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In terms of protection, support and services, ESCWA developed in 2015 a toolkit for service and protection provision to address Gender-Based Violence in the Arab region. This toolkit, developed in partnership with CAWTAR, targeted Government representatives, religious leaders and media professionals with a view to change gender-related behaviours and perspectives in public policy and the public sphere.

In 2015, ESCWA produced a study entitled “Endurance, Resistance and Survival – Women and Girls in Conflict and Humanitarian Settings in the Arab region”, focusing on the gendered typology of conflicts in the region and their implications on the status of women.

During the period 2014 to 2016, ESCWA focused several of its Gender Discussion Series on Violence against Women. In December 2014, ESCWA organized a discussion on “Gender-related research and policy priorities emerging in the context of recent regional developments, particularly in humanitarian and conflict settings”. This event was organized in collaboration with the ABAAD Resource Centre for Gender Equality in the context of 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence. Within this framework, ESCWA organized several advocacy activities against Gender-Based Violence.

In November 2015, ESCWA co-organized with the Lebanese American University session of the Gender Discussion Series focusing on Gender-Based Violence in emergency settings. This session gathered experts from civil society organizations, national institutions and UN agencies to shed light on the topic.

Throughout the period 2014 to 2016, ESCWA has delivered relevant advisory services on VAW legislation to three Member States. In June 2014, ESCWA provided support to the adoption of new legislation on violence against women in Egypt. ESCWA supported national efforts to enact legislation on VAW in Egypt by co-organizing a workshop to present the UN Model Law on Violence against Women and related international instruments. This workshop targeted senior officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior and members of the National Council for Women, as well as service providers and practitioners. The workshop allowed participants to share experiences and lessons learned. In December 2014, ESCWA provided advisory services to Tunisia to discuss the draft law to combat Violence against Women and Girls.

ESCWA has delivered relevant capacity-building workshops on Violence against Women. Specifically, ESCWA Centre for Women organized in Cairo in 2014 a national workshop on the formulation of a legislative framework to protect women and girls from all forms of violence. Furthermore, ESCWA Centre for Women delivered a relevant capacity-building workshop on addressing Gender-Based Violence in the Arab region through the toolkit for service providers produced in 2015.

In 2015, together with UNFPA, ESCWA produced  a regional study on “Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings in the Arab region: Dynamics, Challenges and Policy Options”. The study examined the root structural causes of child marriage in the Arab region, including the national, social, institutional, legal, and cultural frameworks that facilitate the perpetuation of child marriage. It analyzed the factors that drive child marriage in humanitarian and conflict settings, including physical vulnerabilities, shifts in family relations, gender roles, economic conditions, availability of community support, and demographic profiles. It also investigated the socio-economic and health implications of child marriage for young brides, their children, and their communities, particularly in post-conflict contexts.

In 2016, ESCWA published a study entitled “Against Wind and Tides: A Review of the Status of Women and Gender Equality in the Arab region (Beijing+20)”, which addressed some key aspects of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action related to violence against women.

ESCWA has implemented a project to build the capacities of parliamentarians from selected Arab countries and other stakeholders in implementing UNSCR 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security.  This project has resulted in the delivery of training workshops to foster the formulation of national action plans aiming at amending specific discriminative legislation to better protect women during armed conflicts, enacting new laws to facilitate women’s access to decision-making positions in peace process and endorsing financial implications by Governments to carry out action plans accordingly.

In 2016, ESCWA started to develop a study entitled “Status on Arab Women Report - Violence against Women: A Costly Bill”. This study is mandated by various international legal and policy frameworks, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, with a particular focus on the integrated measures to prevent and eliminate Violence against Women. Besides, the study is aligned to the SDGs and particularly Goal 5 on gender equality and the empowerment of women, which sheds light on combatting violence against women as a key factor to achieve the goal. Finally, this study is mandated by the recommendations emanating from the 7th session on the Committee on Women held in January 2016, which requested ESCWA to “estimate the economic cost of violence and provide Member States with a model to be issued for this purpose”.