United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

DAW, now part of UN Women, continued to promote and disseminate the ‘Model Framework for Legislation on Violence against Women’, including through presentations at: UNICEF’s Expert Consultation on ‘Legislative Reform to Achieve Human Rights’, held in New York, in November 2008; the Third Conference for Members of Parliamentary Committees on the Status of Women and other Committees Dealing with Gender Equality, convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, in December 2008, on ‘A parliamentary response to violence against women’; the OSCE Experts’ Seminar on ‘Innovative Approaches to Combating Violence against Women’, held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in October 2008; and a round table discussion on domestic violence legislation in Tajikistan, held at the United Nations Office in Tajikistan in October 2008. Hide

In Venezuela, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported gender-responsive budgeting work that resulted in the earmarking of funds for shelters, in selected municipalities. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported the financing of domestic violence courts with senior African judges and, gender-responsive budgeting work that resulted in the earmarking of funds for gender-justice courts and women's prisons in Venezuela. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNIDO, UNICEF and UNDP, participates in the organization and support of the “International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security”, scheduled to take place in Monrovia, in Liberia, from 7 to 8 March 2009. OSAGI provided substantive contributions to the consultations organized by Member States and United Nations entities on the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo regarding the increase of sexual violence. Hide

From its Say NO to Violence against Women Campaign, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, delivered over 5 million signatures, including from Heads of State and Ministers from 60 governments and more than 600 Parliamentarians from over 70 countries to the UN Secretary-General, on 25 November 2008, in support of his Campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, identified experts and undertook research in preparation for an expert group meeting on legislation on harmful practices. Hide

In partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported: a police training on violence against women and human trafficking in Nigeria; a training on sexual and gender-based violence for all police recruits in Uganda; the establishment of gender coordinating desks within the Defense Forces in Sudan and Burundi; trainings of Gacaca judges in Rwanda dealing with sexual and gender-based violence cases; training of 100 Vietnamese National Assembly deputies on the implementation of the Family Violence Prevention Law. It also provided technical inputs to the African Union’s Committee of Inquiry in Allegations of Sexual Misconduct in Sudan. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, continued to work on developing a common set of indicators for monitoring the implementation of resolution 1325 at the international and national levels, and participated in consultations with key United Nations system entities on the development of indicators on gender-based and sexual violence. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported or co-organized a number of meetings, workshops and conferences in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, including: on Security Council resolution 1820 and Peacekeeping (September 2008); on Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 with respect to the EU’s Security and Defense Policy missions (October 2008); on cross-border female genital mutilation, with West African First Ladies (October 2008); on trafficking in South Asia for media, lawyers and police; and provided technical support for an Economic Community of West African States summit on trafficking and other trans-border issues (December 2008).UNIFEM supported awareness-raising efforts, including: radio education on violence against indigenous women in the Andean Region; gender-based violence community sensitization in Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam; and the 16 Days of activism against gender violence campaign in many countries. Hide

The results of the 2008 grant cycle were announced on 25 November 2008, at an event with the Secretary-General and UNIFEM’s (now part of UN Women) Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Nicole Kidman. A total of US$22 million in grants were approved, reflecting both multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder interventions. Hide