Jul 2007

DAW, now part of UN Women, made available information on violence against women through its website, especially in relation to the Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women and its follow-up, provided briefings on the work of the United Nations in the field of violence against women, and organized panel discussions and other outreach activities. DAW widely disseminated the Secretary-General’s study, including at the national level to national machineries for the advancement of women and to United Nations resident coordinators/ representatives.

The Special Adviser on Gender Issues raises the question of violence against women in various forums, meetings and during missions, and brings serious and massive violations of women’s human rights to the attention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. OSAGI , now part of UN Women, developed a Leaders’ Advocacy Kit to combat gender-based violence, in collaboration with several entities of the United Nations system.

As the secretariat for the Humanitarian Coordinator at field level, OCHA ensures attention to gender-based violence and facilitates the implementation of appropriate solutions. When appropriate, OCHA acts as co-chair of the coordinating agencies in regard to prevention of and response to gender-based violence.

DPKO Gender units/advisers implement, or support measures to raise awareness about gender-based violence, including campaigns, workshops, meetings and conferences on violence against women, both within mission personnel and the societies where the mission is stationed, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan; they are actively working in a number of missions with civilian police advisers to enhance attention by local police to gender-based violence against women; and they have put in place information sharing strategies to enhance knowledge abou

The United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau’s (UNOGBIS) human rights section has regular meetings with local NGOs and women’s groups, such as the informal forum with the national network fighting against gender and child violence, to discuss violence and other forms of abuse against women, UNOGBIS also participated in the first national conference on violence against women organized by this Network.

Department of Political Affairs (DPA) collaborates with other UN entities and local NGOs and women’s groups to raise awareness of and advocate for the elimination of violence against women, also at the national level. DPA does not have projects or programmes on violence against women but supports NGOs in their sensitization programmes. The human rights sections of field missions monitor and report on cases of human rights abuses, which may include violence against women.

DPKO gender units/advisers work to ensure that women’s non-governmental organizations are included in common efforts to combat violence against women, including trafficking, as is the case in Kosovo. Gender advisers encourage increased collaboration between the police, national victim-support organizations and the judicial system, as is the case in Sierra Leone.

The World Bank is providing Uruguay with a US$300,000 Institutional Development Fund grant to tackle domestic violence, including support to the implementation of the country's first national plan on domestic violence approved in 2004.

Follow-up activities to the WHO World report on violence and health, 2002, and the multi-country study, include launches in over 50 countries; national reports on violence and health; the appointment of focal points on violence in ministries of health in almost 100 countries; and the development of policies on violence against women in collaboration with regional and national partners. The Pan-American Health Organization has developed a model of laws and policies on domestic violence against women that has been validated by four countries in the region and will be implemented in 8 countries.

In 2005, a tripartite ILO Meeting of Experts formally adopted a key framework document for promoting a rights-based strategy for migration policy, i.e. the non-binding Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration.