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UN Women ROAP is supporting several offices that are engaged in legislative review, by contracting and making available experts on VAW legislation. This expert support has provided analysis and suggestions for legislation in the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam in this time period. The legislative review process is ongoing in all three countries.
In Colombia within the framework of the electoral reform UN Women supported the National Electoral Council and the Congress to define measures to address violence against women in politics. For the first time, a definition of Violence Against Women in Politics and its manifestations was established, in line with the provisions of the CIM-MESECVI Model Law, allocating functions to the National Electoral Council to investigate and monitor cases of Violence Against Women in Politics.
UN Women’s office in Ecuador provided targeted advocacy and technical support to national partners directly contributing to the regulations on VAWP included in the reform to the electoral legal framework (Code of Democracy 2020).
In Mexico, UN Women provided technical assistance to the Federal Legislative bodies during the legal reform process of eight electoral legal frameworks to address and respond to VAWP.
UN Women ESARO in partnership with the country offices, UN partner agencies and the African Union is engaging traditional authorities across Africa by working with AU to launch Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA), /Conseil des Autorites Traditionnelles D’Afrique (CONATA), so that it effectively drives a pan-African movement of Traditional Leaders to end child marriage, FGM/C and other harmful practices. Throughout the year the African Union engaged COTLA/CONATA as an advocacy institution following the AU statutory meeting of ministers in charge of Social Development, Labor and Employment who took a decision calling for an extension of the campaign to end child marriage for a five-year period from 2019 to 2023. In the year, COTLA/CONATA convened an annual steering committee meeting in Lusaka through the support of the Republic of the Government of Zambia, and with financial and technical support of UN WOMEN.
UN Women is also supporting the framing of bye-laws to harmonize the national laws with the customary laws in line with the international conventions. At least in 5 countries such initiatives are ongoing, these include, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Liberia.
In Burundi, The new law No. 1/11 of 20 May 2019 on electoral code reform, improves the level of positioning women on the electoral roll and offers more opportunities to women to stand as candidates in legislative elections. In addition, the code allows women to be elected in their husbands’ origin regions contrary to the provisions of the reformed law which limited the candidacies of women to their origin regions.
In Ethiopia: During the reporting period, UN Women supported the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to undertake a gender analysis of Ethiopia’s draft electoral law. When the law was adopted not including all the proposed changes, UN Women ensured that the legislative committee that was working on directives based on the Electoral Law was provided with a technical support about gender sensitive stipulations to make the derivative legislations gender responsive. The gender analysis identified issues that need to be addressed in terms of affirmative action stipulations, media use during elections, security of voters and candidates, voters that may need assistance during registration and voting and representation of women in different election management bodies etc.
Moreover, UN Women conducted a National Comprehensive Mapping and Analysis of National Laws in Ethiopia as a step towards the elimination of discriminatory laws. The assessment is a comprehensive legislative analysis from a gender perspective to provide an in-depth understanding of the current legal framework and the existence of gaps and discriminatory provisions, with the long-term vision of advocating for law reform to enact new laws or repeal or revise discriminatory legislation. The first draft of the assessment first draft was submitted for review. The gender analysis will explore the vast spectrum of laws to assess their gender responsiveness and will highlight discriminatory provisions and gaps that would require to be repeal, amended or enactment through a law reform process.
Another initiative led by UN Women was the different advocacy sessions towards the adoption of the family law in the Somali region. To this end, an assessment on the general socioeconomic status of women and girls in Somali and Afar regions and barriers hindering the adoption of the family law was conducted. The key findings of the study revealed that in almost all measures of socio-economic indicators including access to education, health, water, electricity, and sanitation, women and girls in both regions have significant challenges compared to other regions of Ethiopia. With regards to the prevalence of VAWG in the two regions, findings of the study show a much higher percentage of sexual violence against women with 14.7 percent in Somali and 13 percent in Afar regions when compared with that of the EDHS, 1% in Somali followed by 4% in Afar.
