United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UN-Women organized an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Data & Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) December 4-5, 2019 in New York. More than 40 experts attended the meeting, including academics, gender equality advocates, Members of Parliament (MPs), representatives of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and International Organizations (IOs), as well as UN agencies. The EGM complemented ongoing efforts to address VAWP. It was a follow-up activity of the Violence against women in politics: Expert Group Meeting organized by UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in collaboration with partners in March 2018.  Although VAWP has captured global attention, comparative data on VAWP remains unavailable. Globally accepted indicators and data collection methods to measure the incidents or prevalence of VAWP do not yet exist. This EGM helped map existing knowledge tools, databases, and surveys as sources of data on VAWP. Academics and practitioners also exchanged on lessons learned, experiences and good practices in VAWP data collection.

UN-Women and UNDP co-published a programming guide, “Preventing violence against women in elections” in December 2017. The guide seeks to identify the specific components of violence against women in elections, including types, tactics, victims and perpetrators, and presents options for policy and programming responses based on current good practices. It also provides examples of definitions and methods from all regions that may prompt ideas for actions according to each country’s national context. This guide is intended for those best positioned to prevent and mitigate violence against women in elections, including national electoral stakeholders, international organizations such as UNDP, UN Women and other UN agencies, as well as those providing programming support on electoral assistance, women’s political participation, human rights monitoring and ending violence against women. It will also be a resource for members and especially leaders of political parties, electoral management bodies, civil society organizations, women’s groups and gender equality activists.

In 2019, the Guide was translated and made available in additional languages, including Georgian, Albanian -- the guide is available here.   


UN Women ESARO in partnership with UNW HQ organized a training on “VAW Prevalence Data” was organized for UN Women, Government Ministries of Gender and Statistics, UNFPA and WHO participants in Mombasa, Kenya.  A total of 38 participants attended from 11 countries in the region.  Following the training at least 4 country offices initiated the “VAW Prevalence Data” program in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.  Having focused data on VAW will help the policy makers and development partners in having targeted interventions in creating a safe VAW free environment for women and girls.

In Tanzania, UN Women played a key role in conducting the Social Institution and Gender Index (SIGI) Tanzania survey by providing technical support on sampling, budgeting, conducting the main survey and reporting writing. The survey will produce the gender data related to discriminatory laws through the collection of consistent, high quality data. One such study is a gender analysis of customary justice systems to ensure that evidence is generated for advocacy at national level to support advocacy calling for the review of customary laws. The findings of the survey will be available in 2020.

In Kenya, UN Women supported in the establishment of the county-based network of S/GBV survivors and through the launch of the S/GBV case data collection mobile application. KCO piloted the use of the mobile application to test its efficacy as a response to the challenges of S/GBV data collection at community level.

2018 Public Perceptions of Gender Equality and Violence Against Women in the Western Balkans and Turkey
The infosheets present the key findings of a baseline survey conducted in selected communities of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (Under UNSCR 1244), North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. The infosheets provide insight of current and dominant attitudes and perceptions (and the factors that influence them) toward gender equality and violence against women at community level. The inforsheet is available here.

Sexual Harassment and other Forms of Gender based Violence in Urban Spaces in Albania
This study looks at the different dimensions of sexual harassment and other forms of gender based violence against Albanian women and girls in urban public spaces particularly in the cities of Shkodra and Korça. It focuses primarily on women and girls’ perceptions of safety and the impact this issue has on their lives, as well as the forms of violence they experience and what strategies they have at their disposal to cope with the violence. The report also contains general and specific recommendations for each of the municipalities involved in the study in order to improve the conditions and take the necessary measures and actions to turn the studied areas into safe areas for women, girls, boys and men. All findings presented in this report are a result of: 500 survey interviews in the two municipalities (Shkodra and Korça), two Focus Group Discussions with 16 participants and two Structured Observations. The study is available here.

