discrimination and gender responsiveness.2. A series of information sessions took place in early 2018 in selected Arab States to prepare ILO constituents to participate in the International Labour Conference discussions on a possible international instrument on violence and harassment in the world of work.3. The ILO country Office in Dakar organized a round table discussion entitled “A world of work without violence and harassment”, which led to the constitution of a working group on the issue and the creation of a questionnaire to identify situations of violence and harassment. 4. The ILO organized a workshop entitled “Equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace” on the occasion of the fourth meeting of the Economic and Social Commission of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA). 5. From January 2017 to March 2018, Better Work has provided five training activities on sexual harassment prevention in Bangladesh, involving a total of 547 participants.
View More1. The International Training Centre of the ILO collaborated with the Fair Wear Foundation to organize the Gender Forum on October 2017, a practical training and knowledge-sharing event.
2. The Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Programme is an ILO global programme that improves productivity and working conditions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Several SCORE Trainings in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia focused on gender inclusion and violence in the workplace have taken place in 2017 or are scheduled for 2018.
1. In 2017, the project TRIANGLE in ASEAN conducted trainings on women’s empowerment and gender equality for all TRIANGLE staff and implementing partners in each of its six target countries – Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam –. These were attended by 173 people and included sessions on gender awareness, gender biases and stereotypes, different dimensions of discrimination and gender responsiveness.
2. A series of information sessions took place in early 2018 in selected Arab States to prepare ILO constituents to participate in the International Labour Conference discussions on a possible international instrument on violence and harassment in the world of work.
3. The ILO country Office in Dakar organized a round table discussion entitled “A world of work without violence and harassment”, which led to the constitution of a working group on the issue and the creation of a questionnaire to identify situations of violence and harassment.
4. The ILO organized a workshop entitled “Equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace” on the occasion of the fourth meeting of the Economic and Social Commission of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA).
5. From January 2017 to March 2018, Better Work has provided five training activities on sexual harassment prevention in Bangladesh, involving a total of 547 participants.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, are assisting the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Lebanon to develop a national strategy to combat violence against women.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, UN Women, OHCHR and UNDP in Lebanon, is providing technical support to the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) to develop a National Action Plan on women, peace and security.
ESCWA conducted a field visit and a national consultation on estimating the cost of marital violence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This involved engaging with the National Family Affairs Council, in addition to other stakeholders such a government entities and civil society members providing services for survivors of family violence.
ESCWA is developing “Training Guide: The Economic Cost of Violence” that will be used as part of a larger future training and capacity building exercise on how to cost violence against women in the Arab region. The guide provides an overview of what is involved in conducting a costing study, including how to design a survey.
ESCWA facilitated a workshop for the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security in the Republic of Sudan on the women, peace and security agenda, and shared positive experiences from the region and elsewhere. National priorities and possible partnerships were discussed and recommendations shared.
ESCWA supported the General Women’s Union in the United Arab Emirates on developing a national strategy on women, peace and security.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, facilitated a workshop entitled to “International Mechanisms for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women between the Text and the Judicial Application” that aimed to enhance the capacity of the government of Lebanon and the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) to develop a national strategy to combat violence against women.
ESCWA, in partnership with the Free Sight Association, the Geneva Institute for Human Rights (GIHR), the International Institute for Nonviolence (NOVACT), the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), and the Tunisian Association “TIGAR” for Equitable Citizenship, participated in a workshop that was part a project on “Tunisian Women, Peace and Security.” The workshop brought together 25 participants from local NGOs in the Governorate of Kasserine to discuss their role in the implementation and monitoring of the national action plan on women, peace and security in Tunisia.
ESCWA facilitated a workshop on “The Role of Media and Academia in Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Lebanon,” to facilitate the development of the women, peace and security agenda in Lebanon.
The November 2017 sub-regional Workshop on Gender Statistics ( http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=43956) included a session on gender statistics for the SDGs, including the indicators on violence against women. The workshop aimed to develop the capacity of experts from national statistics to collect data and produce statistics in line with the requirements of the SDGs and according to internationally-agreed methodology.
In Vietnam, UNODC supported the revision of the draft law on legal aid, focusing on strengthening access to justice for women and children.