Most importantly, the study identified the factors hindering the adoption of family laws in Afar and Somali regions to be lack of political commitment, structural and institutional factors (competing priorities and inadequate financing) and social and cultural factors which are highly influenced by religion. The controversy on marriageable age, bigamy, period of widowhood, irregular union, child adoption, and Paternity issues were also among the causes for the resistance towards adopting Family law. UN women will continue popularizing the findings and recommendations of the study and undertaking policy advocacy at different level with the aim of harmonizing the regional family laws with that is the international standards.
The legal adjustment in the main electoral law has been finalized with the legislative drafting team taking some of the recommendations provided. However, the legislative process for matters that will be guided by directives from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, it is still an ongoing process that will also continue in 2020 which is the election year and beyond.
In regard to the preliminary work on the “Assessment of the discriminatory law” conducted for legal adjustments that will support and recommend the repeal or revision of all formal laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women and girls, UN Women will continue supporting the Federal Attorney General and other relevant institutions on the legal adjustment based on the recommendations provided.
The draft Somali and Afar assessment on the barriers for adoption of the federal revised family law, which was conducted in 2019, identified key areas that needs better advocacy coupled with continuous dialogues to bring the expected changes. Some of these areas include; enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the grass root community on the benefit of putting in place an alternative family dispute resolution in addition to the customary and religious systems, enhancing capacity of women and men parliamentarians to advocate for the adoption of family law, and facilitate a knowledge exchange with other Muslim dominated countries who have adopted family law that is in line with international standards. Using the existing partnership with the regional government and faith actors, UN Women will work towards the repeal of the existing regional law in 2020.
In Mozambique, the government of Mozambique continued to demonstrate strong commitment on advancing GEWE including fulfilment of regional and international obligations, which are evidenced by the following achievements: approval of the “Lei contra os casamentos Prematuros[1]” (Law against early marriage) (The Law was approved by the Parliament on 18th July 2019 and with its approval early unions in Mozambique are considered a crime. The law condemns until 8 years of imprisonment to adults who consent or obliged a child to accept a union and 12years for an adult who live in a forced union with a child girl); approval of the revised “Lei fa Familia (Family Law) e “Lei das Sucessões” (Inheritance Law). Additionally, 4 other Laws were reviewed to better respond to the issues included in the approved laws, namely: “Lei da Familia”- Family Law (Lei 22. 2019); “Lei da Revisão do codigo Penal”- Law of criminal code (Lei 24 de 2019); “Lei da revisão do Código do Processo Penal”- Law of review of the Criminal process code (Lei 25 de 2019) and the “Lei da revisao do Codigo de execução das Penas” –Law of review of the criminal process code- (Lei 26 de 2019).
In Rwanda, Under the equality in law by 2030 initiative, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Legal Aid Forum, a network of 38 national and international NGOs, universities, lawyers’ associations, faith-based organizations and trade unions to conduct an assessment aimed at determining whether there are any discriminatory provisions in Rwandan laws. The implementation of this initiative involves different actors from government and civil society organizations through a steering committee put in place for quality assurance. The Legal Aid Forum has submitted a draft report waiting for final validation by stakeholders. The report recognizes tremendous achievements for gender mainstreaming in Rwanda’s legal framework. However, there are still few provisions that need to be worked out through legislative reforms.
In South Sudan, the Reconstituted National Constitution Amendment Committee (R-NCAC) has been working on reviewing the various laws including the security sector laws. UN Women provided technical support in review of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army Act 2009, the National Security Services Act 2014, the Police Service Act 2009 and the Prisons Service Act 2011.
In Sudan, UN Women has supported the women’s movement to voice their concerns and claim the repeal and reform of laws violating women’s human rights such as the public Order Law which was then repealed in December 2019.
In Somalia, UN Women in close collaboration with UNFPA, UNDP and UNSOM is actively engaged in passage of the Sexual Offence Bill and FGM Bill. The Sexual Offence Bill has already been approved by the cabinet of ministers and awaits endorsement at the parliament. The FGM bill is in the final stages of drafting and soon will be presented to the cabinet of ministers. The Sexual Offences Bill (SOB) seeks to serve the purpose of combating sexual violence and consolidating laws of sexual offences, providing for punishment of perpetrators of sexual offenses, providing for procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and other related matters.
