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Within the framework of its thematic debate on ‘Aspects of violence against women that pertain directly to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice’, the Commission, at its seventeenth session from 14-18 April 2008, considered the report of the Secretary-General on crime prevention and criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls. The Commission, in decision 17/1, requested UNODC to convene an intergovernmental group of experts, in cooperation with the institutes of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme network, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, to review and update the Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

In October 2007, the International Conference on the State of Safety in World Cities took place in Mexico. The Conference developed an international framework to support cities in their efforts to address issues of violence and crime, including violence against women; outlined strategies and approaches to address violence against women; and built partnerships between United Nations, and a wide spectrum of stakeholders to address urban crime and violence.

In September 2007, OHCHR provided support to the sixth session of Human Rights Council, on gender integration, where an expert panel considered ways to ensure the integration of a gender perspective into the work of the Council. During its resumed sixth session in December 2007, the Council adopted a resolution on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system in which it decided to incorporate into its programme of work as a minimum an annual full-day meeting, to discuss the human rights of women. The responsibility to provide support to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was formally transferred to the OHCHR as of 1 January 2008. In addition to logistical and over-all support, discussions were held with the Committee on the provision of analytical assistance on specific thematic issues, such as sexual violence, honour killings, domestic violence and the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325.

ESCWA published in 2007 the Report on Women in the Arab region: Achievements, Obstacles and Prospects for Advancement, which reviewed the status of Arab women and their achievements in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Arab Plan of Action and the Beirut Declaration, a five year plan which includes women’s rights and violence against women among its five priority areas.

At the global level, UNICEF contributed extensively to the work of the General Assembly on a comprehensive policy and strategy for victims of abuse and exploitation by United Nations staff and partners. The policy, which was adopted by the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/62/214 in December 2007, explicitly notes the vulnerabilities of women and girls and seeks remedy for harm done to them.

DAW, now part of UN Women, prepared reports of the Secretary-General to the sixty-second session of the General Assembly on intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women (A/62/201) and violence against women migrant workers (A/62/177); as well as reports of the Secretary-General to the fifty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women on ending female genital mutilation (E/CN.6/2008/3) and forced marriage of the girl child (E/CN.6/2008/4). In follow–up to General Assembly resolution 61/143, DAW, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) and the United Nations Statistics Division, organized an expert group meeting on “Indicators to measure violence against women”, Geneva, Switzerland, October 2007. DAW and UNSD are supporting a joint dialogue of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Statistical Commission, on 28 February 2008, to discuss the outcomes and proposed indicators of the expert group meeting. DAW has initiated work for the development of a coordinated database on violence against women, as requested by the General Assembly (A/RES/61/143, para. 19).

In partnership with Gender Links, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in its capacity as Chair of the Southern African Gender and Human Rights Advisory Group, promoted the development of score-cards to measure progress in ending violence against women in the context of the SADCC Gender and Development Protocol.

In November 2007, ECLAC published the regional report on violence against women. The Spanish version was launched in November 2007, under the title “!Ni una más! El derecho a vivir una vida libre de violencia en América Latina y el Caribe”. In December 2007, ECLAC published a report on the follow-up to Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals, including a chapter on violence against women.

As a follow up to the Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children, in December 2007, UNICEF supported the development of a new publication on violence against girls, entitled ” From Invisible to Indivisible” highlighting the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s study on violence against children and the study on violence against women.

ECE’s work is undertaken by a Task Force that operates under the framework of the Conference of European Statisticians. The Task Force prepared an assessment of existing surveys and methodology on measuring violence. During 2006-2007, ECE completed the following: a comparative analysis of 25 National Surveys carried out by 17 Member countries10, which highlighted the differences and commonalities of the methodology used to measure violence against women and a common basis from where it would be possible to develop standard methodology was also identified; eight indicators were identified for sexual, physical and intimate partner violence, and harmful practices while other areas were identified for the development of new indicators, such as sexual harassment, killing of women by intimate partners, psychological and economic intimate partner violence.