In Myanmar, UNODC is preparing standard operating procedures for the police on responding to cases of sexual and gender-based violence, and on the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in the police force.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported the judicial reform process that resulted in the adoption of new criminal legislation, and trained over 50 criminal justice practitioners who will facilitate further training on the new legislation for law enforcement, prosecutorial and judicial bodies.
In Southern Africa, UNODC supported Lesotho in the review of its domestic violence bill and coordinated a consultative workshop in preparation for a legislative drafting workshop.
UNRWA does not generally work on legislation development but provides input as and when requested by host governments and partners.
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UN Women Egypt in close collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW) supported the comprehensive review of the Personal Status Laws (family laws) and Penal Code to analyze the impact of such laws on women's ability to access justice for all forms of violence. The process brought together multiple actors in the justice chain, including members of the judiciary, prosecution, police, social affairs, in addition to specialized councils to develop draft laws and/or amend existing ones to prevent violence against women, punish perpetrators, and ensure the rights of survivors. As a result of several rounds of consultations by national stakeholders, a draft comprehensive law on violence against women, that aims to support a comprehensive response to survivors of violence, including the provision of support and protection services, was developed and will be submitted to parliament by the NCW.
UN Women has been advocating for the passage of The Anti-Domestic Violence Law, introduced to parliament in 2015 and still under review. In January 2017, the law was presented to discussion in front of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, however it failed to pass the committees. The strengths of the draft bill include provisions for services for domestic violence survivors, protection orders (restraining orders) and penalties for their breach, and the establishment of a cross-ministerial committee to combat domestic violence. However, the law does not set penalties for committing the crime of domestic violence, does not repeal provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code that condone domestic violence (such as weaker penalties for ‘honor crimes’), and prioritizes reconciliation over justice.
In November, an amendment to the Personal Status Law (No. 188 of 1959) was proposed that would allow men to marry girls as young as 9 years old. The bill indicates that when issuing decisions on personal status issues, the court should follow the rulings of religious scholars for Sunni or Shiite sects, depending on the husband's faith (i.e. the Scholars' Congregation at the Shiite Endowment Diwan or Scholars' Fatwa Council which represents Sunni jurisprudence). The efforts of CSO’s, women activists, women committee in the parliament and UN agencies including UN Women led to the withdraw of the draft law from the parliament agenda by mid-November.Morocco MCO
UN Women first acted through supporting the civil society in its advocacy efforts to align draft law no 103.13 with international norms and standards, and more especially through supporting the memorandums of the coalition Printemps de la Dignité composed of 25 NGOs throughout the national territory. The coalition is specialized in advocating to the government and to the Parliament on laws and public policies related to EVAW, and has developed a Memorandum on each of the expected reforms and defended their arguments before the Ministry of Justice. UN Women has supported the coalition providing it with tools and guidance on international norms, laws and strategies to EVAW.
UN WomenPalestine supported national counterparts to develop a Family Protection Bill (FPB) in line with international human rights standards. UNW's support included technical advice to the technical committee that was formed by the Council of Ministries to work on the FPB. UNW also facilitated the engagement of the CSOs in this process through sensitizing partners on the rights of CSOs to take part in this process and supporting CSOs simultaneously by providing them with technical and financial support to advocate for the adoption of a responsive bill. UNW has also supported the justice sector strategy to identify legislative priorities for the years 2017- 2022 , which included the penal code, the personal status law, the family protection bill, cybercrime law and others.
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UN Women Lebanon, in cooperation with several activist civil society organizations, supported a campiagn in 2016 to repeal article 522 of the Penal Code related to rape-marriage, which releases the perpetrator in case he marries the victim. In June 2017, the campaing efforts were materialized with the approval of the Parliament to repeal the article.
The UNESCO, UN Women and UNFPA Joint Programme on Empowering Adolescent Girls and Young Women through Education is, in Tanzania, supporting the reform of discriminatory legislations for adolescent girls and strengthening coordination mechanisms on violence against women and girls.
Drafting of the UN-EU Spotlights Initiative for Nigeria, which will focus on fighting violence against women and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
As per its Strategic Framework 2018-21, UNV supports members states in developing legislation that promote volunteerism and volunteer action. Emphasis is put on mainstreaming gender into these policies and legislation.