United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
United Nations Headquarters. DC1 Building. Room 613. One United Nations Plaza. New York, NY 10017. USA
Background
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is mandated to assist Member States In their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development draws together the strands of peace, the rule of law, human rights, development and equality into a comprehensive and forward-looking framework. Reducing conflict, crime, violence, discrimination, and ensuring inclusion and good governance, are key elements of people’s well-being and essential for securing sustainable development. UNODC helps Member States to strengthen legislative, judicial and health systems to better safeguard their populations, especially the most vulnerable groups. Its work on preventing and addressing violence against women and promoting access to justice is part of its mandate to strengthen the rule of law through the prevention of crime and the promotion of effective, fair, humane and accountable criminal justice systems in line with the UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice.
Policy framework
UNODC’s policy framework for addressing violence against women is contained in the following documents: (i) General Assembly resolution “Crime prevention and criminal justice measures to eliminate violence against women” (52/86); (ii) General Assembly resolution 48/104 (adopting the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women); (iii) General Assembly resolution 65/228 (adopting the Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice;(iv) General Assembly resolution 65/229 (adopting United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules)); (v) Economic and Social Council resolution “Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime” (2005/20), which is pertinent to girls; (vi) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; and General Assembly resolutions on taking action against gender-related killing of women and girls (A/Res/68/191 and A/Res/70/176).
Areas of Focus
UNODC works to prevent and address violence against women and human trafficking , as well as to develop policies in support of women victims of violence, and women in prisons. UNODC integrates gender dimensions and the question of violence against women into its efforts to build the capacity of criminal justice systems. UNODC also assists Member States in addressing specific vulnerabilities of women and children who fall into the hands of smugglers.
UNODC offers assistance in strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice system responses to violence against women. Such responses include more efficient laws and policies and enhanced capacity of criminal justice systems to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish related crimes, to provide access to justice and legal aid and to assist and protect victims and witnesses. UNODC provides legal and policy advice, training and capacity building to Member States upon request.
The Office supports and undertakes research related to trafficking in persons, including on the nature of trafficking and national and regional responses to trafficking. UNODC implements technical assistance projects, produces and disseminates public service announcements to counter trafficking in persons, and conducts outreach activities.
Further, UNODC manages the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, that enables the provision of protection, humanitarian and legal assistance to victims of this crime, in particular women and girls who have been sexually exploited. Assistance is provided through a careful selection of projects implemented by specialized, grassroots NGOs worldwide.
Resources
Please refer to this webpage which has the full list of UNODC tools and resources: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/cpcj-tools-gender.html
UNODC established a new professional network on violence against women, composed of staff working on gender-based violence across UNODC, in order to more effectively assist countries in preventing and responding to violence against women.
UNODC conducted an internal survey on efforts and potential progress regarding gender equality and the empowerment of women in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda. The results indicated increased internal knowledge and understanding due to the provision of accessible and regular information, as well as gender being included more clearly in the 2030 Agenda and given greater priority. Respondents indicated that further training was needed, especially regarding project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, the appointment of a dedicated gender focal point and the adoption of a clear gender strategy were mentioned as helpful to facilitating greater progress.
UNODC is the permanent coordinator and secretariat of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), established by the General Assembly. The principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women underpin the work of ICAT. For instance, in 2019, ICAT published a brief on the gender dimensions of human trafficking and UNODC coordinated the development of the ICAT submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to support the development of a general recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration.
UNODC is part of the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) and has implemented projects funded by the UN Action Multi-Partner Trust Fund.
UNODC continues to support OHCHR and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in its work to develop a General Recommendation on the trafficking of women and girls in the context of global migration. As part of this, UNODC co-hosted a regional consultation for Middle East and Northern Africa in cooperation with OHCHR and UN Women in Egypt in November 2019.
In Bolivia, in cooperation with UNDP, UNODC updated the Protocol to Conduct Hearings on Precautionary Measures. In the first seminar on gender-based violence and femicide, UNODC presented ways of measuring gender-based killings of women and girls.
In Guatemala, UNODC’s support to the National Civil Police under the joint UN Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls subject to Violence, resulted in a specialised criminal investigation model and protocol for violence against women cases.
