United Nations Children’s Fund
Background
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is mandated to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.
Policy framework
UNICEF is guided by the Mid-Term Strategic Plan 2006-2009, extended until the end of 2011, which prioritizes promotion of gender equality and programming to protect children from violence.
Areas of Focus
UNICEF works on different manifestations of gender-based violence, depending on the particular country or context. These include: female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriage, trafficking, sexual exploitation, sexual violence, domestic violence, and violence in schools. UNICEF has been particularly focused on violence against women and girls in armed conflict. UNICEF engages in capacity building and development of holistic strategies to end gender-based violence, as well as the training of staff and partners. UNICEF’s strategy to end gender-based violence includes continuous support to the strengthening of law enforcement on violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking of children; work with judicial systems to prevent re-victimization of children and adolescents victims; strengthening of child protection systems at national and local levels to prevent, protect and care for children victims of violence, abuse and exploitation and work with education and health sectors to raise awareness on how to detect and report violence, exploitation and abuse of children.
Resources
2016
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2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development(Commitment)
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Luxembourg Guidelines(Guidelines)
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2017
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UASC Tool Kit(Guidance/tool)
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INSPIRE Handbook and Indicators Compendium(Guidance/tool)
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Protection, Support and Services for Victims/Survivors Under the Spotlight Initiative, UNICEF worked on Outcome 4 (Services) in 8 African countries and 3 Latin American countries. The capacity development of service providers such as multisectoral service organisations, police, judiciary, social workers, schools and health was the major feature of UNICEF’s engagement.
In the wake of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, UNICEF mobilized more than 20,670 women by establishing 3,445 Women’s Groups in 14 earthquake-affected districts, with police checkpoints established to intercept traffickers. Over half a million people reached with information about prevention and social services for GBV victims.
In Jordan, through the support of the Governments of Norway, UN Women - in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF - implements the second phase of the joint project “Hemayati: Promoting Women and Girls’ Health and Well-being”. The project is also implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Ministry of Health (MoH) and partner NGOs including the Jordanian Women Union and Un Ponte Per (UPP). The project’s overall aim is to increase sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors’ access to comprehensive lifesaving protection services, including health, psychosocial and legal services. Building on a successful first phase (2013-2014), the second phase of the project is being implemented in five governorates of Jordan (Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq and Maan) benefiting from the expertise of all participating UN agencies and partners. The objective is to bring all the services necessary for women and girls who have experienced violence in a one-stop shop to ensure that they receive quality, survivor-centered support when they need it most.