Analysis of the Cost of Domestic Violence: Estimating the Cost of Multi-sectoral Response at the Local Level in Bosnia and Herzegovina
With the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), Bosnia and Herzegovina committed to establishing, developing or enhancing a wide range of general and specialist services for survivors of domestic violence. While the country has a satisfactory legislative framework, which prescribes the obligation to prevent and protect women from different forms of violence, survivors are still faced with various obstacles to accessing a number of services including health, social, and legal support. 
With this analysis, UN Women seeks to support national efforts in informed planning and decision-making by providing an estimate of current allocations of existing services that are rendered in response to domestic violence at the local level. Furthermore, the analysis defines recommendations for enhanced financing of basic and specialized services and multi-sectoral approach in line with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention. The significance of the first such analysis in the country is the estimated value of survivors' direct and opportunity costs of domestic violence. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis, and included data collected from questionnaires targeting relevant institutions and beneficiaries. The analysis is available here. 

Review of the Multi-sector Approach to Domestic Violence at the Local Level in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coordination is a central element of the response to domestic violence and violence against women and is crucial both to the victims or survivors and the institutions that respond. This report reviews the viability of applying this approach to the establishment and functioning of multi-sector referral mechanisms at the local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the central element of the multi-sector response. The review includes the analysis of the most relevant international and domestic legislation, guidelines and standards on applying a multi-sector response to domestic violence and violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, in-depth information on the multi-sector referral mechanisms was collected in six selected locations through semi-structured interviews conducted with the relevant representatives of the multi-sector teams, gender mechanisms and non-governmental organizations. The gathered information highlighted the three main aspects of an effective and coordinated multi-sector response: 1) the capacities of the multi-sector referral mechanisms, 2) the quality of the service provided by the multi-sector referral mechanisms and 3) their sustainability beyond the duration of the projects through which they were established. The review is available here.

Data collection ‘by and for’ minoritized women
Collecting data and conducting research on all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is critical in order to design relevant policies and measures needed to protect and support women and to eliminate VAWG. This policy brief examines the lack of data on violence against minoritized women and highlights the importance of utilizing an intersectional approach to data collection and engaging ‘by and for’ in the data collection process. The policy brief is available here.

Regional report on discrimination of Roma women in the area of healthcare, child marriages and support and protection in cases of domestic violence
The Regional Report examines the violence and discrimination faced by Roma women in the areas of health care, child marriage, and institutional protection and support in cases of domestic violence. Based on survey findings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The report reveals shocking levels of violence against Roma women, as well as the prevalence of discrimination that prevents Roma women from accessing services and institutional protection in cases of violence. These patterns of violence and discrimination are examined vis-à-vis states' obligations to comply with anti-discrimination and anti-violence frameworks, such as national legislation, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). This report was developed under the EU-UN Women regional programme 'Ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds'. The report is available here.

UN Women ESARO in partnership with the country offices, UN partner agencies and the African Union is engaging traditional authorities across Africa by working with AU to launch Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA) / Conseil des Autorites Traditionnelles D’Afrique (CONATA), so that it effectively drives a pan-African movement of Traditional Leaders to end child marriage, FGM/C and other harmful practices. Throughout the year the African Union engaged COTLA/CONATA as an advocacy institution following the AU statutory meeting of ministers in charge of Social Development, Labor and Employment who took a decision calling for an extension of the campaign to end child marriage for a five-year period from 2019 to 2023. In the year, COTLA/CONATA convened an annual steering committee meeting in Lusaka through the support of the Republic of the Government of Zambia, and with financial and technical support of UN WOMEN. 

UN Women is also supporting the framing of by-laws to harmonize the national laws with the customary laws in line with the international conventions. At least in 5 countries such initiatives are ongoing, these include, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Liberia.  

In Burundi, The new law No. 1/11 of 20 May 2019 on electoral code reform, improves the level of positioning women on the electoral roll and offers more opportunities to women to stand as candidates in legislative elections. In addition, the code allows women to be elected in their husbands’ origin regions contrary to the provisions of the reformed law which limited the candidacies of women to their origin regions.

