Measures

In its risk assessment of Secretariat departments, offices, regional commissions and peacekeeping and political missions, OIOS identified governance and organizational arrangements as a high risk area. OIOS had conducted, in 2008, an audit of the management of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI) and the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) within the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). OIOS recommended that DESA, in consultation with the Secretary-General, should consolidate OSAGI and DAW into one single programme within DESA. Hide

As part of its Investigations Learning Programme (ILP), the Investigations Division of OIOS has successfully launched a Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Basic Investigations Training Course for the various investigative entities in the UN system, such as Military Police and Special Investigations Units. Particularly applicable in the peacekeeping context, the SEA training course covers techniques and best practices in several aspects of SEA: investigations, including first response issues; interviewing for SEA cases; field investigation issues; report writing; evidence collection and forensic analysis; and applicable law, with a focus on "the SEA bulletin": ST/SGB/2003/13, Special measures for protection against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. The course applies a multi-disciplinary approach to learning by using role playing, group work, group discussion, video reviewing and videotaping for interview exercises. Hide

In September 2009, UNAIDS helped launch and lead a new initiative to prevent sexual violence against girls, which unites the work of five UN agencies with the Clinton Global Initiative and the US Centers for Disease Control, with a particular emphasis on AIDS affected countries. Six countries have begun data collection and programmatic action to strengthen legal and judicial policies as well as health, child protection and community responses to reduce sexual violence. Hide

UNAIDS Programme Acceleration Funds have supported 35 countries over the last year to scale up work on gender-related responses to HIV, including a focus on violence against women. UNESCO continued its activities under its project “Culturally appropriate approaches to HIV/AIDS”. Hide

UNAIDS is an active member of the Secretary General’s Africa-wide Campaign to End Violence Against Women. Hide

In the context of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflicts, UNAIDS and partners aim to incorporate the HIV implications of sexual violence in conflict and post conflict situations into the progress report on implementation of resolution 1308, to be presented at the Security Council in Fall 2010. Sexual violence is one of the three output areas for the “UN system-wide work programme to scale up HIV services for populations of humanitarian concern” project implemented by FAO, OCHA IRIN, OCHA, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UNICEF under the coordination of the UNAIDS Secretariat. This is an example of how UNAIDS is integrating attention to sexual and gender-based violence into HIV programming. FAO has elaborated a GBV guidance note related to HIV-AIDS and GBV in emergency situations. Hide

UNAIDS is providing technical and/or financial support to an additional six countries to strengthen programming to reduce sexual violence against girls. Violence against women has been made a priority of the Global Uniformed Services Task Force on HIV. A strategy is being developed and implemented to ensure that uniformed services undergo basic awareness raising and training in the prevention of sexual violence in addition to HIV. Hide

In October 2009, the UNAIDS Executive Director established a Task Force, comprised of a wide range of stakeholders, to advise on the development of an Operational Plan for the UNAIDS Action Framework on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV, which was endorsed at the Board meeting in December 2009. The Action Framework and Operational Plan outline core responsibilities for the UN in advancing work on women, girls and HIV at all levels. Hide

A meeting of the Friends of the Chair group, organized by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía of Mexico and UNSD, took place in Mexico, in December 2009, on statistical indicators on violence against women. The meeting focused on the content of the recommended set of indicators, irrespective of the source of statistics; the list of indicators for statistical surveys on violence against women; and the future development of international statistical guidelines to conduct statistical surveys on violence against women. The Friends of the Chair concluded that the interim set of indicators adopted by the Statistical Commission needed to be expanded and constituted as a core set of nine statistical indicators for measuring violence against women. The full report of the meeting is available at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/vaw/default.htm Hide

The Secretary-General’s database on violence against women was launched by the Deputy Secretary-General at an event convened by DAW, now part of UN Women, on 5 March 2009. The database provides the first “one-stop site” for information on measures undertaken by Member States to address violence against women, including their: legal frameworks; plans, strategies and policies; institutional mechanisms; preventative measures, including awareness-raising, and training; and services for victims/survivors. Hide