Data Collection, Analysis and Research

UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre conducts research on UNICEF’s priority areas, including on violence against women and girls. UNICEF recently published a report and strategy for the abandonment of FGM/C within one generation and together with the Body Shop, it published a report “Behind Closed Doors”, on the impact of domestic violence on children. Hide

In 2007, UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report was entitled “Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality”, which also included an analysis on the impact of violence against women on children. Hide

In October 2006, together with OHCHR and WHO, UNICEF launched the UN Secretary-General’s study on violence against children. The study examined violence against children in a range of settings including: home and family, schools, workplace, institutions, and in the community. The study identifies violence against girls as a priority issue and acknowledges that girls face greater risks of neglect and sexual violence than boys. Hide

UNFPA undertakes research and studies, for example on the socio-cultural context of violence against women, on masculinity, fatherhood, men as offenders and as protectors including religious leaders and military personnel. Hide

UNFPA supports and advocates for attention to the macro-economic impact of gender-based and the costs of interventions to prevent it; for the inclusion of the costs of gender-based violence in gender equality and health accounts, as well as the provision of more resources for such efforts; and for the mapping of existing programmes and projects and the sharing of good practices to address gender based violence across regions. Hide

OHCHR has the responsibility to provide support and advice to country and thematic special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, including the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. In addition to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, over the past year the following special procedures have addressed issues related to violence against women in their reports, including from field missions, to human rights bodies:- The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons (trafficking for the purposes of forced labour, particularly in factories and domestic work; forced marriage; and/or for purposes of sexual exploitation including in conditions of slavery and debt bondage);- The Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution (violence against girls pertaining to abduction and rape practices; sale of girls forced to marry; domestic labour or sexual exploitation of girls; and domestic violence);- The Special Rapporteur on the right to education focused his annual report of 2006 on the girl child’s education (the socio-cultural context of gender discrimination under a patriarchal society, underpinning discriminatory behaviour, and domestic work by children as a major cause of exploitation and violence);- The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing has received an explicit mandate by the Commission on Human Rights to specifically study the issue of women, adequate housing and land. From 2002 to 2006 regional consultations were held with grass root women in Eastern Africa; Asia; Latin America and Caribbean; Central-Asia/Eastern Europe; and Euro-Mediterranean. Based on the regional consultations, the Special Rapporteur has regularly drawn the attention to linkages of lack of adequate housing with violence against women (domestic violence; impact on forced evictions accompanied by violence; and vulnerability of homeless women to violence);- The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (so-called “honor killings”; executions of women accused of adultery; and allegations of a pattern of killings affecting women or femicidio);- The Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons (sexual and gender-based violence against internally displaced women and girl-children); Hide

OHCHR commissions and conducts research and analysis on access to justice for victims of sexual violence, clarifies and draws attention to this issue, and develops materials to assist the development of policy and advocacy strategies. One of the mechanisms for so doing is through the development of legal analyses, guidelines and principles based on human rights, which address issues of critical importance for women. These will be developed in response to regional priorities but the aim is to ensure global resonance, with a focus on the current jurisprudence relating to the prosecution of rape, both under international humanitarian law and human rights law, and on the inter-linkages between access to justice and the protection of women’s economic, social and cultural rights, with the aim to influence legal standard-setting and subsequently policy development. In addition OHCHR conducts research and analysis of all forms of violence against women and girls. Hide

UNODC was a partner in the roll-out of the International Violence against Women Survey, which was carried out in 11 countries worldwide. Hide

WHO has carried out groundbreaking research on the obstetric sequelae of female genital mutilation and continues to support Member States in their efforts to end FGM as well as research on community interventions, decision-making, FGM and sexuality, with the aim of informing policies and community action. Hide

The Global Forum for Health Research and WHO supported the development of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative. This Initiative aims to build a network of researchers, policy-makers, activists and other stakeholders to ensure that sexual violence is addressed from the perspective of different disciplines. A research agenda for sexual violence has been developed and reviews of evidence have been done on women’s and medico-legal responses to sexual violence. Hide