Measures

UN Women continued to maintain and update the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women. As of 31 January 2012, a total of 119 responses to the questionnaire on violence against women were received and uploaded into the database. In March 2011, UN Women gave a presentation, as a side event during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on how to use the Secretary-VCGeneral’s database on violence against women and the Virtual Knowledge Center to End Violence Against Women and Girls. Participants to the demonstration were delegates of Permanent Missions to the United Nations, officials of Member States’ ministries, and non-governmental organizations. Hide

UN Women manages the project Pacific Regional Facility Fund in Support of Organisations and Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women (EVAW), which is a regional ‘basket fund’ to support a small grants facility for Pacific Island organisations and actions to eliminate VAW. Hide

UN Women organized for community-led programming at the country level, such as in Liberia with its continued support to women’s peace huts, where women volunteers refer survivors of gender-based violence to medical, psychosocial and justice services, carry out grassroots mediation to prevent conflict, and have even investigated cases of sexual violence and referred them to police stations; the development of referral pathways for survivors in Timor-Leste, in collaboration with other UN entities, local women’s organizations, and local succo chiefs; and the organization of neighborhood safety patrols near Haiti’s IDP camps along the same routes as the women use to go to school, the market, or water pumps, in order to mark out areas for improved lighting or police presence and encourage women and girls to report any instances of gender-based violence. Hide

Based on the outcome of a 2010 expert group meeting, organized by UN Women, in cooperation with ECLAC/Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean. UN Women developed and issued in June 2011 a Handbook for national action plans on violence against women. The Handbook presents a model framework for national action plans on violence against women, which sets out detailed recommendations, accompanied by explanatory commentaries and good practice examples. The Handbook is available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/handbook-for-nap-on-vaw.htm. The Handbook will be available in hard copy in 2012 in all official United Nations languages. Hide

UNICEF revised its Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) Face to Face training to improve the stand-alone modules on gender based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and included a new stand-alone module on Gender and CPiE. In July 2011, with support from the Danish Refugee Council, UNICEF organized a 5-day course on GBV programing in emergencies for 30 participants to improve GBV technical expertise of its surge capacity mainly through stand-by partners. UNICEF has also developed dedicated learning material on Caring for Child Survivors and organized a five-day course from 23 to 27 January 2012 aimed at equipping UNICEF and implementing partner staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement high quality case management and psychosocial care for child survivors of sexual abuse. Hide

At the global level, data analysis, drawing largely on Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), is also being undertaken by UNICEF, in collaboration with the Population Council, to determine the markers of vulnerability that make children more susceptible to various forms of violence. Hide

Under the Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group, UNICEF leads a technical working group that is developing guidelines for data collection on violence against children. UNICEF also continues to support data collection on violence against children through the Together for Girls initiative, which is a public and private sector partnership to address sexual violence against girls. The study undertaken in Tanzania was launched in August 2011 by the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children with support from UNICEF and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC). In Kenya, the results of a similar survey are being analysed, and in Haiti preparations are underway to undertake the survey in early 2012. Hide

UNICEF and OCHA completed phase 1 of a joint project to prevent use of sexual violence by armed groups. In October 2011, UNODA New York provided expertise to a meeting of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) on ‘Why Women? Effective Engagement for Small Arms Control’ that launched a report on why it is important to include women in small arms control and disarmament initiatives. Hide

In May 2011, UNICEF and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) jointly published “Advancing the Field: Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse in Emergency Settings, A Review of Promising Practices to Improve Case Management, Psychosocial & Mental Health Interventions, and Clinical Care for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse.” Hide

UNICEF is undertaking secondary analysis of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data on harmful practices (FGM/C and child marriage) to be published in 2012. The organization has also completed the revision of the research toolkit on children born of sexual violence and survivors. Hide