In Ethiopia: During the reporting period, UN Women supported the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to undertake a gender analysis of Ethiopia’s draft electoral law. When the law was adopted not including all the proposed changes, UN Women ensured that the legislative committee that was working on directives based on the Electoral Law was provided with a technical support about gender sensitive stipulations to make the derivative legislations gender responsive. The gender analysis identified issues that need to be addressed in terms of affirmative action stipulations, media use during elections, security of voters and candidates, voters that may need assistance during registration and voting and representation of women in different election management bodies etc.
Moreover, UN Women conducted a National Comprehensive Mapping and Analysis of National Laws in Ethiopia as a step towards the elimination of discriminatory laws. The assessment is a comprehensive legislative analysis from a gender perspective to provide an in-depth understanding of the current legal framework and the existence of gaps and discriminatory provisions, with the long-term vision of advocating for law reform to enact new laws or repeal or revise discriminatory legislation. The first draft of the assessment first draft was submitted for review. The gender analysis will explore the vast spectrum of laws to assess their gender responsiveness and will highlight discriminatory provisions and gaps that would require to be repeal, amended or enactment through a law reform process.
Another initiative led by UN Women was the different advocacy sessions towards the adoption of the family law in the Somali region. To this end, an assessment on the general socioeconomic status of women and girls in Somali and Afar regions and barriers hindering the adoption of the family law was conducted. The key findings of the study revealed that in almost all measures of socio-economic indicators including access to education, health, water, electricity, and sanitation, women and girls in both regions have significant challenges compared to other regions of Ethiopia. With regards to the prevalence of VAWG in the two regions, findings of the study show a much higher percentage of sexual violence against women with 14.7 percent in Somali and 13 percent in Afar regions when compared with that of the EDHS, 1% in Somali followed by 4% in Afar.

Most importantly, the study identified the factors hindering the adoption of family laws in Afar and Somali regions to be lack of political commitment, structural and institutional factors (competing priorities and inadequate financing) and social and cultural factors which are highly influenced by religion. The controversy on marriageable age, bigamy, period of widowhood, irregular union, child adoption, and Paternity issues were also among the causes for the resistance towards adopting Family law. UN women will continue popularizing the findings and recommendations of the study and undertaking policy advocacy at different level with the aim of harmonizing the regional family laws with that is the international standards.

The legal adjustment in the main electoral law has been finalized with the legislative drafting team taking some of the recommendations provided. However, the legislative process for matters that will be guided by directives from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, it is still an ongoing process that will also continue in 2020 which is the election year and beyond.
In regard to the preliminary work on the “Assessment of the discriminatory law” conducted for legal adjustments that will support and recommend the repeal or revision of all formal laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women and girls, UN Women will continue supporting the Federal Attorney General and other relevant institutions on the legal adjustment based on the recommendations provided.
The draft Somali and Afar assessment on the barriers for adoption of the federal revised family law, which was conducted in 2019, identified key areas that needs better advocacy coupled with continuous dialogues to bring the expected changes. Some of these areas include; enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the grass root community on the benefit of putting in place an alternative family dispute resolution in addition to the customary and religious systems, enhancing capacity of women and men parliamentarians to advocate for the adoption of family law, and facilitate a knowledge exchange with other Muslim dominated countries who have adopted family law that is in line with international standards. Using the existing partnership with the regional government and faith actors, UN Women will work towards the repeal of the existing regional law in 2020.

In Mozambique, the government of Mozambique continued to demonstrate strong commitment on advancing GEWE including fulfilment of regional and international obligations, which are evidenced by the following achievements: approval of the “Lei contra os casamentos Prematuros[1]” (Law against early marriage) (The Law was approved by the Parliament on 18th July 2019 and with its approval early unions in Mozambique are considered a crime. The law condemns until 8 years of imprisonment to adults who consent or obliged a child to accept a union and 12years for an adult who live in a forced union with a child girl); approval of the revised “Lei fa Familia (Family Law) e “Lei das Sucessões” (Inheritance Law). Additionally, 4 other Laws were reviewed to better respond to the issues included in the approved laws, namely: “Lei da Familia”- Family Law (Lei 22. 2019); “Lei da Revisão do codigo Penal”- Law of criminal code (Lei 24 de 2019); “Lei da revisão do Código do Processo Penal”- Law of review of the Criminal process code (Lei 25 de 2019) and the “Lei da revisao do Codigo de execução das Penas” –Law of review of the criminal process code- (Lei 26 de 2019).

In Rwanda, Under the equality in law by 2030 initiative, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Legal Aid Forum, a network of 38 national and international NGOs, universities, lawyers’ associations, faith-based organizations and trade unions to conduct an assessment aimed at determining whether there are any discriminatory provisions in Rwandan laws. The implementation of this initiative involves different actors from government and civil society organizations through a steering committee put in place for quality assurance. The Legal Aid Forum has submitted a draft report waiting for final validation by stakeholders. The report recognizes tremendous achievements for gender mainstreaming in Rwanda’s legal framework. However, there are still few provisions that need to be worked out through legislative reforms. 
In South Sudan, the Reconstituted National Constitution Amendment Committee (R-NCAC) has been working on reviewing the various laws including the security sector laws.  UN Women provided technical support in review of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army Act 2009, the National Security Services Act 2014, the Police Service Act 2009 and the Prisons Service Act 2011.