During the 28th session of the Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) from 20-24 May 2019, UNODC co-organised two side events of relevance: firstly, “The role of technology in facilitating and addressing sex trafficking,” held together with the Government of Belarus, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Equality Now; secondly, the “UNODC issue paper on inter linkages between trafficking in persons and marriage,” held together with the Government of Germany and the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI).
In 2019, UNODC provided technical legislative support/ services to six countries (Algeria, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, India, State of Palestine, Zambia) for drafting legislation on trafficking in persons. This included assessing legislative needs, providing substantive input on draft legislation, providing substantive and technical input and support during legislative drafting workshops and assessing compliance with existing domestic legislation. UNODC also collaborated with the Government of Uzbekistan to promote the rights of women within the framework of existing laws related to gender.
In resolutions 2331 (2016) and 2388 (2017) on trafficking in persons in conflict situations, the Security Council requested the Secretary-General to increase the capacity of relevant personnel of UN field missions to identify, respond to and report on situations of trafficking in persons. The Security Council has also underlined the need for Member States to combat crimes, such as the smuggling of migrants and related forms of organized crime, in areas affected by armed conflict. In response, UNODC, through its Global Programme against Trafficking in Persons, engaged with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO) and developed a training module covering trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants, with a strong gender dimension, for the in-mission induction training of United Nations Police Personnel (UNPOL). A tailored version of the training module was piloted with the Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and then later integrated into their induction training session for new officers. In addition to training of MINUSMA UNPOL trainers, UNODC supported the delivery of a specialized training to Malian Law enforcement officers in Gao.
UNODC produces a biennial Global Report on Trafficking in Persons covering 130-140 countries around the world. The report presents a global overview, regional analyses and detailed country profiles. It provides trends on the main indicators and explores links with other criminal and social factors. The report makes use of qualitative analysis resulting from the narrative of court cases on trafficking in persons collected by national authorities. As of February 2020, data on about 280,000 victims detected between 2003 and 2019 shows that approximately 50% of trafficking victims detected are women, while 20% are girls, reflecting the prevalence of female victims.
In Southern Africa, UNODC conducted a situational assessment of criminal justice process related to gender-based violence in the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states.
In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC supported a female police mentoring programme focusing on crime and gender-based violence prevention.
In Viet Nam, UNODC trained 140 criminal justice officers and legal aid professionals on providing legal assistance for survivors of violence against women and girls.
IN Mexico, UNODC continued its training programme on violence against women for police officers and emergency call operators in 26 states, reaching 7,500 professionals.
In Peru, UNODC trained judges, prosecutors, police officers and victim advocates on effective investigations of VAWG with a victim-centred approach, and contributed to the establishment of 10 specialized prosecution offices on VAWG and 5 courts in Lima.
In Egypt, UNODC trained more than 300 criminal justice practitioners (police, prosecutors, judges and forensic doctors) and provided the Forensic Medicine Authority with medical equipment to facilitate receiving the ISO certificate that will allow the clinics to meet international standards.
In Namibia, UNODC organized 5 training-of-trainers workshops on GBV for criminal justice practitioners to facilitate sensitization and strengthen the multi-sectoral response to gender-based violence.
Under its Global Programmes on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, in 2018. UNODC delivered over 250 Technical Cooperation activities in 80 countries, training over 4,500 practitioners, government officials and civil society representatives.
UNODC promotes the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking. In the framework of the UNODC Education for Justice Initiative, the Office raised awareness on trafficking in persons through education, working closely with youth and academics to look into key concepts of trafficking and how this affects in particular women and girls, and how education can contribute to crime prevention and promotion of legality and justice. This includes dedicated modules and resources on gender and organized crime, including trafficking in persons. UNODC published an article on gender-responsive approaches in evaluation and programming to better address trafficking in persons (p. 22 ff.)
In Mexico, UNODC supported the development of a videogame called Chuka, which aims to teach children to recognize the most common types of violence against women and girls, and act assertively when facing different representations of such violence.
UNODC organized an Expert Group Meeting on interlinkages of trafficking in persons with marriage, including forced, child, temporary and sham marriages, bringing together international experts in the field for the development of a UNODC issue paper on these issues (to be published in mid 2019.
In Guatemala, UNODC supported the establishment of an inter-institutional coordination roundtable with the National Police and the Attorney-General’s Office for the investigation of cases of violence against women and assisted both institutions in the development of joint investigation plans and protocols on the subject.