In Tanzania, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA), Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG), Women Fund Tanzania and the Women's Coalition on the Constitution Review and Leadership for advocacy to repeal the following laws that discriminate against women and girls: The Law of Marriage Act (LMA) of 1971 sanctions the marriage of girls as young as 14 years, while requiring boys to be adults. During 2019, the Tanzania Court of Appeal upheld a previous High Court judgment declaring the minimum age of marriage for girls, as set out in the Law of Marriage Act, unconstitutional. As a result, the National Assembly of the United Republic of Tanzania will need to pass legislation bringing this law in line with international standards. UN Women is currently strategizing with and supporting the Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG) and the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA) for advocacy to pass the required legislation.
In Uganda, UN Women provided technical support to the government in the legislative developments. Some of these include:
- The Sexual Offences Bill that seeks to consolidate all laws relating to sexual offences and provide procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offences in addition to measures to check sexual harassment in public places.
- Employment Bill 2019 that seeks to amend the Employment Act 2006 to operationalize the provisions of Art.40 of the Uganda Constitution and align it to the ILO convention No.190.
- The Marriage and Divorce bill which brings together all laws governing a Marriage and its dissolution;
- The legal aid bill that seeks to ensure indignant citizens access free legal aid services; and
- The Domestic Violence Act (DVA) which provides protection of women from violence committed to them in a domestic setting
- In Zimbabwe, UN Women supported work on the Marriages Bill by conducting a gender analysis of the bill and supported development of an alternative marriages bill as a reference document to inform parliamentary debates. The Bill seeks to consolidate the laws relating to marriages in Zimbabwe into one Act of Parliament and as such repeal the Marriages Act [Chapter 5:11] and the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07]. The Bill also criminalizes child marriage and decriminalizes HIV transmission (repealing Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act), both of which were key advocacy issues for UN Women in the reporting year.
Supported the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in preparing the new National Strategy on Gender Equality 2021-2030, which was approved in June 2021.
Supported the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to revise the Council of Ministers Decision (CoMD) No. 334, 2011 on functioning of coordinated referral mechanisms against gender-based violence. The new CoMD 327/2021 was approved on 2 June 2021
Supported the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to revise the Law on Measures Against Violence in Family Relations in 2020 which brings the law closer to Istanbul Convention principles and standards.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN Women supported the Safe network (network of CSOs running shelters and other specialist services) to advocate for changing the Law on protection from domestic violence in one part of the country (Federation BiH) and harmonize it with the Istanbul Convention. In July 2021, the law was adopted in one house of the Parliament and placed in procedure for full adoption. The new law will render wider protection to survivors and be a step towards sustainability of specialist services.
In North Macedonia, UN Women supported the Centre for Research and Policy Making to advocate for the adoption of a new Law on Prevention and Protection from VAW and DV and the amendment of the Criminal Code in compliance with the Istanbul Convention. The EVAW Law was adopted by Parliament in January 2021, while the CC amendment was adopted by Government in July 2021 and is currently pending Parliamentary approval.
In Moldova, UN Women CO supported the development and advocacy efforts for the approval of Law no. 113, which defines for the first time violence against women, so that it covers all forms of violence, it introduces the obligation to specialists of assessing the risks of committing/repeating acts of violence, it provides state-guaranteed legal assistance from the moment the complaint is filled by the survivor, it introduces better monitoring tools of the temporary restraining orders and deliberates on the creation of specialized EVAW units at local level in line with Istanbul Convention and international standards.
In Kosovo, UN Women supported advocacy efforts of the Kosovo Women Parliamentarian Caucus initiative to amend the Constitution by aligning local legislation with international standards. As a result, on 25 September 2020, the Kosovo Assembly voted in favour of amendment of the Constitution to include the Istanbul Convention in the list of its directly applicable international documents. This, combined with the comprehensive inclusion of DV in the Criminal Code as a separate criminal offense, and a specific Law on Domestic Violence, regulating the civil aspects, makes the legal framework in Kosovo on VAW aligned with international and regional standards enshrined in CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention and the European Union (EU) "Acquis".
