Feb 2008 - Sept 2008

UNHCR is leading the development of guidelines on establishing community-based complaints mechanisms for sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian personnel and peacekeepers, through the Executive Committees on Humanitarian Action and Peace and Security (ECHA/ECPS) and UN NGO Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA).

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.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with Avon Products, Inc. convened a global summit in March 2008 wherein Avon Products, Inc. committed $1 million to the UN Trust Fund – the Fund’s largest single, annual, private sector contribution ever.

Grant applications for the 2008 Call for Proposals were invited from governments, civil society organizations, and, for the first time, for UN Country Teams (UNCTs).

A Senior Advisor on Sexual Violence was posted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC).In June 2008, UN Action hired an Advocacy and Women’s Rights Specialist to lead its advocacy efforts under the banner “Stop Rape Now” (see www.stoprapenow.org).In May 2008, UN Action co-sponsored a high-level conference at Wilton Park entitled, “Women targeted or affected by armed conflict: What role for military peacekeepers?”.

Baseline assessments were completed in Rwanda, and first drafts were completed in Fiji, Paraguay, and Kyrgyzstan. National multi-stakeholder workshops to develop joint programming frameworks were held in Jordan, Philippines, Rwanda, Fiji, and Kyrgyzstan, and joint national committees consisting of a wide range of stakeholders, responsible for coordinating and providing technical support, were formed.