In Sudan, UN Women has supported the women’s movement to voice their concerns and claim the repeal and reform of laws violating women’s human rights such as the public Order Law which was then repealed in December 2019.   
In Somalia, UN Women in close collaboration with UNFPA, UNDP and UNSOM is actively engaged in passage of the Sexual Offence Bill and FGM Bill. The Sexual Offence Bill has already been approved by the cabinet of ministers and awaits endorsement at the parliament. The FGM bill is in the final stages of drafting and soon will be presented to the cabinet of ministers. The Sexual Offences Bill (SOB) seeks to serve the purpose of combating sexual violence and consolidating laws of sexual offences, providing for punishment of perpetrators of sexual offenses, providing for procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and other related matters.
In Tanzania, UN Women provided technical and financial support to the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA), Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG), Women Fund Tanzania and the Women’s Coalition on the Constitution Review and Leadership For advocacy to repeal the following laws that discriminate against women and girls:  The Law of Marriage Act (LMA) of 1971 sanctions the marriage of girls as young as 14 years, while requiring boys to be adults. During 2019, the Tanzania Court of Appeal upheld a previous High Court judgment declaring the minimum age of marriage for girls, as set out in the Law of Marriage Act, unconstitutional. As a result, the National Assembly of the United Republic of Tanzania will need to pass legislation bringing this law in line with international standards. UN Women is currently strategizing with and supporting the Tanzania Women Parliamentary Group (TWPG) and the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal affairs (MoCLA) for advocacy to pass the required legislation.

In Uganda, UN Women provided technical support to the government in the legislative developments.  Some of these include:
- The Sexual Offences Bill that seeks to consolidate all laws relating to sexual offences and provide procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offences in addition to measures to check sexual harassment in public places. 
- Employment Bill 2019 that seeks to amend the Employment Act 2006 to operationalise the provisions of Art.40 of the Uganda Constitution and align it to the ILO convention No.190.
- The Marriage and Divorce bill which brings together all laws governing a Marriage and its dissolution;
- The legal aid bill that seeks to ensure indignant citizens access free legal aid services; and 
- The Domestic Violence Act (DVA) which provides protection of women from violence committed to them in a domestic setting

In Zimbabwe, UN Women supported work on the Marriages Bill by conducting a gender analysis of the bill and supported development of an alternative marriages bill as a reference document to inform parliamentary debates. The Bill seeks to consolidate the laws relating to marriages in Zimbabwe into one Act of Parliament and as such repeal the Marriages Act [Chapter 5:11] and the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07]. The Bill also criminalises child marriage and decriminalises HIV transmission (repealing Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act), both of which were key advocacy issues for UN Women in the reporting year.

UN Women capacities at the regional and national level have enhanced through its triple mandate and technical leadership on EVAW in Africa region. This is evidenced through the leadership on Africa Spotlight Initiative at both regional and country levels, steep increase in the mobilization of resources, strengthening of partnerships with AUC, regional and national CSOs, government and other partners.   UN Women in Africa also by leveraging on the Africa Strategy and harnessing the technical capacities of the team through establishment of a regional EVAW Community of Practice (COP) and sharing of innovation and technical knowledge through South-South learning.  This helped immensely in initiating, strengthening and up-scaling programs on ‘safe markets and safe public spaces’ in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe; addressing tech violence against girls in education institutions through a research and advocacy document; partnerships with regional traditional leaders in establishing a movement of “Council of Traditional Leaders in Africa (COTLA)” and its launch in the sidelines of the African Union Summit in February 2019 through the President of Zambia in grassroot advocacy and prevention of child marriage, FGM and other harmful practices.   Strengthened partnerships with the government and CSOs also helped in technical support in legislative reform, strengthening institutions, establishment of referral pathways and multisectoral responses in EVAW in the region. 

UN-Women continued to support the mainstreaming of gender and development of training sessions on violence against women in politics, which were delivered in the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) 2019 courses on Political Approaches to Preventing and Responding to Election-Related Violence.

