Prevention and Advocacy

UNESCO worked on a campaign to fight human trafficking in Africa.The seventh session of the UNESCO Forum on Gender Equality, organized in collaboration with the Permanent Delegation of the United States of America to UNESCO, was held in October 2009. The Round Table, on the theme “Beijing: 15 Years After”, explored the progress which has been made in the twelve critical areas of action of the Beijing Platform for Action.

FAO has prepared a module to be included in the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) and Farmers Field Schools (FFS) Curriculum in order to include gender based violence prevention. This module is being tested in several FFS in Kenya and Uganda, and focuses on legal empowerment. This approach has been scaled up and is being used in the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, participated in UNCT programmes and other inter-agency initiatives in many countries, including: the South Asia Anti-Trafficking Think Tank (formed in partnership with UNODC) and the Amal Coalition in Gaza. UNIFEM supported advocacy and survivor support networks in Algeria, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay, as well as men’s networks in Cameroon and Mozambique.

In Sierra Leone, the UNDP-supported project “Strengthening Access to Justice” promotes awareness of gender equality laws and GBV among traditional chiefs in Bo and Makeni. The priority is to ensure that the components of the Gender Acts to address GBV issues are contextualized within traditional law and culture. The project has produced legal education material on the prevention of GBV in communities, such as radios spots and drama.

In November 2009, UNFPA hosted a consultation in Dakar, Senegal, on engaging men and boys in gender equality and preventing HIV, aimed at sharing promising practices among UNFPA staff and partners, while identifying ways of strengthening and institutionalizing this work, particularly at the policy level.

UNHCR hosted a White Ribbon Campaign to mobilize men to end violence against women, and a photo exhibition to raise awareness about trafficking.

UNDP launched a public campaign with a message “A Real Man Never Hits a Woman” in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; supported the organisation of men leaders who are artists, athletes, politicians and writers to send a strong message against VAW in Ukraine; fielded a campaign to change the behavior and attitudes of actual and potential perpetrators of GBV in Venezuela.

A briefing on gender, including violence against women, was organized by DPI in September 2009 for the participants of the Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists Fellowship Programme.

ESCAP convened a High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and Its Regional and Global Outcomes (November 2009), during which, a panel discussion entitled “Regional campaign to end violence against women” was held. The experiences of various countries in measuring and addressing violence against women, including through engaging with men and boys and with faith-based organizations, were shared. A regional consultation for the Secretary-General’s campaign to end violence against women in the Asia-Pacific region was also organized.

UNRWA participated in the 16 days of activism campaign against gender violence. In Gaza City, 700 women were invited to an informative talk about gender-based violence. A series of activities were held in UNRWA’s schools and women’s centres throughout the West Bank, including creative workshops, documentary screenings and sessions on the adverse consequences of gender-based violence. UNRWA, along with other UN agencies in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, held a joint event.