United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UN agencies, including UN Women and UNFPA, supported Governments, including those of Nepal and the Pacific Islands, to prepare their national priorities for negotiations during CSW 57. UN Women also promoted the implementation of the CSW Agreed Conclusions in Fiji through the national EVAW Task Force. In preparation for the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), ESCAP and UN Women jointly organized the “Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women”, 5-6 February 2013, in which senior-level representatives from 12 ESCAP Member States participated. The outcome of the meeting included recommendations on translating existing international legal and normative frameworks into effective national policy tools that address the obstacles and challenges in eliminating and preventing violence against women and girls in Asia and the Pacific. Hide

For the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, UN Women led the UNiTE campaign’s global call for action to “Orange the World in 16 Days” and at least 49 countries reported “Orange the World” events and activities. The hashtag #orangeurworld was used by 13,360 users in 24,516 tweets, which reached 37.1 million followers and created 175.8 million impressions. The hashtag #16days was used by 36,422 users in 78,476 tweets, which reached 76.64 million followers and created 519.6 million impressions. This is a new record and exceeds by far last year’s numbers. UN Women’s social mobilization initiative, Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women, transitioned to social media platforms and penetrated online conversations with information and digital advocacy by actively engaging over 130,000 people on Facebook and Twitter and partnered with more than 900 civil society organizations. At regional level, under the leadership of UN Women, and in close collaboration with a number of agencies, the United Nations Country Teams have mobilized governments and civil society, women's and young people organizations, people from the world of art, culture and sports, the media, the private sector, faith-based organizations, women and men from diverse backgrounds around the same cause, to end violence against women and girls. Adherents to the SG Campaign include more than 20 State institutions in Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico; the States of Mexico and Morelos, and the Superior Justice Court of Chiapas (Mexico), the city of Quito (Ecuador), the Government of Almeria (Spain) and the Latin American Union of Municipalities (UIM). Regional institutions such as the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), the OAS Inter-American Commission on Women (CIM/OAS) and the Council of Ministers of Women of Central America (COMMCA), have also joined the SG’s campaign.The Asia Pacific UNiTE secretariat widened and deepened regional partnerships, including with youth, which were critical in the unprecedented expansion of Orange Day, a Campaign initiative which reached at least half a million people across the region in 2013. Hide

UN Women in Vietnam commissioned, jointly with UNODC, a research on the gender responsiveness of the criminal justice system aimed at strengthening the government response to VAW and contributed to the preparation of the "UN GBV Issues paper kit" that brings together five issue papers on GBV, based on research undertaken in 2012 and 2013 in Viet Nam by UN agencies. Hide

In Cambodia, with the support of UN Women, the 2nd National Action Plan to Prevent VAW has been drafted, with advocacy, capacity development, VAW costing and prevention being established as government priorities. A participatory mechanism for EVAW coordination in Cambodia has been also established, setting the ground for an integrated multi-sectoral approach. Hide

Applying Social Media Tools for the Prevention of Gender-based Violence: Lessons learned from social media communication campaigns to prevent gender-based violence in India, China and Viet Nam’; was launched and disseminated by P4P in 2013. This resource consolidates learning from the P4P initiative ‘Engaging Young Men through Social Media for the Prevention of Violence against Women’. “Let’s Talk Men 2.0” film series7 launched in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka with accompanying tools for discussion facilitators. Hide

UN Women supported the Government of Bangladesh to implement CEDAW, including through the training of judicial officers, a review of laws carried out in the light of CEDAW, and the development of a CEDAW Benchbook as reference material for Judicial Officers and the Police. Hide

UN Women together with ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNODC, OHCHR and WHO supported the preparations for and successful conclusion of CSW 57. This included the convening of a high level side event with the Secretary General and the Heads of 11 UN agencies to discuss ending violence against women which resulted in a joint statement, available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/3/joint-statement-by-heads-of-un-agencies-on-ending-violence Hide

The Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism Thematic Working Group on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (TWG-GEEW), co-chaired by ESCAP and UN WOMEN, continued its engagement in support of the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda. The Thematic Working Group convened the “Second Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security” on 1-2 August 2013. The meeting provided a forum for the Regional Advisors to share experiences and good practices, as well as identify common concerns and strategies for accelerating progress in effective implementation of UNSCR 1325 and related resolutions. The meeting addressed the particular vulnerabilities of conflict-affected populations and concluded with recommendations on policies and strategies to strengthen implementation of the WPS agenda in Asia and the Pacific, including through national action plans to effectively protect women and girls in conflict situations. Hide

WHO, PEPFAR, UNFPA, UN Women and the University of British Columbia convened a panel on “GBV and HIV linkages: Taking stock of the evidence and setting an implementation research agenda” at the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC in July 2012. Hide

The UN Gender Theme Group for the Pacific, co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA, revised its Terms of Reference to include responses to gender-based violence in emergencies, including the development of Surge Capacity for immediate response in humanitarian emergencies, as well as the development of government-NGO Communities of Practice on gender-based to facilitate capacity-building and prepraredness. Hide