The year 2020 is a pivotal year for advancing gender equality worldwide, as the global community takes stock of progress made for women’s rights since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. This information note explores UN Women's upcoming actions throughout 2020 including its multigenerational campaign: “Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future”, Generation Equality Forums and Action Coalitions. Generation Equality and 2020 information note from ECA available here.
 

UN Women ESARO supported the development of a model law for establishment of special mechanisms to fast track SGBV cases by International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) with UN Women support. This had been one of the articles of the Kampala Declaration (2011) and provides a comprehensive framework to facilitate development of national instruments to fast track prosecution of SGBV cases.

In Kenya, UN Women provided both financial and technical support in the development of the GBV policy for Migori County. This was done through a participatory, multi-sectoral workshop attended by state and non-state GBV actors in the county.

In South Africa, UN Women as the lead UN agency has significantly made financial and technical contributions to the Coordination stream of the work of the Interim Steering Committee to ensure that the structure and legislation are drafted and the drafting of the Nation Strategic Plan. Other UN agencies have contributed in other streams of work. 


Funding intersectional violence against women and girls (VAWG) services
This policy brief highlights the value that ‘by and for’ organizations bring to the fight to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) and examines how the current funding landscape jeopardizes the existence and autonomy of these organizations. It provides key recommendations on improving the nature of funding frameworks to support organizations that address the specific needs of minoritized women and girls. The policy brief is available here.

Good Practices in Responding to Domestic Violence a Comparative Study
With the aim of assisting the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina in supporting responsible government bodies to advance minimum standards in ensuring response and assistance to victims of gender-based violence, good practices were analyzed across four countries, two EU Member States (Austria and Spain), and two non-EU States within the Western Balkan region (Albania and Serbia). This document provides a detailed, technical description of national programmes and initiatives that have been recognized internationally as good practice. It provides comparative information from the four selected countries in order to demonstrate distinct approaches and models. The aim is to provide diverse options to assist relevant actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in selecting the best approach tailored to their current needs and circumstances in line with international standards.
For each practice, after setting forth the relevant international standards based on the Istanbul Convention, the UN Guidelines on Essential Services Package, jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe Guidelines, the flagship best-practice initiatives are described, comparing like models, where good practice exists in more than one country. Challenges to implementing each good practice model are also noted, including deviations from international standards as well as practical barriers to implementation. The study is available here.

UN Women Analysis of the Capacities for the Implementation of Council of Europe Convention of Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence and Violence against Women in Police and Free Legal Aid Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina
With this analysis, UN Women seeks to support the Agency for Gender Equality of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees Bosnia and Herzegovina to establish minimum standards for service provision to survivors of gender-based violence in several sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis examines the two sectors' capacity to implement the standards derived from the Istanbul Convention including state obligations and due diligence, integrated policies and data collection, prevention, protection and support, substantive law, investigation, prosecution, and procedural law.
In addition to the detailed assessment of legal, operational and institutional framework, the analysis further examines the capacities of responsible sectoral governmental institutions and service providers at the local level, including relevant NGOs. Detailed information from institutions and service providers were collected from interviews, representing the opportunity for identifying a new way of understanding the topic at hand. The analysis will add to the evidence-based support to the activities of institutions in the country with a view of meeting the obligations that stem from the Istanbul Convention, and ultimately providing adequate support to victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence, as well as processing of perpetrators. You can read the analysis here.

DRC
Strengthening of community prevention mechanisms with vigilance committees; sensitization of the military and police on their role in civil protection. Action to repress the perpetrators of sexual violence with emblematic trials of certain senior military officers. Actions carried out by the office of the Personal Representative of the Head of State in charge of combating sexual violence with the support of partners, in particular UN Women and UNFPA.

CAMEROON
UNW CAMEROON sept up women cohesion space to provide holistance assistance to GBV survivors. In humanitarian settings, awareness raising activities in different forms reached a great number of women, men, girls and boys including traditional and religious leaders who maintain significant influence over social norms and behaviours at the community level, on gender-based violence, girls' education, importance of women's economic empowerment, early/forced marriage and other relevant issues. These community outreach activities were not only prevention measures but also served as a first step to inform the population on available GBV services and to encourage them to report cases in the social environment that traditionally silences the survivors of violence. 