UN Women, Kosovo is part of the working group on drafting of the Law against Domestic Violence, which is currently in drafting process under the auspices of Kosovo Parliamentary Commission for Committee on Human Rights, Gender Equality, Victims of Sexual Violence During the Conflict, Missing Persons and Petitions.
State bodies in Kazakhstan have enhanced capacity to revise legal and policy framework to strengthen response and prevention of VAW through active participation in working and expert groups in cooperation with the Parliament of Kazakhstan. UN Women provided technical support for expert community and Civil Society organizations. In 2020 UN Women continued supporting the development and adoption of the new draft harmonized national legislation in the field of prevention and combating domestic violence through the review of international best practices and legislation in the field of prevention of domestic violence and on issues of family and gender equality. A member of UN Women Kazakhstan Civil Society Advisory Group, national experts, as well as representatives of the National Women's Machinery worked closely with the Parliamentarians and CSOs to synthesize the best practices and integrate international standards.
In Tajikistan UN Women was instrumental in developing the National Strategy of Activitization of Role of Women in the Society (March, 2021) developed; UN Women substantially contributed to the draft Anti-Discrimination Law, which is being developed.
UNDP is working closely with national partners to support their legislative development to address gender-based violence, and to support national capacities on access to justice and protection through multi-sectoral support and services.
In Myanmar, UNDP and UN Women have made headways in linking legal aid services to women in villages and IDP camps. UNDP supported with technical inputs for the Prevention of violence against women Bill (PoVAW).
The Malaysian office is implementing a gender mainstreaming project with the Ministry of Women and drafting the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill.
UNDP is in close cooperation with the National Parliament to strengthen the legislation related to GBV and EVAWG in Timor- Leste.
In Peru, UNDP in cooperation with national ministries, is strengthening national system of justice for protection and punishment around VAW.
UNDP Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Argentina, Ecuador and many other country offices are working with national authorities in reviewing the existing law and drafting the necessary amendments or supporting new act to enhance gender responsiveness of legislation.
UNFPA works in partnerships with governments to develop legislation that is responsive to the needs of survivors and that is aligned with international laws and human rights standards. UNFPA provides technical, human and financial resources to support the development of national laws and largely engages with governments. By the end of 2020, as much as 96% of UNFPA Country Offices were involved in strengthening national legislation and policy. For example, in Kyrgyzstan, UNFPA contributed to the review of gaps in legislation resulting in expanded and improved services for survivors, increased awareness on gender-based violence and the utilization of new technologies during the pandemic. In the Gambia, UNFPA contributed to the approval of a law criminalizing FGM. And, in Nigeria the Violence Against Persons’ Prohibition Act has been adopted in 20 States in 2020 (bringing the total to 25 States).
UNHCR developed a Guidance Note on the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Guidance Note aims to serve as a resource for UNHCR staff with regards to: understanding the overall structure and content of the Convention; drafting UNHCR’s confidential comments to the Committee; helping asylum-seeking, refugee, internally displaced and stateless women and girls to understand and claim their rights under the Convention; and, informing other means of advocacy such as judicial interventions, UNHCR comments on draft national legislation, and public communications.
UNHCR has also supported the development of thematic legislation in different operations.
In addition, UNHCR launched its internal UNHCR’s Universal Periodic Review Dashboard. The UPR dashboard is a simple interactive tool that allows UNHCR colleagues to easily visualize, filter and extract data and the text of UPR recommendations which are directly related to UNHCR’s persons of concern. It includes data from OHCHR’s Universal Human Rights Index, but it is specifically limited to UPR recommendations related to persons under UNHCR’s mandate and the data has been tagged to allow filtering by regions and themes of relevance to UNHCR. It also provides quick links to past UNHCR UPR submissions and to States’ official UPR pages on OHCHR’s website.
