Responses and Services

UNDP Argentina, with UNICEF and UNIFEM, continues to support the work of a Domestic Violence Office at the National Supreme Court of Justice, which has provided assistance to 13,000 victims of domestic violence the last two years (80% women and 20% men, mainly boys). The office has collected and disseminated statistics on the issue of violence against women for the first time in the history of Argentina’s justice system. Three more similar offices opened in the provinces of Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, and Salta.

UNDP Paraguay supported the project “Attention to the victims of inter-familial and gender violence: Citizen security”, implemented by the Department of the Interior (MDI) and financed by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), aimed at supporting the the capacity-building of MDI, enhancing coordination with other departments and improving police interventions with victims of domestic and gender-based violence.

In FYR Macedonia, survivors of domestic violence were supported by UNDP to start their own businesses or to be employed in the private sector through subsidized employment.

In December 2010, UNDP and UN Women organized a workshop in Kampala, attended by several experts on transitional justice issues and reparation, focusing also on gender, with the objective to initiate a more integrated UN approach to reparations.

In November 2010, the United Nations launched the "United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children" that has been established by General Assembly resolution on the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Fund will be administered by UNODC, as the designated Fund Manager.

UNRWA continues its collaboration with UNICEF in Jordan to address violence in schools against girls and boys and to establish mechanisms in the health centres to address child abuse. During 2010 UNRWA focused on building referral systems. In Syria, UNRWA has identified its mechanism of referral in Yarmouk and Deraa camps, and worked to enhance staff capacities for detection of gender-based violence victims. In West Bank, UNRWA has collaborated with various stakeholders to develop its referral system, based on a community participation approach, and to organise trainings for medical staff.

The OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in participating in the 2010 General Assembly, including convening a side event on reparations for women who have been subjected to violence.

The FAO regional project “Eastern Africa regional response to food insecurity, HIV and GBV” supports victims/survivors of gender-based violence to rebuild their livelihoods, improve their technical and practical knowledge in farming leading to increased self esteem and their reintegration in their communities and households (see http://www.disasterriskreduction.net).

WHO Guidelines for the health sector response to intimate partner and sexual violence are under development, with a final draft of the Guidelines being available at the end of 2011.

Advocacy and assistance by former UNIFEM now part of UN Women contributed to: improved policies and service delivery for women survivors of violence in Kazakhstan, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan; increased access to legal assistance in Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, FYR Macedonia, Colombia, Argentina and Thailand; and economic empowerment initiatives for women survivors of violence in Morocco and Georgia.