Protection, Support and Services for Victims/Survivors

During the reporting period, OHCHR, in cooperation with UN Women, convened three validation workshops for the finalization of the Model Protocol for the investigation of femicide in Latin America. The tool aims at strengthening capacities to take gender aspects into account in analyzing the crime scenes and in identifying necessary expert evidence. The Model of Protocol was also presented to the Conference of State Parties to Inter-American Convention on Violence against Women (Belém do Pará Convention) and to the General Assembly of the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMPO). The Human Rights Council, at its June 2013 session, adopted resolution 23/25 which recognized the Model Protocol as a good and promising practice (OP 19). Hide

In Mexico, UNODC supported a referral network to coordinate institutional actions addressing violence against women. UNODC launched the Assessment Guide to the Criminal Justice Response to the Smuggling of Migrants, focusing on the special needs and areas of particular vulnerability of women. UNODC is implementing a project on gender-based violence and empowerment of victims in South Africa. In Central Asia, UNODC produced a training film on interviewing vulnerable victims and witnesses for prosecutors and law enforcement agencies. UNODC and UNFPA jointly trained law enforcement officers and shelter personnel who work with victims of human trafficking through a series of national and regional workshops. Hide

In April and June 2013, UNODC organized expert group meetings, held in Bangkok, to respectively develop the Handbook for Prosecutors dealing with cases of violence against women and girls and the Implementation action plan for criminal justice systems to prevent and respond to violence against women. Hide

WHO launched Clinical and policy guidelines for the health sector: Responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women in June 2013. These guidelines are based on systematic reviews of all available evidence assessed by a group of experts. The guidelines have been widely disseminated through workshops, in partnership with UNFPA in Asia Pacific, as well as in 6 countries in West Africa and in China, Vietnam and with Syrian Ob/GYNs in Lebanon. Hide

At the 57th CSW, WHO along with Governments of Norway and Zambia co-hosted a high level panel side event on the health sector response to violence against women. A high level panel side event on violence against women was organized by the Governments of Belgium, USA, India, Zambia, Mexico, Norway and Netherlands at the World Health Assembly in May 2013, during which Ministers of Health proposed an agenda item on violence against women for the 2014 World Health Assembly. Hide

WHO launched a programming tool: “16 ideas for addressing violence against women in the context of the HIV epidemic” during the16 days of activism campaign against gender-based violence which provides programme managers with effective interventions to prevent and respond to violence against women. Hide

UNRWA’s GBV referral system underwent significant expansion by building/consolidating new partnerships and by introducing the referral systems to new regions and areas. This resulted in 1,217 new survivors being detected by frontline staff working in UNRWA’s main programmes (ie. Education, Health, and Relief and Social Services) and 2,0858 survivors accessing services. The services comprised psychological and social support, legal aid, and medical care, and were provided both internally, through UNRWA’s programmes, and externally, via external partners. Hide

UNHCR continued its work, in partnership with with civil society, to ensure a holistic response for survivors of SGBV, including through establishment of safe spaces in centres in Lebanon, which are not specifically created for services provision to SGBV survivors, in order to avoid stigmatization of SGBV survivors seeking support; establishment of “centres d’écoute” for counselling services to SGBV survivors in Mali; establishment of family counselling mechanisms and community protection committees in Yemen to address domestic violence among Somali refugees; training in Burkina Faso for its staff and partners working with camp-based and urban refugees resulting in revisions to the SOP on SGBV in light of the changing situation in the Malian crisis. Hide

The UN Trust Fund on EVAW-funded joint programme ‘Multi-Sectoral Gender Based Violence Response at the District Level in Nepal’, the first UN joint programming initiative to address VAW in Nepal, was completed in 2013 and the evaluation concluded that the programme has helped create a forum for different stakeholders to address VAW collectively. Hide

The ESCWA Centre for Women (ECW) completed a regional study and policy brief on “Multi-sectoral efforts and partnerships to address violence against women in the ESCWA Region”, in partnership with ABAAD, to examine services provided by the State and civil society institutions and enhance their role in protecting and rehabilitating survivors of VAW. Another study in 2013 focused on “Trafficking of women and children in the Arab Region: A regional perspective” to analyze State responses to trafficking in persons as manifested in national laws, action plans and strategies. Hide