In Mexico, UNODC provided legislative support to promote the harmonization of criminal laws against femicide at the state level.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC facilitated amendments to the Criminal Procedural Code to strengthen protection mechanisms for survivors of SGBV.In South Africa, UNODC provided input for the official review of draft legislation concerning sexual and domestic violence (i.e. the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill, the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill, and the Criminal Matters Amendment Bill).
UNODC published the Model Legislative Provisions against Trafficking in Persons and a Legislative Guide to the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, in which measures and principles such as the principle of non-discrimination, establishing procedures to collect gender-disaggregated data, developing gender-sensitive policies against trafficking in persons and educational programs promoting gender equality as preventative measures, are discussed and promoted as practical and implementable best practices.
With the support and advice from Senior/Women’s Protection Advisers, personnel in peacekeeping operations facilitate victims/survivors’ access to protection and support services notably through information-sharing about services, referrals and special assistance projects. For instance, as part of an engagement process with armed groups who had abducted hundreds of women and girls in 2018 in Western Equatoria, UNMISS worked with a local faith-based organization to ensure access to medical care, trauma-healing support and livelihood trainings for 80 women and girls in order to support their recovery and transition into civilian life. Building on this initiative, UNMISS/OHCHR supported an additional 40 former abductees in accessing livelihood opportunities, leadership programs and psycho-social support tailored to their needs. Dialogues were also held with their families, communities and local authorities on stigma prevention and prevention and response to sexual violence. UNMISS adopted a survivor-centered approach throughout these efforts by ensuring respect to survivors’ views and decisions and working to enhance availability of assistance services as well as effective rehabilitation programs to empower survivors to start gaining greater control over their lives. MINUSMA partnered with a local women’s rights organization to implement a project in Bamako and Mopti that helped to prevent risks of gender-based and sexual violence related to the pandemic through sensitization sessions and provided dozens of survivors with access to a safe shelter and care services.
UN Women initiated the implementation of the United Nations Protocol on the Provision of Assistance to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse through its regional and country prevention of SEA focal points, while ensuring maximum coordination with UN Country Teams efforts in country locations.
In Brazil UN Women provided technical assistance to government institutions to set up VAWP monitoring and case referral mechanisms. With UN-Women’s technical support, the national call center for women in a situation of violence (Ligue 180) managed by the National Secretary of Policies for Women of the Ministry of Women (Secretaria Nacional de Políticas para as Mulheres - SNPM) added a dedicated channel to receive reports on VAWP and assist with a referral mechanism to the Public Electoral Ministry (Ministério Público Eleitoral – MPE). UN-Women ensured country wide dissemination of this new resource for women candidates, through the national campaign on VAWP.
In Central African Republic (CAR), UN-Women, UNDP and MINUSCA supported women's organizations through the African Women Leadership Network (AWLN) CAR Chapter, to set up situation rooms to promote a more inclusive and peaceful election. Through this mechanism, 210 monitors were trained and deployed in all 16 prefectures in the country to conduct violence prevention initiatives and collect data. In addition, UN Women, in partnership with UN Police and the Ministry of Internal Security, UN-Women established a “hotline 1325” which served as an early warning and early response mechanism used primarily by women candidates. This initiative was well received by key national stakeholders including CSOs, government partners and donors who highlighted its significant contribution to preventing and reporting VAWE.
Ending Child Marriage and Rescue and Second Chance Education for Girls in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania: UN Women through engagement of traditional leaders, CSOs and government departments advocated for ending child marriage, FGM and other harmful practices. Thousands of potential efforts for child marriage were prevented and many marriages that took place were annulled in these countries. For example, in Malawi 41% of the 2871 girls engaged under child marriage interventions in Salima, Dedza and Karonga are now able to claim their right to make vital decisions about their sexual health and well-being, re-enroll into primary and secondary education and reignite prospects of living a life without increased risk of violence, abuse, child marriages, ill health or early death. This was achieved through interventions in school clubs, awareness campaigns, capacity building sessions on GBV/SRHR and business management/entrepreneurship skills. This follows an extensive HeForShe campaign implemented by the Malawi Country Office in collaborations with UNFPA, Ministry of Gender, District Councils, Traditional leaders and HeForShe champions. A total of 4249 early child marriages have been annulled and 2871 number of girls re-enrolled into primary and secondary schools between 2017-2019.
