Inter-Agency Mechanisms and Activities

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with Avon Products, Inc. convened a global summit in March 2008 wherein Avon Products, Inc. committed $1 million to the UN Trust Fund – the Fund’s largest single, annual, private sector contribution ever. Hide

Baseline assessments were completed in Rwanda, and first drafts were completed in Fiji, Paraguay, and Kyrgyzstan. National multi-stakeholder workshops to develop joint programming frameworks were held in Jordan, Philippines, Rwanda, Fiji, and Kyrgyzstan, and joint national committees consisting of a wide range of stakeholders, responsible for coordinating and providing technical support, were formed. These workshops are instrumental in developing a multi-sectoral joint programming framework that brings together United Nations system actions in support of national efforts to address violence against women, including the development or the implementation of national action plans on violence against women.Baseline assessments, as well as national workshops to develop multi-sectoral joint programming frameworks, had been initiated or completed in all 10 countries and joint national committees had been formed. Implementation of joint programming activities, led by UNFPA, had commenced in the Philippines and Rwanda. Activities of the joint programming initiative were increasingly linked to the Secretary-General’s Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” at the national level.UNFPA is leading the implementation of the joint programming activities at the country level in the identified pilot countries under the Inter-agency Task Force on Violence against Women. Hide

A Senior Advisor on Sexual Violence was posted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).In June 2008, UN Action hired an Advocacy and Women’s Rights Specialist to lead its advocacy efforts under the banner “Stop Rape Now” (see www.stoprapenow.org).In May 2008, UN Action co-sponsored a high-level conference at Wilton Park entitled, “Women targeted or affected by armed conflict: What role for military peacekeepers?”. Government officials, military commanders, NGO representatives and other experts reviewed front-line military tactics to protect women from sexual violence in armed conflict. The outcomes were discussed, in July 2008, in a briefing for Heads of military components of peacekeeping operations.UN Action has developed a PowerPoint presentation on Security Council resolution 1820 (2008) on sexual violence in conflict, to heighten awareness of the implication of the resolution for the work of the UN system. The presentation is available at www.stoprapenow.org. In August 2008, UN Action organized a briefing in New York for NGOs around resolution 1820.UN Action has published two documents to support the UN system’s response to sexual violence in conflict settings. These are posted on UN Action’s website: - Do’s and Don’ts: Reporting and interpreting data on sexual violence from conflict-affected countries- Summary of Ethical and Safety Recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies. Hide

UNHCR is leading the development of guidelines on establishing community-based complaints mechanisms for sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian personnel and peacekeepers, through the Executive Committees on Humanitarian Action and Peace and Security (ECHA/ECPS) and UN NGO Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA). Hide

Grant applications for the 2008 Call for Proposals were invited from governments, civil society organizations, and, for the first time, for UN Country Teams (UNCTs). Technical review teams and global and sub-regional inter-agency Programme Appraisal Committees (PACs), reviewed the received concept notes.As part of its’ ongoing effort to enhance grantees’ capacity in programming and monitoring and evaluation, the UN Trust Fund convened a second workshop on Program Design and Evaluation for grantees working on violence against women and HIV/AIDS, in collaboration with Johnson and Johnson and with technical assistance from PATH. Hide

Inter-agency regional workshops were held in Bangkok, Nairobi, and Johannesburg to facilitate roll-out of the Gender Handbook. The Gender-Based Violence Guidelines were translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Spanish and Portuguese.In June 2008, the IASC Sub Working Group on Gender released a SOP template for prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence in IDP settings, based on the UNHCR template. Hide

As the co-conveners of IANWGE’s Task Force on violence against women, UNFPA and UNDAW drafted a proposal for joint programming on violence against women in 10 pilot countries. Hide

UN Action is providing strategic and technical support to selected UN Country Teams and Peace Keeping Operations to strengthen their efforts to prevent sexual violence, protect women, respond to the needs of survivors, and ensure judicial redress. It is also training a cadre of senior GBV Coordinators.UN Action’s advocacy efforts focus on raising public awareness and outrage about rape in war, as well as generating political will from bodies such as the Security Council and Human Rights Council to address rape in war as an issue of international peace and security, and a war crime as well as gross violation of human rights. UN Action is building a knowledge hub, mapping good practices and effective responses to the needs of survivors and their communities. Hide

In November 2007, the UN Trust Fund awarded nearly $5 million in support of effective implementation of national laws, policies and plans of action on ending violence against women, as well as to initiatives addressing the inter-linkages between violence against women and HIV/AIDS.In 2007, Member States, private-sector and other donors raised their contributions to the UN Trust Fund, resulting in more than a tenfold increase over the past four years. However, the demand for support continued to far outstrip its resource base, with more than $105 million in requests received in 2007.Donors to the UN Trust Fund in 2007 include the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States of America, and UNIFEM national committees in Iceland, Switzerland and the United States. In addition, the UN Trust Fund has benefited from partnerships with the private sector. With the support of Johnson & Johnson, a special window on the interlinkage between violence against women and HIV/AIDS was opened in 2005. In addition, there have been other modest contributions from private-sector partners such as TAG Heuer, Omega, Leo Burnett and non-profit organizations, such as Zonta International, the Transition Network and many individual donors. Hide

OHCHR participates in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Sub-Working Group on Gender Mainstreaming in Humanitarian Assistance. OCHA is a co-chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) Task Force on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance. OCHA is facilitating the production of an IASC document on members’ policies in addressing gender-based violence in order to establish a coordinated programme built on the expertise and capacities of the IASC members. Hide