United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

In Nepal, UN Women advocated with concerned ministries for allocating budget for responding to gender-based violence (GBV). As a result, specific programmes and budgets were allocated by the government for ending GBV in fiscal year 2011-2012. In addition, GBV has been enlisted as one of the sub-indicators for ascertaining gender responsive budgeting (GRB). Hide

With the assistance of UN Women, the national machinery for women (MASEF) and the National Statistical Office (ONS) in Mauritania launched the first national survey on the prevalence of violence against women (VAW). This survey will establish a baseline of accurate data that will allow the development of a policy on gender-based violence and provide stakeholders with reliable and relevant information that will help define strategic guidelines in the field of VAW. UN Women also organized for the capacity building of non-governmental organizations in Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia on counseling techniques, data collection, and database management improved the ability of counselors to assist women survivors of violence and elaborate relevant periodic reports on gender-based violence based on the collected data. Hide

UN Women provided support to survivor assistance networks and counseling/crisis centers in Algeria (the CIDDEF and BALSAM network), Morocco (the ANARUZ network), and Mauritania (El Wafa crisis center, AMSME), which enabled women survivors of violence (about 830 in Algeria, 1700 in Morocco, and 150 victims of sexual violence in Mauritania) to access psychological and legal advice and support. In Algeria, four new counseling centers joined the BALSAM network, which is now composed of 15 counseling centers. This enlargement enabled the BALSAM network to cover other regions and provide services to women survivors of violence in rural areas. Technical assistance to a leading non-government organization in the area of economic empowerment of women survivors of violence in Morocco resulted in the development of tools necessary to the establishment of a fund to support income generating activities for women victims of Economic Violence Based on Gender. Hide

In Bolivia, under the umbrella of the UNiTE Campaign, the Interagency Gender Group, coordinated by UN Women, and the Ministry of Justice and multiple stakeholders worked together for the adoption of the Supreme Decree declaring 2012 year of No violence against Women. This decree will enable to reform legislation in order to include concepts such as femicide and sexual harassment as well as improving services for women victims of violence.UN Women provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)’ shelters’ technical committee to provide comments to the first national by-laws for the establishment of shelters.UN Women has supported the adoption of stronger legal frameworks and policies addressing violence against women (VAW) through ASEAN mechanisms, as well as by supporting national level efforts. In China, Indonesia and Thailand, UN Women and other UN agencies jointly assist the governments to establish multi-sectoral coordination systems to respond to and prevent VAW with the UN EVAW Trust Fund grant. For example, in a project of the UN Country Team in Thailand funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, UN Women, along with UNFPA, OHCHR, and UNDP, is working with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to achieve effective implementation of Thailand’s Domestic Violence Victims Act (DVVA) through pilot programmes, monitoring and evaluation, and public awareness activities.In El Salvador, UN Women offered technical support prior to the approval of the Law on Equality, Equity and Eradication of Discrimination against Women. Hide

UN Women organized for community-led programming at the country level, such as in Liberia with its continued support to women’s peace huts, where women volunteers refer survivors of gender-based violence to medical, psychosocial and justice services, carry out grassroots mediation to prevent conflict, and have even investigated cases of sexual violence and referred them to police stations; the development of referral pathways for survivors in Timor-Leste, in collaboration with other UN entities, local women’s organizations, and local succo chiefs; and the organization of neighborhood safety patrols near Haiti’s IDP camps along the same routes as the women use to go to school, the market, or water pumps, in order to mark out areas for improved lighting or police presence and encourage women and girls to report any instances of gender-based violence. Hide

UN Women manages a programme for capacity development for elimination of violence against women (EVAW) practitioners, institutional strengthening for EVAW organisations, knowledge- building and sharing of effective strategies and promising practices. 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

The Regional Coordination Mechanism Thematic Working Group on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (RCM TWGGEEW) (co-chaired by ESCAP and UN Women) established a Working Group on Gender Statistics, which includes a focus on VAW statistics. Hide

The UN Women Universal Access to Critical Services initiative aims to achieve access for all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence to at least a core set of services for their emergency and immediate needs, within the next ten years, in a significant number of countries of the world. It addresses a clear implementation and accountability gap in the dearth of State mapping, benchmarking and monitoring for expansion of services for universal access, and promotes an evidence-based, results-driven approach to policy making similar to that of the Millenium Development Goals. Hide

UN Women provided women inmates in Palestinian correction and rehabilitation centres (Palestinian prisons) with legal aid and representation from a gender perspective, social counseling sessions, recreational and rehabilitative activities; and provision of goods for primary needs for the women and their newborn children leaving inside the prison. Regular monitoring of the situation (social and legal) of women inmates in the occupied Palestinian territory was conducted and a paper was produced. UN Women has also provided financial support to the existing toll-free help in the occupied Palestinian territory for women and children victims of violence. Hide