United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UN Women prepared reports of the Secretary General to the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly on Violence against women migrant workers (A/66/212) and on the Girl-child (A/66/257); as well as a report of the Secretary General to the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Ending female genital mutilation (E/CN.6/2012/8). UNICEF provided technical inputs to both reports. Hide

The first Violence Against Women Strategy in the Arab Region was developed in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) with technical support of UN Women to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The VAW Strategy was endorsed by the Palestinian Cabinet at the beginning of 2011. Technical Committees (five in the West Bank and four in the Gaza Strip), composed of government organizations and non-government organizations working on VAW and human rights, private sector and UNRWA, were formed for the elaboration of the action plan. Hide

Under the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund-EVAW), UN Women was supporting activities to monitor cases of sexual and gender-based violence committed under the Khmer Rouge regime, as well as to build safe working conditions for women workers. Hide

In Mauritania, UN Women supported gender equality advocates for the implementation of the Africa UNiTE campaign, and a draft law for the prevention and punishment of violence against women was presented in November 2011, to members of the government, more than 50 national non-government organizations, and to the main donors and technical partners. This draft law constitutes a key advocacy tool for bringing about legislation on eliminating gender-based violence and mainstreaming this issue into national policies.In Algeria, UN Women continued to support the advocacy efforts of some members of the non-government coalition for the criminalization of violence against women, which contributed to the submission of a draft law making gender-based violence a criminal offence. In January 2012, it was reported that the Algerian Parliament Bureau reviewed the draft law and decided to submit it to the next session of Parliament for discussion.In Morocco, UN Women supported the Spring Time for Dignity Coalition, which led it to develop its communication and advocacy strategy and finalize the preparation and update of its Memorandum on the gender-sensitive reform of the penal code in light of the provisions of the new constitution adopted in July 2011.In Afghanistan, UN Women provided technical assistance and substantive support to the Afghanistan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) Commission to support the implemention of the Law on EVAW. OHCHR/UNAMA also supported the implementation of the new law by undertaking monitoring, advocacy and capacity-building activities. Hide

UN Women developed, as requested by the Secretary-General and in collaboration with DPKO and UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, early warning indicators of conflict-related sexual violence, to be adapted to relevant country-based contexts, integrated into existing and emerging early warning systems, and used by a broad range of protection actors. These indicators were endorsed by the UN Action Steering Committee and will be rolled out in 2012. Hide

UN Women continued to maintain and update the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women. As of 31 January 2012, a total of 119 responses to the questionnaire on violence against women were received and uploaded into the database. In March 2011, UN Women gave a presentation, as a side event during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on how to use the Secretary-VCGeneral’s database on violence against women and the Virtual Knowledge Center to End Violence Against Women and Girls. Participants to the demonstration were delegates of Permanent Missions to the United Nations, officials of Member States’ ministries, and non-governmental organizations. Hide

UN Women organised a workshop jointly with the Ministry of Women and Child Development in India (Goa) in September 2011 to strengthen capacity of National Women’s Machineries at State and Central levels on gender and planning, which deliberated on integration of trafficking, gender biased sex-selection and violence against women in development planning. Hide

Based on the outcome of a 2010 expert group meeting, organized by UN Women, in cooperation with ECLAC/Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean. UN Women developed and issued in June 2011 a Handbook for national action plans on violence against women. The Handbook presents a model framework for national action plans on violence against women, which sets out detailed recommendations, accompanied by explanatory commentaries and good practice examples. The Handbook is available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/handbook-for-nap-on-vaw.htm. The Handbook will be available in hard copy in 2012 in all official United Nations languages. Hide

In Bolivia, with the sponsorship of UN Women, the Centre for Integral Development of Aymara Women (CDIMA) worked with local authorities from the municipalities of Mocomoco, Comanche and Simanco. Following this collaboration, the authorities signed agreements to ensure indigenous women´s access to justice in particular in cases of gender based violence. In the process of improving women´s access to justice, CDIMA has strengthened the coordination between ordinary jurisdiction and indigenous justice systems. Hide

The Supplement to the Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women: “Harmful Practices” Against Women was published, and its final version is available on the website of UN Women in all UN official languages, at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-handbook.htm#handbook_supp. This Supplement should be read and used together with the Handbook for legislation on violence against women. Hard copies were also produced. Hide