Jul 2007 - Jan 2008

UNRWA’s Gaza Field Office undertook a gender equality initiative on domestic violence, including enhancing the quality of psychosocial support services and developing a hotline.

In Bolivia (Municipality of Cochabamba) and Ecuador, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported advocacy for increased allocations for services for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, resulting in the Government of Ecuador committing $2 million for implementation of the national plan of action.

OHCHR has funded a legal assistance project in Tajikistan for women subjected to domestic violence. UNRWA provided legal aid and counselling through Women Programme Centres.

The OHCHR Women’s Rights and Gender Unit, established in 2006, continued the legal analysis with respect to access to justice for victims of sexual violence. An Expert Group Meeting on ‘Prosecution of rape and other forms of sexual violence’ was held in September 2007, with the aim to finalize an OHCHR legal position paper on the subject.

In Grenada, St. Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, is supporting implementation of a court-based batterer intervention programme.

UNFPA is working in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders to address gender-based violence, including outreach work with men on prevention and sensitization of populations at large.

IOM Colombia also started the implementation of a project to prevent and address gender-based violence in IDPs at and across the Colombian borders with Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador.

WHO has continued to provide technical support to Member States on request, including on health sector response, and primary prevention. Within the framework of violence prevention, WHO emphasizes the role of public health in the prevention and response to violence against women. WHO is actively advocating against the medicalization of female genital mutilation.

UNESCO is working on a campaign to fight human trafficking in Africa. UNESCO’s flagship initiative of community multimedia centers (CMC) provides access to information and communication resources in the areas of women’s rights and development, for poor and marginalized women. UNESCO has over 130 CMCs in more than 25 countries.

FAO drafted a fact sheet on agriculture, food security and gender-based violence. This document analyzes the main causes of vulnerability of the rural population and proposes some actions to prevent and reduce gender-based violence, with special attention to the human rights of women and youth.