LIBERIA
Liberia is not in a conflict situation at the moment. However, measures are available as part of disaster response strategy. 

NIGER
The Diffa region is prey to the interventions of the boko Haram nebula. To support displaced, returned and refugee women, high-impact activities were implemented, including three hundred and fifty income-generating activities in the camps, the provision of more than 1,000 domestic gas kits to enable women not to leave the camps to search for firewood, Equipping health centres in three camps to care for survivors of violence, the three cohesion spaces, gender training for the FDS, GBV and gender mainstreaming in security activities, and the five gender units within the law enforcement services. All these activities benefited more than 5,000 people.

NIGERIA
UN Women supported the state ministries of women affairs and social development in the focus states to commemorate the 16 days of activism on violence against women;
The National Advisory Committee on the implementation of the National Action Plan was inaugurated by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with support from Un Women and the State Action Plans on UNSCR 1325 was launched n Adamawa Gombe and Plateau state in the period 
The HeforShe campaign was launched in three state and male traditional and community leaders were recognized for integrating women in traditional councils and local community leadership committees.
A simplified NAP has been developed to facilitate uptake by the public and the costing for the implementation is underway 
Plateau Peacebuilding Agency’s Strategic Plan has been drafted with support from UN Women and state partners  

Egypt CO

UN Women Egypt in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Solidarity developed the capacities of over 1500 women community workers across Egypt, capitalizing on their facility to reach women and men in rural and remote areas, to raise the public’s awareness, through conducting house calls, awareness raising meetings, and other means, on the various forms of violence against women and their social and legal ramifications. The community workers also serve as a vital tool for disseminating information on the support services provided by credible organizations for women victims/survivors of violence. In addition, UN Women Egypt in collaboration with Care International Egypt supported the formation of a network of over 400 young volunteers (both women and men) and developed their capacities to engage community members; over 2600 members reached, utilizing innovative context sensitive approaches, such as interactive community theater, shadow theater, graffiti art in addition to conventional methods, such as door-to-door campaigns, to raise societal awareness of various forms of violence against women, change negative attitudes and beliefs of men towards violence against women, and the gender norms that normalize and justify gender inequality and violence. 

UN Women succeeded in establishing the Iraq National Steering Committee for the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund with high level leadership and representation from the government in addition to the UNRC as co-chair and membership of women civil society, the donor community and the UNCT. UN Women, as WPHF Technical Management and Secretariat at global and national levels, convened  the first Steering Committee meeting in March. The National Steering Committee, will be in charge of providing strategic direction, oversight and coordination of implementation of their portfolio, including: provide a platform for partnership, coordination, advocacy and resource mobilization at the national level; manage the WPHF allocation for Iraq; monitor progress and provide oversight on project performance. UN Women has succeeded in securing funding of $2 million for Iraq from the governments of Canada and the UK. A call for proposals is expected to be announced in the second quarter under the guidance of the NSC.

A total of 255 beneficiaries (Jordanians and Syrians) have been reached from different subjects related to GBV and women’s’ rights through 11 awareness-raising activities. Social cohesion have been evident as a result of Including Syrians and Jordanians both in the awareness sessions. Under LEAP, UN Women and IFH organized five awareness raising sessions on protection and all forms of violence targeting 72 Syrian and Jordanian women and men. In addition, awareness of 154 Jordanians and Syrians were raised on issues related to early marriage and gender-based violence through scheduled plays ( through the Hemayati project). A discussion following the play between the audience and the moderator helped to clarify issues related to early marriage.  This approach promotes women's and girl's self-expression and self-awareness, while providing them with skills to articulate changes they would like to see in their reality. A consultative writing process (“writeshop”) was developed with key stakeholders to ensure ownership of the messages that feed into the development of a toolkit to disseminate specialized legal knowledge relating to violence against women and girls among non-specialized audiences. the toolkit was launched in November aiming at familiarizing and sensitizing readers with current gaps, challenges and realities of VAWG in Jordan in order to start a social dialogue that can foster positive changes in attitudes toward women and girls, as well as promote and inform legislative and policy changes. 

