Measures to Address Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations

With the support of UNESCO’s Research and Documentation Centre for Women, based in Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of Congo), a three-day workshop on “Sociocultural Approaches to Combating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence” was organised in Kinshasa from 9 to 11 December 2010. Several stakeholders discussed about the root causes of sexual violence and the role of stakeholders to combat it. Socio-cultural messages, strategies and activities to prevent violence against women were elaborated and stakeholders to implement those were identified. Hide

UNESCO continued its activities in post-conflict countries, including activities on women’s involvement in conflict resolution, peace-building, and reconstruction through better access to information. Hide

ESCWA Centre for Women organized several events on 25-26 October 2010 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the UN SCR 1325, including the launch of the publication entitled “Means to strengthen the role of women in conflict resolution and peace-building”, a round table discussion with the theme “Ten years 1325: Where are we now?”, and a workshop for Member States on drafting national action plans to impelement the UN SCR 1325. On the occasion of the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women and the 16 Days of Activism, ESCWA Centre for Women organized several events, including a discussion on violence against women in conflict settings in Arab countries, held on the International Human Rights Day. Hide

In Sierra Leone, UNDP continued to support six civil society organizations to provide legal aid to sexual gender-based violence survivors, resulting in 19 convictions bringing the total to 45 convictions in 2010 (compared to zero in 2009, according to GoSiL). UNDP will continue to build the capacity of the Sierra Leone Bar Association to ensure institutional sustainability of legal service provision on sexual gender-based violence. Hide

In Sri Lanka, UNDP’s “Equal Access to Justice” project has undertaken a series of workshops targeting community-based organizations in plantation areas, in order to strengthen the support networks for survivors of gender-based violence at the local level. In these workshops several issues related sexual gender-based and domestic violence were discussed. Hide

In Guinea Conakry, UNDP partnered with several stakeholders and coordinated the development of “Standard Operational Procedures” on assistance for survivors of sexual violence and of a referral system. UNDP supports a women’s network to provide legal aid, and information to survivors of gender-based violence. Hide

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia, UNDP supported the development of curricula and the training of judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement agencies on how to approach cases of sexual gender-based violence: capacity-building for monitoring trials related to sexual gender-based violence, in Bosnia and Herzegovina by targeting NGOs, and in Kyrgyzstan through the Ombudsman Institute. Hide

In Sri Lanka, UNDP’s “Equal Access to Justice” project launched its “Community Legal Empowerment for Women” project in November 2010. The project targets also men and includes initiatives, such as legal awareness workshops, which address prevention and response mechanisms related to sexual gender-based violence; benefits of formally registering marriages. The workshops also seek to build effective referral pathways for those who are interested in accessing the projects. Two programs of training of trainers have already been conducted. Hide

In Serbia, UNDP supported the development of strategies to address sexual gender-based violence and a draft document on this topic was finalized. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, strategies to address sexual gender-based violence were also developed as a part of the transitional justice strategy, which includes a focus on survivors of sexual gender-based violence from the 1992-95 armed conflict. Hide

In Nepal, informal legal aid desks, operating in police stations, were supported by UNDP. Mobile legal aid clinics in three districts provided free legal services and information to 1524 people (80% were women). The paralegal programme, at the community level, was expanded in 2010 and the paralegal committees received training on gender-based vioelnce and justice, helping to mainstream a national awareness initiative on sexual gender-absed violence. Hide