Mar 2012 - Jan 2013

WHO, PEPFAR, UNFPA, UN Women and the University of British Columbia convened a panel on “GBV and HIV linkages: Taking stock of the evidence and setting an implementation research agenda” at the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC in July 2012.

WHO supports additional countries in the Western-Pacific Region, including Cambodia and Lao PDR, to conduct population-based surveys on violence against women, using the WHO multi-country study methodology.

UNODC released the "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" that revealed an increase in the number of girl victims, who make up two thirds of all trafficked children. Girls constitute 15 to 20 per cent of the total number of all detected victims. The vast majority of trafficked persons are women, about 55 to 60 per cent of victims detected globally and the total proportion of women and girls together soars to about 75 per cent.

The Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Carribean, supported by ECLAC, continues the analysis of homicide penalization in the region; the analysis of specific laws and policies on violence against women; and the identification of registers on femicide. ECLAC also supports the Central American Court of Justice in the creation of a Central American Regional Observatory against gender-based Violence.

UNHCR field operations continued to collect and analyze data on sexual and gender-based violence incidents in collaboration with partners, according to UNHCR and interagency guidelines and principles. However, SGBV remains widely under-reported and thus it is estimated that the number of known cases represents only a fraction of actual cases. UNHCR is working to strengthen and harmonize data collection on SGBV by rolling out the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) in selected operations in 2012, including in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Chad.

UNRWA maintains records for referral and case management of GBV survivors, while efforts are made to consolidate best practices, including by organizing a meeting which convened focal points on GBV and referral for discussion of best practices.

OHCHR supports the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, whose work during 2012 included: submission of a report on gender-related killings of women to the Human Rights Council in June 2012; submission of her report to the General Assembly on violence against women with disabilities; and official country missions to Italy, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

UNAIDS presented an external mid-term review of UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women Girls and Gender Equality to its Programme Coordinating Board in December 2012. The review found UNAIDS has contributed to scaled up country-level action on violence and HIV but further work is required to strengthen the evidence base.

The UN Gender Theme Group for the Pacific, co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA, revised its Terms of Reference to include responses to gender-based violence in emergencies, including the development of Surge Capacity for immediate response in humanitarian emergencies, as well as the development of government-NGO Communities of Practice on gender-based to facilitate capacity-building and prepraredness.

UNRWA has provided over 600 training courses to staff, including on sexual abuse, psychosocial counselling, sex education, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health and early marriage.