In 2017, UN Women MCO continued to develop its own initiatives, strengthened and broadened its support to CSOs, national partners and the private sector’s initiatives to prevent VAW. As a result, a wide audience was reached (more than 3 million people, including through regular tv spots on the main national tv channel) and was mobilized during sensitization efforts and numerous events organized all year-long, and largely intensified during the 16 Days campaign, with a specific focus this year on engaging men and boys through innovative communication campaigns. The MCO succeeded in engaging partner agencies through UNCT and the Gender thematic group, national Ministries (Women’s machinery, Ministry of Justice and Liberties, Ministry of Interior), national institutions (City councils and Wilayas in Marrakech and Rabat, the Parliament), multilateral organizations (European Union Delegation), CSOs, Universities, with young boys and girls, the media and the private sector (telecommunications, public transports).

UN Women Palestine office supported MA’AN (an NGO based in the Negev which focus on legal awareness and protection of women from West Bank and Gaza and Bedouin women who live in the Negev and are subject to Israeli jurisdiction) to conduct raising awarness workshops for the West bankers and Gazan women living in the Negev. Those women face challenging issues related to their legal status with the Israeli authorities (they hold a palestinian ID, but they  live  in  Israel with their spouses without any legal document)  and many suffer from family and intimate partner  violence. During the reporting period UN Women Palestine office supported MA'AN to organize 14 raising awareness workshops and targeted women from the West Bank and Gaza. The workshop covered the following issues: family status laws, residency, legal and citizenship rights and access to social and health services and VAW. Similarly, 4 workshops were  organized in the Negev targeted social workers on different issues; such as:  VAW, legal rights  of women from the West Bank and Gaza who are married to men from the Negev.  Additonally UNW Palestine office supported MA'AN in the publication of two legal newsletter discussing concerns related to the legal status and legal rights of West Bank and Gaza women who live in the Negev. 450 copies of the newsletter were printed and distributed. UNW Palestine supported Al- Muntada ( a coalition of 17 women's organizations that work on combatting VAW) to lead a national advocacy campaign on VAW,  including legal discirmination against women and the need to adopt a responsive FPB. The campaign included radio episodes, TV programmes, and field  awareness sessions in differnet districts , which aimed at raising awareness of public and participants on women's rights, VAW and rights' gaps existing within the applicable legislative framework in Palestine, and building allies to advocate for the adoption of a gender responsive Family Protection Bill.                  

Within SAWASYA - UNDP / UN Women Joint Programme on Strengthening the Rule of Law: Justice and Security for Palestinian People, the PCHR (The Palestinian Center for Human Rights) conducted 30 awareness raising sessions targeted  both males and females with  awareness sessions on femicide,  the so- called honour killing and women’s legal rights in remote and marginalized areas all over the Gaza Strip. Most of the interventions carried out within the project’s duration focused on providing legal awareness,  awareness sessions  about  the so-called " honor  killing" and femicide as a mechanism to prevent violence against women and engage men and youth mainly to advocate for women's rights- as a result of these interventions,  511 women and 247 men were targeted.

Lebanon PP

In 2017,  3 induction/capacity building sessions on GBV tools for around 12 youth-led NGOs active in different areas in Lebanon was organized. The main focus of the induction is Gender Roles & Societal Expectations from both Women and Men in Public and Private Spheres.  Furthermore,  to support the role of youth-led and women-led organizations,  UN Women  organized in partnership with ABAAD a GBV/Masculinity  TOT training workshop in October  2017 which involved 9 CSOs.  The 3  days’ workshop aimed  at  building the capacities of  participating NGOs  on  the concepts of human security,  gender based violence and masculinities and  addressing negative coping mechanism.  The CSOs were able to  utilize their newly acquired knowledge and technical skills while conducting GBV awareness raising sessions within their community to address stigma against GBV survivors and reduce all forms of violence.  

The UN Women Gender Specialist secondee to OCHA has been working closely with national and sub-national cluster coordinators, gender focal points and humanitarian funding partners to improve gender outcomes, including conducting training on Gender and Age Marker for 90 participants.

In Algeria, UN Women has reached an important milestone, in strenghtening the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women Condition's (MSNFCF) capacities to collect data on women and girls victims of violence. A modernized and common data collection framework integrating international guidelines and indicators on WSV, with a focus on SDG 5, was developed by UN Women in partnership with the MSNFCF. The new administrative databased named "AMANE" will allow the MSNFCF and its different structures to collect comprehensive data on Survivors seeking aid from its services. All 54 professionals from the Directorates for Social Action and Solidarity (DASS) and from Women Shelter's have benefited from a specific training on how to use AMANE with a component on gender-based violence and gender issues.

