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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.
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.
UN Women has embarked on a number of prevention and awareness raising campaigns and advocacy such as “Take a Stand” initiative.
Internally, within the UN system, UN Women is coordinating closely with other UN agencies on issues related to Prevention of and Reporting on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (by UN personnel)
In addition to this, we have UN Women Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) focal points in all of our six regions whose roles within UN Women are to:
- communicate their role and raise awareness of the ST/SGB/2003/13;
- to ensure that complaints against the individuals/entities to whom the ST/SGB/2003/13 applies are reported to OIOS;
- to report to the UN Women SEA working group at HQ in order to share any issues, cases or local observations; and gather data for onward reporting;
- to educate the UN Women workforce regarding the prevention of SEA.
In Mexico, UNODC supported capacity building for prosecutors and judges in prosecuting violence against women case and providing assistance to victims. A new project in 19 Mexican states started developing capacities of first response police officers and emergency services of the federal police for victims of gender-based violence.
In Argentina, OHCHR started supporting the process of adaptation of the Latin American Model Protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women (feminicide), similar actions will take place in Chile and Peru. OHCHR RO for Central America and UN Women Regional Office for Latin America organized workshops with the Prosecutor’s specialized Unit for adaptation of the Latin American Model Protocol. The workshop also shared the Brazil experience with the adaptation of the Protocol. Support will continue into 2017. In Chile, the Interagency Group on Gender and Human Rights co-organized a workshop with the Ministry of Interior to discuss the different impact on women, men, girls and boys, and that women and men have different capacities to respond according to their social, economic, cultural and geographical situation and therefore differentiated answers and solutions are required.
In Latin America, OHCHR in coordination with UNDP Regional Virtual School, finalized the design of a self-learning on-line course on the Latin American Protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women. The virtual course was successfully tested by 28 participants from the region (academia, Judiciary, Public-Attorney’s Offices, forensics, psychologists and OHCHR staff). Related traning courses have been organised by OHCHR RGA in Panama, in Bolivia, and other countries from the region.
In DRC, the UNJHRO (United Nations Joint Human Rights Office) trained 37 medical doctors on sexual violence forensic expertise, 40 lawyers on the judicial assistance to victims of SGBV, 43 penal court registers’ and prosecution secretaries on the management and handling of SGBV files, 35 magistrates on sexual violence and SGBV related matters as well as protection of victims and witnesses and drafting of judgments. The UNJHRO also organised 3 workshops for magistrates on feminization of justice and fight against impunity of SGBV.
In Somalia, UNODC is implementing a project funded by UN ACTION to pilot the UNODC/WHO tool on strengthening the medico-legal response to sexual violence. Police officers were trained on criminal justice response to gender-based violence in conflict.
In Vietnam, the Domestic Violence Minimum Intervention Package was implemented in two provinces, and 12 Domestic Violence Rapid Response Teams were established.
In the Asia-Pacific region, UNODC conducted a training of trainers on effective prosecution responses to violence against women and girls, attended by prosecutors from 10 countries.