In Mozambique, Rapariga Biz is a joint program, implemented in Nampula and Zambezia provinces by UNFPA, UN Women, UNICEF and UNESCO. It aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of 1,085,447 girls and young women in Mozambique who live in the provinces of Nampula or Zambezia. These provinces are amongst the ones in the country with highest poverty levels in Mozambique, where women and young girls are burdened with a high level of discrimination and are at high risk of child marriage, early pregnancy, maternal mortality, obstetric fistula, violence and HIV. After training, the girls individually or organized in groups benefited from support (startup kits, tips on their business, etc.) to start their business. Silvia Daniel (22)[2], Albertina Martinho (20), Argentina Arnaldo (21), Telma Mauricio (18) and Neusa Joaquim (18) are some of the beneficiaries which who besides different trainings, that benefitted, they were also selected for poultry farming.
In Uganda, The establishment of Nakapiripiriti Satellite Legal Aid Clinic in Karamoja by ULS, supported by UN Women brought happiness to number of widows in accessing legal aid and protection services.
The value of intersectionality in understanding violence against women and girls
This policy brief explores the concept of intersectionality as a tool to analyze and understand the intersection of gender with other inequalities/oppressions (e.g., sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity, indigeneity, immigration status, disability) in the context of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The report examines the impact of intersecting oppressions on the ability of survivors of VAWG to access services and obtain justice, as well as the importance of ‘by and for’ organizations in addressing the needs of marginalized women who face violence.
Mapping of Sexual Violence Services in the Western Balkans and Turkey
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence - also known as the Istanbul Convention - calls for adequate and accessible specialized support services for victims of sexual violence. However, in the Western Balkans and Turkey, despite the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, these standards have yet to be met. Services for victims of sexual violence are often missing, and where they do exist, they tend to be poorly implemented due to a lack of government funding and support. This mapping report identifies the existing services in the region, examines their implementation, and highlights the gaps in service provision. This publication was produced under the framework of the EU-UN Women regional programme on ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey, "Implementing Norms, Changing Minds," funded by the European Union.
Regional Service Directory for Women Migrant Workers Subject to Violence in the ASEAN region
The service directory enables referrals of women, especially women migrant workers who are survivors of violence, by sharing information on available violence against women (VAW) specialized service providers across the region. The list includes the leading organizations providing support to survivors of violence against women migrant workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. Services featured in the directory include the health, police/justice, social, labour sectors and hotlines and shelters, and they are a core set of critical essential services responding to the needs of women migrant workers subject to violence in the ASEAN region.
Training Package for Prosecutors working on cases of VAW
Building on the Trial of Rape study and UN Women's broader work to strengthen Essential Services for survivors of VAW in the Asia Pacific region, UN Women together with Global Rights for Women developed a training manual for persecutors working on cases of VAWG. The purpose of this Training Package is to build the capacity of prosecutors on providing quality and holistic responses to survivors of violence, and to better understand survivor’s perspectives and address their needs. The goal is that gender-transformative, trauma informed and survivor-centered approaches are utilized in prosecution and that gender biases are addressed, to ensure that the legal system supports survivors of violence against women in a respectful and empowering way.
Handbook on Gender-Responsive Police Services
In April 2021, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organized a webinar with countries across the region to introduce this handbook.
In Albania:
- 204 counselling sessions were organized by psychologists and 112 women and girls have been supported through counselling sessions in 6 municipalities of the Region of Elbasan (Gramsh, Peqin, Prrenjas, Belsh, Cerrik, Librazhd). (UN Women)
- 43 legal counselling sessions were organized in the Region of Elbasan (Gramsh, Peqin, Prrenjas, Belsh, Cerrik, Librazhd), with a total of 7 women represented in court, 7 women were issued IPOs and 8 women supported to report to the police. -315 women and girls and 57 men and boys benefited from Empowerment through Self-Defense training from trainers certified previously from ToTs organized by Aikido Albania.