As part of UN Women efforts in supporting the Palestinian police to improve the Family Protection and Juvenile Unit (FPJU) performance in dealing with VAW cases, and supporting the implementation of the capacity building plan of the FJPU, a two-day workshop has been conducted in Jan 2018 on cybercrimes against women and girls.  24 police officers from FJPU and the cybercrime unit have been targeted and agreed on recommendations to improve coordination between both units whe dealing with VAW cases.  following that, UNW facilitated a meeting  between heads of the specialized units of the cyber-crime and VAW, to reflect on the workshops main points  and present the findings and recommendations. Both units agreed to discuss internally proposed arrangements,  including the assginment of the  FJPU as the first responder for the cyber-crime -violence against women and  the aspects of coordination mechanisms between the units when dealing with VAW casesto ensure privacy and confidentiality. 

UN Women internal policies:

UN Women has policies which are available to its personnel. They receive these through their welcome letter the moment they join the organization, available links on our intranet pages, and in house non/mandatory courses and information sessions.

Here are the policies:

• The UN-Women Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct defines misconduct and the mechanisms within UN-Women for reporting and investigating it. The investigations function for UN-Women is assumed by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which has the mandate to investigate all reports of alleged misconduct involving staff members and allegations of fraud and corruption, whether committed by staff members or outside parties.
• TheUN-Women Policy on Protection Against Retaliationestablishes "whistleblower protection."
• The UN Women Policy on Workplace Harassment and Abuse of Authority is a helpful document in providing definitions, measures of prevention, and steps to resolving improper conduct.

Egypt CO

UN Women Egypt in close collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW) supported the comprehensive review of the Personal Status Laws (family laws) and Penal Code to analyze the impact of such laws on women's ability to access justice for all forms of violence. The process brought together multiple actors in the justice chain, including members of the judiciary, prosecution, police, social affairs, in addition to specialized councils to develop draft laws and/or amend existing ones to prevent violence against women, punish perpetrators, and ensure the rights of survivors. As a result of several rounds of consultations by national stakeholders, a draft comprehensive law on violence against women, that aims to support a comprehensive response to survivors of violence, including the provision of support and protection services, was developed and will be submitted to parliament by the NCW.

UN Women has been advocating for the passage of The Anti-Domestic Violence Law, introduced to parliament in 2015 and still under review. In January 2017, the law was presented to discussion in front of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, however it failed to pass the committees. The strengths of the draft bill include provisions for services for domestic violence survivors, protection orders (restraining orders) and penalties for their breach, and the establishment of a cross-ministerial committee to combat domestic violence. However, the law does not set penalties for committing the crime of domestic violence, does not repeal provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code that condone domestic violence (such as weaker penalties for ‘honor crimes’), and prioritizes reconciliation over justice. 

Morocco MCO

UN Women first acted through supporting the civil society in its advocacy efforts to align draft law no 103.13 with international norms and standards, and more especially through supporting the memorandums of the coalition Printemps de la Dignité composed of 25 NGOs throughout the national territory. The coalition is specialized in advocating to the government and to the Parliament on laws and public policies related to EVAW, and has developed a Memorandum on each of the expected reforms and defended their arguments before the Ministry of Justice. UN Women has supported the coalition providing it with tools and guidance on international norms, laws and strategies to EVAW.

UN WomenPalestine supported national counterparts to develop a Family Protection Bill (FPB) in line with international human rights standards. UNW's  support included technical advice to the technical committee that was formed by the Council of Ministries to work on the FPB. UNW also facilitated the engagement of the CSOs in this process through sensitizing partners on the rights of CSOs to take part in this process and supporting CSOs simultaneously by providing them with technical and financial support to advocate for the adoption of a responsive bill. UNW has also supported the justice sector strategy to identify legislative priorities for the years 2017- 2022 , which included the penal code, the personal status law, the family protection bill, cybercrime law and others. 

Lebanon PP

UN Women  Lebanon, in cooperation with several activist civil society organizations, supported a campiagn in 2016 to repeal article 522 of the Penal Code related to rape-marriage,  which releases the perpetrator in case he marries the victim. In  June 2017,  the campaing efforts  were  materialized  with the approval of the Parliament to repeal the article.