Measures

In 2010, UNICEF in collaboration with Religious for Peace, published the guide “From Commitment to Action: What Religious Communities Can Do to Eliminate Violence against Children”, aimed at helping religious communities harness their spiritual, moral and social strengths to prevent, respond to and eliminate violence against children. This was followed up by a discussion, convened by Religious for Peace and UNICEF, in November on the role that religious communities can play in eliminating all forms of violence against children across the work. Hide

The newly constructed centre to treat and reintegrate survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a joint project of V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls, UNICEF and Panzi Hospital. Hide

UNICEF has been leading a mapping exercise on the activities of different actors at the field level to increase the safety and security of women and children, girls especially, and to prevent gender-based violence related to conflict and disasters. This information will be used to inform an overall gender-based violence prevention framework. Through the initiative “Together for Girls” – a public/private sector partnership to address sexual violence against girls–UNICEF has supported the undertaking of two surveys on violence against children in Tanzania and Kenya, with a particular focus on sexual violence against girls. In January 2011, UNICEF officially joined, IRC, UNFPA and UNHCR in the Steering Committee of the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBV IMS). UNICEF finalized an inter-agency training package “The Caring for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Emergencies”, that has been endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Sub-Working Group on Gender in Humanitarian Action with support from the Gender-based Violence Area of Responsibility (GBV AoR). The training package provides information and skill development, for various stakeholders, in relation to treatment of sexual violence survivors in conflict-affected countries or complex emergencies, including medical treatment. Hide

UNICEF led the development of the Handbook for Coordinating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings, which is a quick-reference tool that provides practical guidance on leadership roles, key responsibilities and specific actions to be taken when establishing and maintaining a gender-based violence coordination mechanism in a humanitarian setting. It is disseminated in English, French and Arabic.Trainings were conducted for coordination partners in Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Ethiopia on utilizing the Handbook. Hide

UNICEF and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) launched a joint initiative to improve programs to address gender-based violence in emergencies and support child survivors. A course “Protecting Women and Child Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies through Improved Coordination” has been developed and the first one will be provided in February, in New York. This course focuses on GBV coordinators’ role in their response for children, and in their work with other clusters, especially Child Protection Working Groups/Sub-clusters, to mitigate risk to women and girls in diverse emergency response settings. Hide

UNICEF has provided support to awareness-raising and advocacy addressing violence against girls, including through the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Accelerate the Abandonment of FGM/C. Hide

UNICEF contributed to the organization of the discussion and resolution of the Human Rights Council on sexual violence against children.In collaboration with partners - the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children and for Children and Armed Conflict, the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography – UNICEF continued to promote the two-year global campaign to promote universal ratification of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC) and on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC) by 2012. The total number of State Parties to OPSC is 142 and the number of signatories is 118. The total number of State Parties to OPAC is 139 and the number of signatories is 128.UNICEF has provided support to the development of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women-Committee on the Rights of the Child joint general comment/recommendation on harmful practices. Hide

Almost all of the 142 country offices of UNFPA have a country programme on addressing gender-based violence or on violence against girls. UNFPA is leading the efforts of the Gender-based Violence cluster to address gender-based violence in Haiti. Hide

A short film that showcases the Inter-agency joint programming initiative on Violence Against Women in the 10 pilot countries was developed and released during the global consultation on “Delivering as One on Addressing Violence Against Women: From Intent to Action”, organised by UNFPA. The movie “Senegal: Beyond Tradition” that focuses on FGM/C prevention has been developed by UNFPA for broadcast on television networks around the world (including CNN, BBC Arabic, France 24, Denmark 4 and 55 other international networks). Moreover, almost all of the 142 country offices of UNFPA that has a country programme on addressing gender-based violence or on violence against girls have an awareness and advocacy component in-built in the programmatic interventions. Hide

UNFPA Country Offices – in more than 32 countries – are operationalizing various components of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, under the four pillars of the Resolution, including the pillar on Prevention and Protection. Hide