- 71 women and 173 children in the municipalities of Tirana, Elbasan and Vlora are already provided with services based on their needs and as per the tailored plan of reintegration including psychological counselling, legal assistance, medical assistance, basic needs such support with food and hygienic packages, counselling and support for employment, financial support for housing rent, support for economic empowerment.
As a continuation of UN Women Bosnia and Herzegovina’s work on building and standardizing the multisectoral approach to service provision, 13 local protocols on cooperation between service providers (police, justice, social protection, health care, CSOs) have been revised/developed in line with the Istanbul Convention. A total of 11 multisectoral teams have been strengthened/established and 3 cantonal coordination bodies for combating domestic violence. UN Women supported the Safe network (network of shelters) to raise capacities of local service providers in 7 regions for safety risk assessment and survivor-centred informing of rights and duties.
In Canton Tuzla, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, with support from UN Women, police officers have improved their behaviour when it comes to response to cases of domestic violence. In comparison with the rate of proposed protection measures from 2018/2019 - 20%, thanks to the UN Women-supported behaviour impact intervention the rate of proposed measures has increased to 60% in the first three months of 2021. Using the so-called COMBI (Communications for Behavioural Impact) methodology, introduced by UN Women, a targeted campaign coordinated with the Ministry of Interior, included 1600 police officers from 13 municipalities in Tuzla Canton. It was aimed at increasing the rate of proposed protection measures in cases of domestic violence (restraining order, eviction of perpetrator from home, mandatory psychosocial treatment etc.). The campaign was designed to overcome the identified individual, institutional, and procedural behavioural barriers when it comes to responding to DV.
In North Macedonia, UN Women supported CSO Health Education and Research Association (HERA) to strengthen the capacities on the provision of counselling and psycho-social support of 18 providers (CSOs and Centres for Social Work) of general and specialist services to victims of VAW and DV in compliance with CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention. In addition, three local multi-sectorial groups for survivors of violence were established in Strumica, Stip and Veles to ensure regular collaboration and quality of services provided to the survivors of violence.
A series of recommendations on ensuring a uniform application of the international and national standards in the field of gender-based violence have been developed because of the mobilization for coordinated action of 91 (29 women and 62 men) police officers, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, and legal aid providers from Donetsk oblast. This round of workshops was organized by UN Women Ukraine jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Police of Ukraine to strengthen the capacity of justice sector actors to implement effectively the gender-based violence legislation and apply a survivor-centred approach.
In Moldova, UN Women CO works with 24 partner communities from Cahul and Ungheni to support capacity building of multidisciplinary teams to respond effectively to cases of violence against women and children; develop and implement gender-responsive budgeting and establish specialist services for women survivors of gender-based violence (including for survivors of sexual violence) in Cahul and Ungheni.
36 professionals (22 females and 14 males) of local public authorities, health sector, forensic service, social protection, justice, and police sectors co-designed a prospective approach/model towards the development of a specialized service for the victims of sexual violence, in line with international standards and local realities from Cahul and Ungheni district.
To boost the capacities of local civil society, nine CSOs from Cahul and Ungheni were selected and currently undertake a six-month institutional capacity-building exercise in the framework of a Small Grants scheme. At least eight committed local CSOs will be involved as of November 2021 in intensive training, mentorship, and guidance for developing and implementing activities promoting zero tolerance to violence at the regional level.11 CSO’s active in preventing and combating violence against women benefited from exchange of experiences on survivor-oriented approach to provision of services through the support of network of survivors of violence, in close cooperation with a partner CSOs from Romania. The latter builds on the ground-breaking work supported by UN Women on women survivors – positive champions in Moldova and aims at establishing such network in the country.
Four women survivors of violence supported by UN Women CO as positive champions and change makers, continue to hold peer-to-peer sessions for women survivors/potential victims of violence, informing on women’s rights and available support services.
Joint statements issued by the UN-Women Kosovo led multi-stakeholder Security and Gender Group, calling upon central and local institutions to allocate funding to domestic violence shelters In the 2020 budget, resulted in the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance recommending an increase of funding to Kosovo’s shelters, which will allow for more sustainable year-round funding of shelters. Three additional joint statements were issued in 2021 condemning femicide and sexual harassment against women and girls.
