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Within the framework of UN Secretary-General’s campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, UNIC (United Nations Information Centres) Beirut, Lebanon in partnership with the Theatre Club at the Balamand University in Lebanon produced a theatre play on the issue of violence against women targeting school students - a work that was fully supported and sponsored by the Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education. The play, entitled “We Are All Humans”, presented real cases of violence against women within families in Lebanon through a vibrant script and a combination of gestures, songs, music and dance performed by university students. It tackles the hereditary violence against women and sheds light on physical and moral violence practiced directly or indirectly against girls in society. UNIC took part in the script drafting and the directing process to reflect the real objectives of the UNiTE campaign aiming to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls and eliminate this scourge.
UN Women with UNIC (United Nations Information Centres) on behalf of the UN System in Cameroon in partnership with the Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF) organized the official launching ceremony of 16 days activism within UNSG’s Orange Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, on 25 November 2015, on the theme “from peace in the Home to peace in the world, make education safe for all”. The ceremony was presided by the Minister. Discussions centred on efforts made by both the UN and Cameroon to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, with the Minister condemning the use of women and girls as instruments of terrorism in Cameroon and Nigeria by the Boko Haram terrorist group. The UNSG’s message was read by the Acting UN Resident Coordinator, while UNIC Yaounde prepared and distributed information kits comprised of UNSG message, press releases on actions taken by UN to combat this social ill to the media and participants. The ceremony was reported on the UNIC’s website and Facebook page.
In 2014, Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality provided briefings and updates on the Secretary General's UNiTE Campaign during the 13th and 14th annual sessions of the IANWGE as well as inputs from participating agencies for the final report to the Campaign’s High Level Steering Committee.
In March 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women (UNiTE) launched its call to action for the 16 Days of Activism, ‘Orange the World: End Violence against Women and Girls’. The theme of prevention of violence against women and girls was selected as a focus to provide opportunities to highlight the need for greater investment in ending violence against women and girls at global, regional and country level in the particular context of the new SDG framework with a focus on prevention as a long term solution.
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.
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.
In 2015, ESCWA produced a background paper on the socioeconomic impact of wars on women and girls in the Arab region. The paper shows that Gender-Based Violence is one of the most relevant repercussions of wars on women and girls and proposes recommendations at the institutional and legal levels.
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 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.
FAO promotes Safe Access to Fuel and Energy initiatives as part of the emergency response during the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. The responsibilities for collecting fuel and cooking are usually shouldered by women and girls, tasks that in crisis settings are particularly dangerous and time-consuming: during the time spent walking long distances to collect the required fuelwood, women and girls are exposed to the risk of assault, harassment and rape. In order to address the cooking energy needs of vulnerable families, and protect women and girls from GBV, FAO and partners have distributed over 2 000 fuel-efficient stoves and trained 820 women on how to use them. A further 15 000 stoves are expected to be distributed in 2016 as part of the Emergency Livelihood Response Programme. Furthermore, during 2015, FAO conducted two assessments on the fuel and energy-related challenges faced by communities in Kenya (Kakuma, Turkana County, Samburu, Kitui, Meru and Marsabit Counties) and two districts of Somalia (Hargheisa and Doolow). The studies assessed the fuel types used by households, types of cooking technologies used as well as the specific risks and challenges faced by women who are responsible for cooking, firewood collection, charcoal production and selling of woodfuels. The key findings and analysis have informed the development and design of programmes and initiatives which, amongst other things, seek to prevent or reduce the risk of intra-communal and inter-communal tension and conflict over the use of natural resources, and the prevalence of gender based violence.