United Nations Population Fund

As of end 2013, 12 out of the 15 countries, where the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilations/Cutting (FGM/C) operates, have developed a legislative framework which criminalizes FGM/C. Legislation has been recently adopted in Ethiopia, Kenya, Guinea and Guinea Bissau banning all forms of FGM/C. Hide

UNFPA collaborated with UNFPA, ILO, UNICEF, UN-Women and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on a joint study on violence against indigenous girls, adolescents and young women, entitled “Breaking the Silence on Violence against Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women: A call to action based on an overview of existing evidence from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America”. 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 Violence Against Children Survey part of the Together for Girls Initiative (including UNICEF, UN Women, UNFPA, UNAIDS and WHO as partners) has collected prevalence of and circumstances surrounding violence, targeting females and males aged 13-24, and has already been completed in Kenya, Haiti and Zimbambwe. Results were released in Zimbabwe and Kenya, in May and Novemer 2012, respectively. The results will be released in Haiti, in early 2013. 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

UNFPA and UNHCR are in the process of supporting the Ministry of Gender in Liberia to develop a GBV Information Management System. The GBV IMS will be modelled on the global GBV IMS which is already being piloted in several countries. The work will be supported by the Global IMS surge team and locally by the Liberia Institute for Geo- Statics and Information (LISGIS). The system aims to harmonise all existing data sources on GBV and strengthen systems for storage and dissemination. Hide

UNFPA and UNICEF completed the inception phase of a joint global evaluation of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C. Hide

UNFPA, supported by AusAID, has carried out research on the sexual and reproductive health needs of women with a disability in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tonga, and carried out a study on prevalence and women’s health, in Samoa, in Republic of Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Nauru. It aslo supported data collection in the Central American region, in collaboration with INGO Ipas. The project Comprehensive security for women, with an emphasis on sexual violence: Campaign to combat impunity related to sexual violence is implemented in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and it proposes recommendations on data collection and indicators monitoring. Hide

UNFPA supported the UN Special Rapporteur on VAW (SRVAW) on the global research relating to the interpretation and implementation of the international law principle of the due diligence obligations of States in the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in general and to a life free of violence in particular. Hide

UNICEF and UNMIL collaborated with Ministry of Gender and Development in Liberia to convene a retreat on Child rape in October 2012. Also in Liberia, UNFPA supported the Ministry of Gender and Development to collaborate with civil society groups to launch and build capacity of the GBV observatory to help raise awareness of the referral pathway and issues rlated to teenage pregnancy, early marriage and rape. Several advocacy initiatives were undertaken by THINK and CEP (UNFPA funded partners) to address the issue of SGBV, including strengthening of six networks and four community outreach sessions. Dialogue was initiated with traditional leaders and men’s and women’s groups to address harmful Traditional Practices, resulting in the Ministry of Internal Affair’s announcement that FGM is prohibited and prosecutable. UN Women continues to expand the Peace Huts, emphasizing the role of women as peace builders and recognizes their key role in engaging with local authorities for prevention, increasing women’s voice and supporting them in engaging with authorities to improve access to justice, and provide active accompaniment of women and girls who are survivors of violence. Hide