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With the Sustainable Development Agenda committed to ending all forms of violence against women and girls, UN Women has led an initiative involving six other UN entities to create the Framework to Underpin Action to Prevent Violence against Women. It maps evidence-based and emerging practices in preventing violence, with a focus on addressing root causes, risk and protective factors.
In March 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women (UNiTE) launched its call to action for the 16 Days of Activism, ‘Orange the World: End Violence against Women and Girls’. The theme of prevention of violence against women and girls was selected as a focus to provide opportunities to highlight the need for greater investment in ending violence against women and girls at global, regional and country level in the particular context of the new SDG framework with a focus on prevention as a long term solution.
In Peru, UNODC started implementing a new project on crime prevention and victim assistance, which is aimed at reducing small-arms violence and promoting dialogue for peaceful coexistence, addressing the needs of vulnerable groups and reducing the vulnerability of adolescents to gender-based violence by promoting education and health programmes.
In March 2014, during the 25th session of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR partnered with UNFPA, UNICEF and others to bring the award winning exhibition, “Too Young to Wed” to the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the issue of child marriage.
As part of activities marking the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence in Nigeria, UNIC (United Nations Information Centres) in collaboration with International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and West African Women Association (WAWA) organized a seminar to explore the legal frameworks in support of women's rights. The seminar identified and addressed the causes of violence against women and the need to speak out, network and raise awareness. Over 120 participants of whom over 100 were women, attended the seminar held at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Secretariat, Lagos Liaison Office in Nigeria.
The Director of UNIC (United Nations Information Centres) New Delhi was the Guest of Honour at the launch of a campaign "Against Acid Violence", organised by Acid Survivors Foundation India (ASFI) at Juniper Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India. The National Director & CEO ASFI presented some alarming statistics that have been collected to show what a widely prevalent phenomenon this had become in India and gave an overview of the work of ASFI. An acid attack survivor thanked ASFI for taking their voice to the world at large. The Chairperson of the National Commission for Women shed light on the justice system noting that there was literally no recourse to justice.
In Mexico, UN Women and eleven other UN agencies launched a campaign against early and child marriage, to establish eighteen as the minimum age for marriage at federal and state level without exception. The Mexican Senate and the Congress of Oaxaca announced reforms on the issue, while the President pledged to support the campaign and eradicate early marriage in law and practice.
The IFAD gender team promoted household methodologies (HHM) in the loan portfolio: by enabling families to plan a vision for their household together and analyse why they are not currently achieving their vision, gender inequalities are frequently identified as one of the main reasons for preventing the household from progressing. Intimate partner violence is often cited as an area that needs to be addressed. HHMs are practices in several IFAD-supported projects eg Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda.
During the period 2014 to 2016, ESCWA focused several of its Gender Discussion Series on Violence against Women. In December 2014, ESCWA organized a discussion on “Gender-related research and policy priorities emerging in the context of recent regional developments, particularly in humanitarian and conflict settings”. This event was organized in collaboration with the ABAAD Resource Centre for Gender Equality in the context of 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence. Within this framework, ESCWA organized several advocacy activities against Gender-Based Violence.
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UNESCO organized a round table on domestic and intimate partner violence, gendered perspective on conflict, violence, refugee protection and the rights of the child.