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In October 2011, the ECA organized jointly with Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW) a sub-regional advocacy workshop in Zambia on violence against young women and girls in centers of learning. The workshop identified issues affecting girls’ performance and retention in the context of VAW and made recommendations to improve policy and practice. Hide

UNRWA organized several awareness-raising initiatives, such as in Lebanon in partnership with the General Union of Palestinian Women, in a UNRWA health clinic. Hide

OHCHR supported the convening of the fourth session of the Forum on minority issues, established by Human Rights Council resolution 6/15, which took place on 29 and 30 November 2011 in Geneva and focused on "Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls.” Over 400 participants attended this fourth session, including persons belonging to minorities from all regions, representatives of non-governmental organizations, academia and experts as well as delegates from United Nations Member States. During the two-day discussions, the multiple discriminations faced by minority women as members of minorities and as women, and other barriers, including violence against women, were highlighted. The outcome document contained practical and concrete measures and recommendations aimed at guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls, including to better protect them and raise their awareness on violence against women and girls. Hide

In the context of the 60th anniversary of the Refugee Convention and the 50th anniversary of the Statelessness Convention, UNHCR organized a series of in-depth Dialogues with over 1,000 refugees and displaced women and girls in seven different countries. From those Dialogues, a number of recommendations, including on ending violence against women, emerged that are currently being implemented by the respective UNHCR offices and partner organizations. Hide

WHO reported that the 5th Milestones of a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention Meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Under the theme "Joining forces, empowering prevention" almost 300 experts from more than 60 countries discussed progress in WHO's Global Campaign for Violence Prevention and strategized the way ahead by developing a global plan of action for 2012-2020. A special session during the meeting was dedicated to new research and effective interventions to address intimate partner and sexual violence. Details on the session can be found at:http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/5th_milestones_meeting/en/index.html Hide

The Department of Public Information (DPI) was heavily involved in promotion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2011. DPI updated and developed new press and campaign materials, and the key message emphasized in media materials – the call for resources for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women – was picked up prominently in the media coverage. A short video, “Youth Voices on Ending Violence against Women”, was produced and launched ahead of the Day. Hide

In Algeria, UN Women provided support to the national mechanism for women human rights to carry out the national campaign on violence against women, under the framework of the Africa UNiTE campaign to end violence. For the first time, the civil society working on violence against women has been clearly invited by the Ministry to present their work and achievements and to join their efforts to address this issue. Hide

UNRWA, supporting the gender-based violence campaign in Palestine and connecting it to the International Year of Volunteers +10 (IYV+10), highlighted the importance of volunteerism in achieving results in fighting gender-based violence. One initiative was UNRWA’s use of a questionnaire to collect data on gender based violence in the Palestinian refugee camps. UNV mobilized around 300 local volunteers particularly university students. The added value of this partnership was that the volunteers considered themselves as recipients of this campaign. Hide

WHO developed a capacity-building package on primary prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence accompanying the guidelines “Preventing intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence.” Three regional workshops on primary prevention of intimate partner and sexual violence were conducted for policy makers and implementers from several countries in the African Region, the Western-Pacific region and the Americas. On the basis of the feedback of the workshops the training package was revised. The training package is currently being translated into Spanish. It can found in English at:http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/capacitybuilding/courses/intimate_partner_violence/en/index.html Hide

UNICEF Country Offices continued to implement programmes to promote awareness and abandonment of harmful traditional practices in 15 countries covered by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on awareness and abandonment of child marriage. Hide