Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

OHCHR participated in Northern Uganda and Karamoja in the IASC GBV Sub cluster (Protection), where the IASC clusters were beginning to hand over their work to the Government. In this context, OHCHR Kitgum and Gulu participated in the drafting of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for programmes targeting Gender Based Violence in August 2009. Hide

OHCHR’s country offices in Bolivia, Colombia, Russia and Uganda were part of UN Inter-Agency Groups working on gender issues in support of national and local authorities, the judiciary and civil society to develop legal frameworks, on combating sexual and gender-based violence.OHCHR’s country office in Guatemala assisted State institutions and, in coordination with the Interagency Group on Women’s Rights, provided technical advice to State officials to reform the law to prevent domestic violence. In Sudan, OHCHR worked with the human rights component of UNMIS to propose amendments to existing rape laws. In the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), OHCHR participated in a special session of the legal Working Group of the Palestinian Legislative Council during which a draft decree-law against honour killings was discussed and was subsequently approved. Hide

On 30 March 2009, OHCHR’s country office in Uganda carried out an investigation into cases of SGBV and other crimes in Moroto district (Karamoja), including the alleged rape of women by armed Karimojong civilians and physical assault of five other persons. Human rights components in United Nations Peace Missions in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone continued to monitor human rights violations with a special focus on gender-based violence including rape, female genital mutilation and domestic violence. Hide