Training and Capacity Building

In Sierra Leone, OHCHR organised a workshop for members of the Parliamentarian Human Rights Committee on the new Sexual Offences Act. Hide

UNODC organised several activities to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement, justice and health sector officials to better prevent and respond to violence against women, including training workshops, awareness-raising initiatives and relevant projects in Zambia, South Africa, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Lao People's Democratic Republic; and publishment of materials on the "Abuse of a Position of Vulnerability and other "Means" Within the Definition of Trafficking in Persons", to assist criminal justice officers in penal proceedings. Hide

WHO, in collaboration with Partners for Prevention and the Medical Research Council/South Africa, supported capacity-building initiatives on research and developing interventions to prevent gender-based violence in Bangkok, in July 2012. Hide

UNRWA conducted training on gender-based violence, detection and referral of survivors, for community-based organizations and Health Ministry representatives, including in Gaza and the West Bank. Hide

In Liberia: UNDP supported the SGBV Crimes Unit to design and conduct a specialized trainings for 95 Judges, Magistrates, Prosecutors and Public Defence lawyers, on the rape law; UNFPA supported THINK (local NGO) and the Ministry of Health and social Welfare to train 120 health service providers and 90 general community health volunteers in Clinical management of Rape; WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to establish a pool of 52 trainers for the programme on psychosocial counselling; UNICEF supported the Judicial Training Institute in partnership with the Ghana Judicial training institute to train around 100 Judges, Magistrates, County Attorneys and Public Defenders on national and international standards for violence against women and children cases; and UNMIL provided capacity-building support to the Liberian National Police which has included the provision of refresher courses for 212 police officers of the Women and Children Protection Service and other officers, focusing on the management and handling of sexual violence cases reported to the police. Hide

UNDP supported the following initiatives: in Sierra Leone the training of State Counsels on the new Sexual Offences Act and Criminal Procedure Bill, the training of journalists and civil society organizations to report and publicize SGBV cases in a gender-sensitive manner and published the ‘Handbook for the Media on Reporting SGBV Cases in Sierra Leone’; in Kyrgyzstan the first gender training of border officers; in Serbia, the strengthening of capacities of various health and law enforcement officials; in Afghanistan, various workshops to raise awareness on rights of women and strengthen the capacity of the justice sector to provide better services to victims; in Nepal, training of law enforcement officials and lawyers, including on investigations process and sexual harassment at work; in Colombia, awareness-raising about gender-based violence and training on justice, peace; processes related to truth and reconciliation processes, including reparations; in Chile, with the Women’s National Service (SERNAM), a training program for service providers on the National Plan of Domestic Violence; in Panama training to justice sector officials to implement Criminal Accusatory System. Hide

Former UNIFEM now part of UN Women supported ongoing training of judges, lawyers, police and other “duty bearers” in various countries, such as in the Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Haiti and Indonesia. Hide

In partnership with NGOs, UNFPA community-based work on the abandonment of FGM/C (under the joint programme with UNICEF) has produced capacity-building trainings and guidance documents that are vital to the programme. Under programme support by UNFPA to the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), the Institute developed capacities of stakeholders in India, Kenya and Uganda to engage men and boys to combat violence against women in institutional settings. Hide

The OHCHR Regional Office for the Pacific, in partnership with the Regional Rights Resource Team and the International Services for Human Rights, held a regional training and consultation workshop for civil society representatives,(6-10 September) presenting, among other issues, a topic on violence against women. The meeting focused on raising human rights issues through local and international mechanisms. Human Rights & Rule of Law Section of UNIOSIL in Sierra Leone organised in October 2010 an interactive forum for Traditional Women Leaders in the northern region and Family Support Units and Local Court officials in Kenema district respectively, addressing human rights, child’s rights and gender-based violence with emphasis on harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation(FGM). Participants resolved to collaborate with human rights institutions to monitor, prevent and prosecute gender-based violence in their communities. Within the joint UN MDG gender programme on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the oPt and in coordination with other specialized organizations, Hide

The OHCHR Regional Office for Central America continues participation in the inter-agency group on gender by providing input to a regional project by the SG “UNiTE” Campaign, which focuses on strengthening the capacity of States in the region to improve investigation, prosecution and reparation in cases of of gender-based violence. Hide