United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Issues # 5 and 6 of Words to Action, DAW’s (now part of UN Women) quarterly newsletter on violence against women, was produced with feature articles on sexual violence in conflict settings, and the vital role of CEDAW in eliminating violence against women. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, coordinated and supported the launch of the first regional campaign with UN sister agencies in Guatemala City (November 2009), in which ECLAC participated; advanced inter-agency consultations with multiple stakeholders in Africa and Asia; secured a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment for the Campaign related to the UN Trust Fund resource mobilization benchmark; and launched Phase II of the Say No - UNiTE campaign aiming for 100,000 actions by March 2010. Hide

UNIFEM’s (now part of UN Women) efforts to strengthen programming and institutional responses included support for: the establishment of a domestic violence office in Argentina’s Supreme Court, with UNDP and UNICEF; judicial guidelines on in-camera hearings (Nepal), on domestic violence (China) and on traditional justice in indigenous communities (Ecuador); a reference guide for Albanian magistrates; a legal assistance guide for Haitian SGBV survivors; technical assistance for the International Commission of Inquiry for Guinea Conakry; training for justice sector personnel in the Great Lakes Region, Kenya, Paraguay and Thailand; South-South study tours for Ugandan police to Liberia and Sierra Leone; and specialized police units in South Sudan and Tanzania. Support to national institutions contributed to: India’s Integrated Women's Protection Scheme; and national coordination of Moldova’s Stakeholders Council on Violence against Women. UNIFEM also provided support to civil society and women’s organizations for initiatives, including: advocacy for the first special court on trafficking in Mumbai; using CEDAW to reform domestic violence redress in the Philippines. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, produced an updated brochure on the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women in all official United Nations languages. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, provided support to civil society and women’s organisations for initiatives, including training for Pakistani civil society groups on masculinities; and developing a high school curriculum on violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, contributed to policy development on gender-based violence in Cambodia, Egypt, Moldova, Morocco, Tanzania and Tunisia. Efforts by UNIFEM on gender-responsive budgeting led to national and municipal budget allocations for violence against women programmes in Bulgaria and Brazil. In October 2009, UNAIDS held a technical consultation of leading experts, practitioners, and researchers to review evidence on programme interventions to address violence against women through HIV-related entry points. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported: a gender-based violence observatory in Guanajuato, Mexico; integrated domestic violence data collection and monitoring systems in the Caribbean, with PAHO and UNFPA; and studies on domestic violence among Romany women (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), violence against women and HIV policies (Mercosur countries) and survivor services (Sierra Leone), with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and International Rescue Committee. Hide

UNIFEM’s, (now part of UN Women) continued support for advancing legislation on violence against women, in collaboration with national institutions, included: domestic violence legislation in Kazakhstan, Mozambique and Nepal; law reform and harmonization in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Georgia, Mexico, Senegal and the Solomon Islands; legal measures against sexual harassment in Bolivia and Pakistan. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, contributed to government funds for Tajikistan’s Girls’ Support Centre and supported advocacy and survivor support networks in Algeria, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay. Hide

DAW, now part of UN  Women, finalized the report of the expert group meeting on legislation to address harmful practices. The report sets out recommendations for legislation to address harmful practices against women, with particular attention to female genital mutilation, so called “honour” crimes, acid throwing, stove burning, and harmful practices related to marriage.

DAW, in cooperation with ECA, convened two multi-stakeholder workshops at sub-regional level, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in December 2009, bringing together representatives from 12 countries to support and accelerate legislative reform on violence against women.

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