Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

UNAIDS Gender Assessment Tool for National HIV Responses, including gender-based violence was developed and implemented in 20 countries in 2013. ECLAC has continued its work on awareness-raising by providing training as requested by Member States: Hide

UNAIDS supported nine civil society consultations,6 led by the Women Won’t Wait campaign, focusing on HIV and partner violence, and advocating for increased investment in HIV, gender equality and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights through the Post-2015 development framework. To highlight the gross human rights violation of violence against women, UNAIDS collaborated with the Permanent Mission of Namibia and Victims2Survivors, to launch the Namibian ‘Unite to end Gender-based Violence’ exhibition on 10 December 2013, in Geneva. 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

UNAIDS produced two publications on transgender people and HIV which highlighted the extremely high prevalence of HIV amongst transgender persons (30 – 38% in Argentina, 10 – 42% in Asia), and the fact that violence against transgender men and women is a significant risk factor for them both in terms of contracting HIV as well as deterring them from accessing health and justice services. Hide

UNAIDS presented an external mid-term review of UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women Girls and Gender Equality to its Programme Coordinating Board in December 2012. The review found UNAIDS has contributed to scaled up country-level action on violence and HIV but further work is required to strengthen the evidence base. Hide

UNAIDS supported countries to collect data and report on the proportion of ever-married or partnered women aged 15-49 who experienced physical or sexual violence from a male intimate partner in the past 12 months. This was reported for the first time in the 2012 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/epidemiology/2012/gr2012/20121120_UNAIDS_Global_Report_2012_en.pdf Hide

UNAIDS and DPKO collaborate in implementing the SRC 1983, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo. AIDS programmes are helping address sexual and gender-based violence, sensitise perpetrators, and promote integration of human rights standards in national legal and policy frameworks. http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2012/september/20120926hivandsecurity/ Hide

UNAIDS, together with UN Peacekeepers, distributed inflatable solar-powered lights to women and families, in Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and South Sudan, and raised the issue of sexual and gender-based violence against women and HIV. http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2012/november/20121127prshinealight/ Hide

UNAIDS is supporting a number of actions to highlight the link between violence against women and HIV, as well as the role of the HIV response in overcoming violence against women. These include Country consultations led by the Women Won’t Wait campaign; and a high level panel during the CSW on the linkages between violence against women and HIV. Hide

In Guatemala, UNAIDS, with the government and civil society, jointly developed the National Action Framework with a focus on gender-based violence, which has been further incorporated into the operational plan of Guatemala’s National HIV Strategy. Hide