Measures

Inter-agency regional workshops were held in Bangkok, Nairobi, and Johannesburg to facilitate roll-out of the Gender Handbook. The Gender-Based Violence Guidelines were translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Spanish and Portuguese.In June 2008, the IASC Sub Working Group on Gender released a SOP template for prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence in IDP settings, based on the UNHCR template. Hide

UNAIDS undertook two reviews focusing on violence against women and AIDS: (1) a review of the gender policies of the three major AIDS financing institutions – the World Bank, the US President’s Emergency Planfor AIDS relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) – with a view towards strengthening harmonization and coordination of approaches; and (2) a review of over 50 national strategic plans on AIDS to ascertain the degree to which gender issues were integrated. Hide

In April 2008, UNAIDS presented “Gender Guidance for National AIDS Responses” to its Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), on strategies to strengthen attention to gender issues within national AIDS programmes, including combating violence against women in the context of AIDS.UNAIDS, together with WHO, completed technical and policy guidance to support the integration of gender issues into national proposals to the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) for Round 8, with emphasis on better integrating programmes aimed at combating violence against women with AIDS services. Hide

UNAIDS participated in several workshops and fora at the International AIDS Society Meeting in Mexico which presented new information on violence against women. Hide

The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its thirty-ninth session held in February 2008 in New York, approved the formation of a “Friends of the Chair” group to conduct an in-depth technical review of proposed indicators to measure violence against women, and requested the group to report back to the Commission at its fortieth session. The work of the group is based on the proceedings of the Expert Group Meeting on Indicators to Measure Violence against Women, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2007. The group consists of representatives from eight Member States (Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Ghana, Italy, Mexico and Thailand), and is chaired by Mexico. Observers include representatives from United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Division for the Advancement of Women of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the World Health Organization. The Statistical Division is providing substantive and technical support to the Group. Hide

A World Bank report on Bangladesh dated March 2008 on gender and social transformation entitled “Whispers to Voices” (2008) examined among other aspects, attitudes towards and extent of gender based violence (GBV). As a follow up, the Nordic Trust Fund (NTF) is supporting work in Bangladesh that addresses GBV by exploring the social and economic impacts of women’s employment and its possible linkages to violence against women. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported initiatives for better data collection and national statistical monitoring on gender-based violence, including in Afghanistan, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, and Venezuela. In Afghanistan, UNIFEM supported the development of a database to collect and track service-based data to monitor the ‘Strategic Framework for Eliminating Violence against Women’. Hide

In partnership with Gender Links, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in its capacity as Chair of the Southern African Gender and Human Rights Advisory Group, promoted the development of score-cards to measure progress in ending violence against women in the context of the SADCC Gender and Development Protocol. Hide

An awareness-raising pamphlet for women prisoners in Afghanistan using drawings and cartoons is being published in cooperation with UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, . The pamphlet aims to inform women in prison about their rights and takes into account newly approved regulations of penitentiary law. Hide

In 2007, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, launched a six-country programme designed to build community capacity to prevent sexual and gender-based violence and to build peace in post-conflict countries in Afghanistan, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Timor Leste and Uganda. In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, as elsewhere, UNIFEM, as part of joint UN efforts, supported campaign efforts on ending violence against women. Hide