Prevention and Advocacy

WHO reported that the 5th Milestones of a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention Meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Under the theme "Joining forces, empowering prevention" almost 300 experts from more than 60 countries discussed progress in WHO's Global Campaign for Violence Prevention and strategized the way ahead by developing a global plan of action for 2012-2020. A special session during the meeting was dedicated to new research and effective interventions to address intimate partner and sexual violence.

In the context of the 60th anniversary of the Refugee Convention and the 50th anniversary of the Statelessness Convention, UNHCR organized a series of in-depth Dialogues with over 1,000 refugees and displaced women and girls in seven different countries. From those Dialogues, a number of recommendations, including on ending violence against women, emerged that are currently being implemented by the respective UNHCR offices and partner organizations.

OHCHR supported the convening of the fourth session of the Forum on minority issues, established by Human Rights Council resolution 6/15, which took place on 29 and 30 November 2011 in Geneva and focused on "Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls.” Over 400 participants attended this fourth session, including persons belonging to minorities from all regions, representatives of non-governmental organizations, academia and experts as well as delegates from United Nations Member States.

Issue # 10 of Words to Action, UN Women’s quarterly newsletter on violence against women, was produced, with a feature article on reparations for women who have been subjected to violence.UN Women supported an International Conference of Islamic Scholars (Ulemas) of West Africa, Egypt and Sudan on the position of Islam regarding harmful practices perpetrated on women, at the issue of which a regional fatwa (sharia law ruling) banning female genital mutilation was adopted. This fatwa has become a key instrument to raise the awareness of the population on this issue.

WHO/PAHO organized a workshop on the prevention of intimate partner violence and sexual violence with participants from four Latin American countries, aimed at introducing concepts of primary prevention, reviewing the evidence and encouraging development of country prevention initiatives.

UN-HABITAT is implementing, in partnership with the NGO “Jagori”, a project on Youth and Girls Safety, in one of the settlement communities in New Delhi. Project activities include: the sensitisation of young girls and boys to prevent and end violence against women and girls; and the re-examination of masculinities and gender identities by young men.

The OHCHR/Human Rights and Transitional Justice Section in the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste has continued to conduct activities on the prevention and elimination of violence against women.

During the World Soccer Cup in South Africa, UNFPA released globally the video-game that uses football as the medium to address violence against women, to be found at http://www.breakawaygame.com. Country-level efforts, under the umbrella of the Secretary General’s campaign, are being initiated by UNFPA country offices in Africa and Latin America, being related to the five key outcomes of the campaign’s Framework for Action.

In Gaza, the Equality in Action programme, supported by UNRWA, continues the discussions that target men and women in the community, as well as religious leaders and UNRWA health staff, to raise awareness of the impact of violence against women.

UNIFEM’s (now part of UN Women) Safe Cities Global Programme, implemented in partnership with UN-HABITAT, among other partners, completed impact evaluation validation missions with International Center for Research on Women in Cairo, Kigali, New Delhi, Quito and Port Moresby, to inform the selection of programme sites.UNIFEM is involved in various global initiatives on primary prevention, including Clinton Global Initiative Commitments, focused on young people as a strategic group, by serving in the Steering Committee of one of the initiatives which addresses sexual abuse of girls; partnering