139 service providers including staff from seven Kosovo shelters for protection of domestic violence survivors and local coordination mechanisms against DV were trained on strategies on recognizing trauma and handling of cases and have also participated in a three days’ workshop in April, organized under the auspices of Shelter “Liria” in the framework of the EVAW Programme. The workshop aim was to discuss networking efforts as well as engage in a strategic planning workshop to identify needs, activities and future steps in order to enhance their effective delivery of services to victims of domestic violence as well as draft an action plan for shelter networking. The proposed strategy and action plan is a five year proposed plan that has been drafted in close consultations with the participants with validated results proposed after the workshop with all relevant actors engaged.
State actors and civil society organizations in Kazakhstan have enhanced capacity to deliver quality services in prevention and response to VAW through developed SOPs for provision of services for GBV survivors with integration of measures to address the special needs of persons with disabilities (PwD) subjected to violence. The special needs of PwD were integrated into the existing SOPs as well as in the clinical protocol on “Gender based Violence” approved by the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan with support from UNFPA as well as on an OSCE-developed Guide for police inspectors endorsed by the Ministry of internal Affairs also in 2020.
As mentioned above, in Tajikistan:
UN Women built new partnership experience with the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan, mobilizing technical skills and experience with communities of NGOs with a solid presence in 6 target districts and supplied 168,000 information materials on Impact of COVID19 on Women and Girls. How to sustain family Resilience During the Pandemic; Available VAWG Services and Localized SGBV Referral Pathway along with sanitary and hygiene items for staff SLI project and HIV projects; built women leadership skills to combat stigma and discrimination and improving women’s legal literacy. Awareness-raising activities on HIV related rights and laws for women living with HIV conducted through media community mobilization, education, and peer outreach.
3400 women and girls who faced violence and abuse, benefitted from localized national SGBV case management referral mechanism in six rural pilot districts (Isfara, B. Gafurov, Vose, Rudaki, Hissar and Yavan) and the capital Dushanbe.
The practical scheme with the brief extracts from the related laws, pathways of interaction between the engaged members of the case management mechanisms, contact information on the related state bodies, departments, services and CSOs, that were functioning on prevention of violence against women and girls (by mandate/ and/or having run their own shelter/ women’s center). The developed brochures, booklets and visual materials were made in a user-friendly language and style, with a lot of coloured infographics, and were disseminated broadly among communities by 120 volunteers. Noteworthy, the RCS emphasized project’s further sustainability will be supported by further capacity building of active volunteers in EVAWG realm through a digital tutorial and integration of GBV/VAWG response component in the USAID Tuberculosis project implemented by RCS.
State facilitated localization of VAW case management referral mechanism: NGO-run victim support centres, state health, law enforcement, human rights, social services, other key stakeholders in the 6 target districts and Dushanbe formed a new integrated support scheme, where COVID-19 response facilities became an integral part. UN Women experts made the design of the latter referral system, localized it in each pilot district, conducted on-job training to service providers.
UNDP has implemented various actions to improve access to justice for women who suffered violence especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Tunisian office supported coordination between the designated emergency “hotline” and specialized police units responding to alerts of domestic violence and provided the specialized units with adequate protection gear and training.
The pilot initiative "Rukni", started by UNDP Jordan, provided digital phone booth for GBV survivors and women at risk to ensure them to have a better understanding of how to reach hotline services, COVID-19 applications and e-services.
UNDP Maldives supported civil society organizations to provide pro bono legal aid services to DV/GBV survivors. In Bangladesh, UNDP facilitated the process to create linkage between the victim/survivors and National Human Rights Commission to ensure better protection, support and services. unit of NHRC.
In Moldova, with the support of the Republic of Korea, UNDP responded positively to the Executive Committee of ATU Gagauzia and provided help to set-up a service for the survivors of domestic violence in the region. Based on the cooperation with the Executive Committee of Gagauzia, the first regional Center for survivors of domestic violence was created and is functional as of November 2020.