United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Complementing strong and comprehensive legal frameworks, UN Women supports the development and implementation of national action plans (NAPs) for EVAWG that are critical for a coordinated approach to implementing national laws. The Handbook on multisectoral national action plans68 and the Handbook on Multisectoral National Action Plans to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls69 have been guiding UN Women’s work and supporting governments on developing responsive, evidence-based and well consulted NAPs to prevent violence against women and girls. Between 2022- 2023, UN Women supported 64 multi-sectoral strategies, action plans and policies adopted to support EVAWG. 

Specific examples of UN Women’s work include:

• Trinidad and Tobago: Led the creation of the first  costed National Strategic Action Plan on GBV (2023–2027).
• Fiji: Guided the National Action Plan to Prevent VAWG (2023–2028), based on consultations with 2,000+ stakeholders.
• Samoa: Developed a National Prevention Framework, integrating EVAWG into national planning.
• Cambodia: Provided technical assistance for its National Action Plan on VAWG (2019–2023).

UN Women has taken a leadership role in tackling the gender-related killings of women and girls (also referred to as femicide or feminicide) through legal frameworks, policy development, and data collection in collaboration with UNODC and regional partners.

Specific examples of UN Women's work include:

• 18 Latin American Countries Adopt Femicide Laws: With support from UN Women and MESECVI, 18 countries in Latin America now recognize femicide/feminicide as a specific crime in their legal frameworks. This milestone was achieved through sustained technical assistance, policy recommendations, and legal advocacy​
• Latin American Model Protocol for Investigating Gender-Related Killings of Women: UN Women has provided both technical and financial support for the adoption and adaptation of this model protocol in Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, and Chile, ensuring its alignment with each country's legal and institutional structures​
• Ecuador’s National Protocol for Investigating Femicides: Established in partnership with the State Attorney General’s Office, this protocol standardized evidence collection, streamlined investigative procedures, and ensured comprehensive reparations for victims. By the end of 2022, 113 prosecutors had received training on implementing this protocol​
• Statistical Framework for Measuring Gender-Related Killings: In collaboration with UNODC, UN Women developed  the framework, which was formally adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) in March 2022. This framework enhances global data collection on femicide, moving beyond intimate-partner and family-related killings to include broader gender-related killings​. Since its endorsement, UN Women and UNODC have been piloting the framework in different countries across all world regions and will be reporting on progress to the Statistical Commission in 2026.
• Annual Global Report on Femicide Estimates: In 2022, UN Women and UNODC jointly published the first-ever global report on femicide, providing data-driven insights and policy recommendations to strengthen prevention and response measures. This has now become an annual research series published each year on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 25 November).
• Commitment to Femicide Data Collection in Asia-Pacific: At a 2023 conference on femicide data, co-hosted by UN Women’s Asia and the Pacific Regional Office, 60 international experts convened to improve femicide data-collection methodologies. This led to pilot commitments from Fiji and Mongolia, while experts from Indonesia and Pakistan pledged to integrate gender analysis into femicide case assessments​
• Regional Femicide Monitoring Mechanisms in Europe: In Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania, UN Women has led efforts to establish Femicide Watch mechanisms and improve data standardization. A key achievement was the analysis of 140 final court decisions on femicide cases, bringing to light previously unrecorded cases and systemic gaps in prosecution.
• Regional Office of Asia-Pacific helped elevate femicide as a regional concern through co-organisation of the 2023 International Conference on Ending Gender-Based Killings of Women and Girls. Following the conference, UN Women and UNODC began piloting the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls in Fiji and Mongolia to improve national data collection and coordination. Building on the findings of the global femicide report, ROAP and UNODC continue to advance regional advocacy to raise awareness and inform policy responses.