Mar 2010 - Sept 2010

The OHCHR/Human Rights and Transitional Justice Section in the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste worked on the Draft Laws on Reparations, through an OHCHR-funded consultant, tasked with producing the original draft laws, and the follow-up institution for the truth commissions, such as the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) and the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), advocating for the inclusion of victims of sexual violence.

During its Standing Committee in June, UNHCR introduced the outline of its strategy for the next five years to address sexual and gender-based violence.

OHCHR, along with the Office of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict, DPKO and UNDP, worked on the operationalization of the team of experts to be deployed to situations of particular concern with respect to sexual violence in armed conflict, in order to assist national authorities to strengthen the rule of law, as called for under Security Council Resolution 1888.

In Jordan, UNRWA and UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health in developing guidelines (pilot version) for medical and paramedical staff on addressing violence against women. UNRWA organized a workshop with practitioners from all over the region to develop lessons learned that were documented in the first issue of UNRWA Gender Series on referral systems for victims of violence.

UNHCR has prepared an e-learning tool on gender-based violence, which will be made available to all UNHCR staff and partners.

In addition to ongoing training of judges, lawyers, police and other ‘duty bearers’ in many countries, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, finalized programming modules, available at www.endvawnow.org, which offer state-of-the-art guidance from leading experts and country experiences on how to address violence against women, in three areas: safe cities, engaging men and boys, and legal reform.

UNODC published the Handbook on effective police responses towards violence against women, accompanied by a training curriculum, and the Toolkit on Gender (which is part of the overall UNODC Toolkit on Criminal Justice Assessment). In June 2010, UNODC launched the Needs Assessment Toolkit on the Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking, found at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Needs_Assessment_Toolkit_ebook_09-87518_June_2010.pdf.

The Panama Regional Office of the OHCHR undertook training activities in Panama in connection with the Universal Periodic Review. Women’s organizations participated in trainings for the civil society and made submissions to the process. The OHCHR also provided training to Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ISDEMU) in El Salvador, for the preparation of the follow-up report to CEDAW’s concluding observations. The follow-up report will focus on priority recommendations, including on efforts to eradicate violence against women.

The United Nations Integrated Peace Building Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL), with the larger UN community, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs engaged women’s groups, through an interactive session during the Global Open Day consultations on issues of women’s peace and security. The women spoke about concerns related to violence against women and girls. The UN Family continues to work jointly in strengthening capacity of respective gender focal points in responding to issues relating to violence against women through training workshops.

UNODC has continued its implementation of a project in Viet Nam to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement and justice sectors to prevent and respond to domestic violence. Similar projects are being developed in Panama and Kenya.