United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, prepared the annual report of the Secretary-General (S/2008/622) to the Security Council in follow-up to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). OSAGI continued to chair the Inter-Agency Task Force on women, peace and security, which supports the full implementation of resolution 1325. The Office serviced the open debate of the Security Council on 29 October 2008 and organized side events in partnership with other United Nations entities, Member States and NGOs. A photo exhibition “A Global Crescendo: Women’s Voices from Conflict Zones” at United Nations Headquarters addressed violence against women and girls during armed conflict. Hide

From its Say NO to Violence against Women Campaign, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, delivered over 5 million signatures, including from Heads of State and Ministers from 60 governments and more than 600 Parliamentarians from over 70 countries to the UN Secretary-General, on 25 November 2008, in support of his Campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, is collaborating with the Council of Europe to prepare a “Joint study on trafficking in organs and tissues, including trafficking in human beings for the purpose of removal of organs”. A second round of consultations with partners was held in October 2008 in Strasbourg. Hide

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, participates in the work of the task force responsible for preparation of the Secretary-General’s report on Security Council resolution 1820 (2008). Hide

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. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported or co-organized a number of meetings, workshops and conferences in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, including: on Security Council resolution 1820 and Peacekeeping (September 2008); on Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 with respect to the EU’s Security and Defense Policy missions (October 2008); on cross-border female genital mutilation, with West African First Ladies (October 2008); on trafficking in South Asia for media, lawyers and police; and provided technical support for an Economic Community of West African States summit on trafficking and other trans-border issues (December 2008).UNIFEM supported awareness-raising efforts, including: radio education on violence against indigenous women in the Andean Region; gender-based violence community sensitization in Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam; and the 16 Days of activism against gender violence campaign in many countries. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, worked to finalize the development of the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women and the website for the database, as well as to coordinate the launch of the database. It also followed up with Member States in order to obtain further responses to the questionnaire for inclusion in the database. DAW followed up with Member States in order to obtain further responses to the questionnaire for inclusion in the database. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in partnership with various national government, bi-lateral government (donor), non-governmental and United Nations partners, supported legal aid to women survivors in the North of Uganda; training for Rwandan women survivors on handicraft, health and financial skills; the establishment of two referral centres in Afghanistan; efforts addressing post-election rape, including the development of guidelines to prepare women’s court testimonies in Kenya. Hide

UNIFEM’s, now part of UN Women, support in the formulation, reform and implementation of legislation to address violence against women and girls, in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, included: domestic violence laws and bills in Indonesia and Thailand; a workshop for ASEAN Member States to review domestic violence legislation and best practices (October 2008); a regional workshop on coordinated community responses to domestic violence with local government representatives and civil society organizations (CSOs) (including UN Trust Fund grantees) from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (October 2008); and a workshop on female genital mutilation/ cutting with Christian and Muslim leaders from West Africa (November 2008). Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, established funds for community-based organizations working to prevent and respond to violence against women in Afghanistan, the Pacific and Haiti.UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, established formal partnerships in preventing violence against women, including MenEngage and Religions for Peace and continued to provide technical and other support in the context of joint United Nations efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, engaging men and boys to prevent violence against women. ESCWA is part of the steering committee of the OXFAM-UNIFEM joint project on “Strategies and approaches of working with men and boys to promote gender equality”. Hide