Prevention and Advocacy

OHCHR Regional Office for Europe provided a briefing (21 October) on the work of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women at an International Conference on Violence against Women in Central America which took place in London and was organized by the Central America Women's Network (CAWN).

UNICEF has provided support to awareness-raising and advocacy addressing violence against girls, including through the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Accelerate the Abandonment of FGM/C.

Awareness on gender-based violence and livelihoods was raised through a documentary produced by UNAIDS “Empowered over their fields, empowered over their lives, food security response to HIV and gender inequities” (http://vimeo.com/14921424 or http://www.fao.org/emergencies/current-focus/hiv-aids-and-emergencies/en/), a brochure http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/al315e/al315e00.pdf and several articles in FAO Dimitra newsletter and IRIN Media Centre (Kenya: growing self-esteem at farm schools (IRIN)) http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89179).

By providing fuel efficient stoves WFP contributes to reducing the vulnerability and frequency of exposure to risk of rape, beatings and murder as women and girls search for firewood. SAFE (Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy) combines solutions to protection concerns associated with fuel/firewood collection, environmental awareness, health improvement and livelihood creation/diversification. In Darfur, through food-for-training programs, WFP has established 14 centres to train women to build mud stoves.

A short film that showcases the Inter-agency joint programming initiative on Violence Against Women in the 10 pilot countries was developed and released during the global consultation on “Delivering as One on Addressing Violence Against Women: From Intent to Action”, organised by UNFPA. The movie “Senegal: Beyond Tradition” that focuses on FGM/C prevention has been developed by UNFPA for broadcast on television networks around the world (including CNN, BBC Arabic, France 24, Denmark 4 and 55 other international networks).

An important milestone of the recently concluded UNICRI programme “Trafficking of Minors and Young Women from Nigeria to Italy” is the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in combating trafficking in persons between the National Anti-Mafia Bureau of Italy (DNA) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related Matters of Nigeria (NAPTIP), which are the responsible agencies for the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases in their respective countries.

UN HABITAT continues to support the NGO Jagori in the implementation of the project called “Youth and Girls Safety”.UN-HABITAT and WICI developed the background document on girls and urbanization for the Plan International Publication “Because I am a Girl”. UN-Habitat attended the launch of the PLAN report “ Because I am a Girl” in Nairobi and Kampala.

Former UNIFEM now part of UN Women launched the Global Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls Programme in Cairo, Kigali, New Delhi, Quito and Port Moresby.

In October 2010, UNDP Myanmar organized a discussion forum on the advancement of women, drawing on the Asia-Pacific Human Development Report (APHDR) on Gender, including topics on gender-based violence and trafficking. The panel stressed that cultures and traditions can retain customs that are unfair to women and they need to be addressed.

The UN Television of the Department of Public Information covered the issue of violence against women in the following programmes: “Haiti: The Enemy Within”, on the situation of women and girls in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake; “Bosnia: Healing the Wounds of War”, on the legacy of wartime rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina; “Senegal: Beyond Tradition”, on female genital mutilation; and “Jordan: In the Name of Honour”, on the campaign against “honour” killings in Jordan.