Search

UNRWA has installed referral systems in its five fields of operations (Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and West Bank). In Gaza, UNRWA has established 12 one-stop centres located in UNRWA’s heath centres. In the West Bank, a multi-sectoral, community approach to addressing gender-based violence (GBV) has been the core of the referral system. Family and Child Protection Committees made up of representatives from UNRWA departments and community members are in place in 10 refugee camps to promote awareness and prevention of GBV/violence against women (VAW), and provide protection, and access to services. In Jordan, the primary mechanism of the system is to provide assistance to GBV survivors through referral to external partners who would be able to provide more comprehensive support to those seeking assistance. In Syria, the system was developed in Yarmouk and Deraa camps around the Family Support Offices, which consolidated introducing new services (social interventions and case management), while also strengthening relations with external partners to provide services that are not readily available at the offices (psychosocial counselling, sheltering). In Lebanon, the referral is in the early phases of development. Through the system that is being set-up, UNRWA staff will detect and refer GBV victims to its external partners for counselling and support. From January until November 2011, 561 survivors were detected and referred for services, protection and support. Hide

UN Women continued to support the first multi-purpose Centre in the occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank) for women victims of violence through provision of technical and financial assistance. The Centre includes a shelter which has hosted twenty women and their children on a monthly basis. Towards the end of 2011, the revision of policies and procedures of the Centre was initiated and will lead to the upgrading to national policies and procedures. The first multi-purpose Centre in the Gaza Strip was established modeling the Centre in the West Bank. Hide

UN Women provided women inmates in Palestinian correction and rehabilitation centres (Palestinian prisons) with legal aid and representation from a gender perspective, social counseling sessions, recreational and rehabilitative activities; and provision of goods for primary needs for the women and their newborn children leaving inside the prison. Regular monitoring of the situation (social and legal) of women inmates in the occupied Palestinian territory was conducted and a paper was produced. UN Women has also provided financial support to the existing toll-free help in the occupied Palestinian territory for women and children victims of violence. Hide

UN Women provided support to survivor assistance networks and counseling/crisis centers in Algeria (the CIDDEF and BALSAM network), Morocco (the ANARUZ network), and Mauritania (El Wafa crisis center, AMSME), which enabled women survivors of violence (about 830 in Algeria, 1700 in Morocco, and 150 victims of sexual violence in Mauritania) to access psychological and legal advice and support. In Algeria, four new counseling centers joined the BALSAM network, which is now composed of 15 counseling centers. This enlargement enabled the BALSAM network to cover other regions and provide services to women survivors of violence in rural areas. Technical assistance to a leading non-government organization in the area of economic empowerment of women survivors of violence in Morocco resulted in the development of tools necessary to the establishment of a fund to support income generating activities for women victims of Economic Violence Based on Gender. Hide

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), UNICEF is the lead agency, with the Ministry of Health, to coordinate response – “the Multi-Sectoral Assistance pillar” - with a goal to improve the quality, accessibility and delivery of services for survivors. In the Horn of Africa, UNICEF supported safe access to fuel and fuel efficient stoves. A regional strategy is being developed along with Women’s Refugee Committee, UNHCR and WFP. Hide

In October 2011, in collaboration with Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and the Togolese Ministry of Women Affairs, the ECA organized a Regional Stakeholders’ Meeting in Togo on “Women’s Access to Legal and Judicial Services”, which focused on access to justice for women victims of violence including in conflict settings, and on the need for a multisectoral response to victims through the provision of legal, medical and psychosocial support services. Hide

In Bolivia, with the sponsorship of UN Women, the Centre for Integral Development of Aymara Women (CDIMA) worked with local authorities from the municipalities of Mocomoco, Comanche and Simanco. Following this collaboration, the authorities signed agreements to ensure indigenous women´s access to justice in particular in cases of gender based violence. In the process of improving women´s access to justice, CDIMA has strengthened the coordination between ordinary jurisdiction and indigenous justice systems. Hide

In Uganda, OHCHR, in partnership with the Human Rights Commission, consulted women and girls who were victims of grave violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law on their views on remedy and reparation. This work was published in the report “The Dust Has Not Settled: Community reflections on reparations in northern Uganda.” In May 2011, an expert meeting on gender and witness and victim protection was organized. The discussions elaborated on specific challenges and demands with respect to witness and victim protection in proceedings and programmes relating to human rights violations disproportionately affecting women, such as sexual and gender-based violence, domestic violence, so-called honour crimes and trafficking, and will contribute to the development of the framework of a tool for use at national level. Hide

Under the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund-EVAW), UN Women was supporting activities to monitor cases of sexual and gender-based violence committed under the Khmer Rouge regime, as well as to build safe working conditions for women workers. Hide

UNHCR office in India and in cooperation with the government, in response to one of the recommendations from the Dialogues with refugee replaced paper refugee certificates with smart ID cards, resulting in enhanced protection and access to services. In refugee camps where UNHCR has SGBV programs, UNHCR and its partners ensured that 95% of known survivors received support services; in urban areas the support reached 87% of survivors. Hide