Jul 2007

WHO has carried out groundbreaking research on the obstetric sequelae of female genital mutilation and continues to support Member States in their efforts to end FGM as well as research on community interventions, decision-making, FGM and sexuality, with the aim of informing policies and community action.

The Global Forum for Health Research and WHO supported the development of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative. This Initiative aims to build a network of researchers, policy-makers, activists and other stakeholders to ensure that sexual violence is addressed from the perspective of different disciplines. A research agenda for sexual violence has been developed and reviews of evidence have been done on women’s and medico-legal responses to sexual violence.

WHO has carried out a multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women, aimed at enhancing availability of reliable data on the root causes, magnitude, and consequences of violence against women and facilitating the search for solutions. A report summarizing initial data from Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Namibia, Peru, Samoa, Serbia & Montenegro, Thailand and the United Republic of Tanzania was published in 2005; other countries are replicating the methodology (Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives and New Zealand).

To raise awareness on human rights issues and specifically on violence against women, ECA launched in April 2007, with the collaboration of the UNDP Regional Gender Programme, the African Women’s Rights Observatory (AWRO). The AWRO is expected to contribute to strengthening of tracking and monitoring protection/violations of women’s rights, including violence against women, in African countries.

In January 2006, UNESCO, in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Women’s Affairs, established a Palestinian Women’s Research and Documentation Center. The first of its kind in an Arab country, outside North Africa, this institution serves as both a documentation and resource centre and as an observatory. It is devoted to research on gender equality and human rights with an emphasis on women’s rights legislation, the causes and consequences of poverty among women, violence against women and women’s participation in political life.

UNESCO (Social and Human Science Section) undertakes research on the causes and social structures that foster violence against women. As part of its research activities for the ten-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, UNESCO produced a conceptual framework for qualitative and quantitative information on women’s empowerment. One of the 7 sets of indicators pertains to women’s bodily integrity and health, including data on the prevalence of female genital mutilation; sexual abuse of women; and physical abuse against women by an intimate partner.

Under the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, ILO has carried out analyses of the situation of girl child labour in agriculture, domestic work and in situations of sexual exploitation.

UNFPA undertakes research and studies, for example on the socio-cultural context of violence against women, on masculinity, fatherhood, men as offenders and as protectors including religious leaders and military personnel.

UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre conducts research on UNICEF’s priority areas, including on violence against women and girls. UNICEF recently published a report and strategy for the abandonment of FGM/C within one generation and together with the Body Shop, it published a report “Behind Closed Doors”, on the impact of domestic violence on children.

In 2007, UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report was entitled “Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality”, which also included an analysis on the impact of violence against women on children.