Responses and Services

With the Sexual Violence Research Initiative, WHO is supporting capacity building of health services to respond to the consequences of sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa.

UNRWA carried out a number of activities to build referral systems to improve victims’ access to services. The Lebanon Field Office began the implementation of their referral system in the Tyr Area and the Gaza Field Office drafted a referral system based on the services offered by the different programs. The West Bank Field Office is developing a family protection referral system and held several workshops to discuss principles and standards, also in 4 refugees camps (Dheisheh, Fawwar, Jalazon and Qalandia) in order to establish the referral system.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, contributed to government funds for Tajikistan’s Girls’ Support Centre and supported advocacy and survivor support networks in Algeria, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, continued to provide technical and other support, in the context of joint United Nations efforts, to service provision initiatives.

In Somalia, UNDP continued to support the project “Access to Justice Project in Somalia” and the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Hargeisa, Somaliland, now operates as a ‘one-stop’ location, where victims of GBV can receive medical care and counselling. In Democratic Republic of Congo, the project “Support Community Development for Women Associated with and Affected by Armed Conflicts” supports leadership development and economic empowerment of women associated with or affected by armed conflict.

Women’s empowerment activities started under the project “Action against Human Trafficking from Nigeria to Europe”, submitted by Edo State (Nigeria) NGO Coalition against Human Trafficking (ENCATIP) and NAPTIP (the Nigerian National Agency against Trafficking) and approved by UNICRI.

The World Bank’s Post-Conflict Fund (FCF) provides umbrella funding for a range of activities in Africa, including work on gender-based violence. An example is a US$733,000 grant to administer a "Protection from Gender-Based Violence" programme in Côte d’Ivoire. The project aims to prevent sexual violence against women and provide assistance to victims, and it builds on initial work carried out by the International Rescue Committee.

During 2008, UNFPA’s Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO) undertook an initiative aimed at improving access of victims of sexual violence to justice through the design of public policies on sexual violence, and the strengthening of legal protection systems and health services in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua). The initiative will develop pilot prevention and care models, to be linked to public security, legal, medicine, health and justice institutions.

UNRWA’s legal department in the Syrian Arab Republic provided refugees with access to legal and counselling services to combat gender-based violence.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, provided support to civil society and women’s organizations for initiatives including community-based Multi-purpose Centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo; HIV/AIDS and violence counselling protocols in Peru.