United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Background
UN Women is at the forefront of global efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls (VAWG), leveraging its unique triple mandate of normative support, UN system coordination, and operational activities. Through strategic partnerships, evidence-based programming, and advocacy, UN Women works to prevent violence, support survivors, and promote gender equality worldwide. Violence against women and girls remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations globally, impeding progress toward gender equality and sustainable development. UN Women's Strategic Plan 2022–2025 outlines a comprehensive approach to address VAWG, emphasizing prevention, survivor-centered responses, and the transformation of harmful social norms. The organization collaborates with governments, civil society, and other stakeholders to implement policies and programs that protect women's rights and promote their empowerment.
On behalf of the United Nations system, the UN Women administers the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UN Trust Fund), which provides core, flexible and long-term funding along with technical and strategic support services for civil society and women’s rights organizations across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. As the secretariat of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls VAWG, UN-Women will coordinate system-wide efforts to end all forms of VAWG, including in advocacy for sustainable financing.
Policy framework
UN Women's work to end VAWG is firmly anchored in international human rights instruments and political commitments. These include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
UN Women supports Member States to uphold these commitments by aligning national legislation, policies, and programs with international standards. The organization plays a central role in global norm-setting spaces such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), where it supports the negotiation and implementation of agreed conclusions on gender equality and the elimination of VAWG. UN Women also contributes substantively to the Secretary-General’s reports on VAWG and related topics, helping ensure that these issues remain central to the international policy agenda.
Through its Strategic Plan (2022–2025), UN Women emphasizes the elimination of violence as one of its core impact areas, promoting integrated, survivor-centered, and multisectoral approaches that are responsive to intersecting forms of discrimination and grounded in feminist values.
There are a number of internationally agreed norms and standards that relate to ending violence against women, including:
- The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women does not explicitly mention violence against women and girls, but General Recommendations 12, 19, and 35 clarify that the Convention, as per Article 2 on non-discrimination, extends to violence against women, and also makes detailed recommendations to States to address violence against women.
- The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights recognized violence against women as a human rights violation and called for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on violence against women in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
- The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was the first international instrument explicitly addressing violence against women, providing a framework for national and international action.
- The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development drew links between violence against women and reproductive health and rights.
- The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action identifies specific actions for governments to take to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Ending violence is one of 12 areas for priority action. In 2020, a major stock-taking UN Women report revealed that more than 80 per cent of countries (of 166 in total) reported that action to implement, and enforce, violence against women laws had been achieved in the previous five years, and 87 per cent of countries reported introducing, or strengthening, services for survivors of violence.
- In 2006 the Secretary-General’s In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women was released, the first comprehensive report on the issue.
- The 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence became the second legally binding regional instrument on violence against women and girls.
- The UN General Assembly adopts biannual resolutions on the issue of violence against women. The resolutions, first adopted in 2012, include the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, trafficking in women and girls, and intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations. These resolutions are renegotiated biannually, and the most recent reports were submitted on these resolutions during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
- The UN Human Rights Council first adopted a resolution on accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women in 2012.
- In 2020, at the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, leaders pledged to ramp up efforts to fully implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including ending all forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls.
Areas of Focus
Response
UN Women leads global efforts to strengthen survivor-centered responses to VAWG through its support to essential services and multisectoral coordination. It plays a critical convening and technical role in promoting the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, developed in collaboration with WHO, UNFPA, UNDP, and UNODC. This package outlines a coordinated, quality approach to providing health, justice and policing, and social services for survivors. UN Women supports countries in adapting and implementing the package, building the capacity of service providers, and promoting accountability mechanisms.
UN Women also works to ensure that crisis response—including in humanitarian settings and during global emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic—integrates measures to prevent and respond to VAWG. It supports the development of national action plans, referral pathways, and inter-agency coordination mechanisms to ensure timely and effective service delivery to survivors.
Prevention
UN Women is a global leader in VAWG prevention, advocating for and operationalizing primary prevention strategies that transform harmful gender norms, challenge patriarchal power structures, and promote gender-equitable relationships. UN Women’s prevention programming is grounded in the RESPECT Women framework, developed with WHO and other partners. The framework outlines seven evidence-based strategies: Relationship skills strengthened; Empowerment of women; Services ensured; Poverty reduced; Environments made safe; Child and adolescent abuse prevented; and Transformed attitudes, beliefs and norms.
UN Women supports governments and civil society to design, implement, and evaluate prevention programs at scale. It fosters social mobilization campaigns, school- and community-based interventions, and engagement with men and boys to shift norms and attitudes. In particular, the organization works with feminist movements and youth-led initiatives to amplify transformative, intersectional approaches to prevention.
Research and Data
As the custodian of knowledge on gender equality and VAWG, UN Women invests significantly in strengthening the global evidence base to inform policy and programming. It hosts and manages the Global Database on Violence Against Women, the only global repository of measures taken by governments to address violence against women. The database enhances transparency and promotes peer learning by providing accessible information on laws, policies, services, and research.
UN Women provides technical and financial support to national statistical offices to collect and analyze prevalence data on VAWG through population-based surveys. It advocates for the regular collection of comparable, quality data disaggregated by sex, age, disability, and other factors, and builds capacity to use data in planning and budgeting. In collaboration with international partners, UN Women has developed guidance and standards to improve the measurement of VAWG, including through the Inter-Agency Group on Violence against Women Data and the UN Survey Module on VAW Prevalence.
Women’s Movements and Leadership
UN Women recognizes that feminist and women’s rights organizations are indispensable actors in efforts to end VAWG. Through the ACT for Feminist Movements programme, UN Women provides long-term, flexible funding and capacity-building support to women-led organizations and networks, particularly those working at the grassroots level.
ACT supports advocacy, coalition-building, knowledge generation, and service provision by feminist movements, enabling them to influence laws and policies, hold duty-bearers accountable, and mobilize communities. UN Women also facilitates platforms for movement-building, such as the Generation Equality Action Coalitions, ensuring that women’s voices are central in decision-making spaces at all levels.
Safe Public Spaces and Sexual Harassment
UN Women pioneered the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative—the first-ever global effort to develop comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approaches to preventing and responding to sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence in public spaces. The initiative is implemented in over 65 cities worldwide, working with local and national governments, transport and other service providers, women's rights organizations, and grassroots groups and the private sector to co-create solutions that reduce sexual violence in public spaces and increase women and girls’ safety and inclusion.
Interventions supported by UN Women include social norms programming (multiple levels), gender-responsive planning in urban and rural settings, , community policing, and the use of data to inform the development and monitoring of comprehensive programmes. The initiative promotes women’s political decision making, policy change, behavior transformation, and infrastructure improvements to ensure that women and girls can move freely and safely in public spaces without fear of violence or sexual harassment.
Harmful Practices: Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
UN Women addresses harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM as severe violations of human rights and forms of gender-based violence. The organization works at global, regional, and national levels to support the repeal or reform of discriminatory laws, advocate for strong enforcement mechanisms, and promote comprehensive services for survivors.
Through partnership with UNFPA, UNICEF, and civil society organizations, UN Women supports community-led approaches to change social norms, raise awareness, and empower girls and young women. The organization also contributes to the global evidence base on what works to end harmful practices, including supporting research, policy dialogue, and evaluation of interventions.
Trafficking in Women and Girls
UN Women’s approach to combating trafficking in persons, particularly women and girls, focuses on prevention, protection, and rights-based responses. As a member of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), UN Women ensures that anti-trafficking strategies are gender-responsive and survivor-centered.
UN Women works with governments to integrate anti-trafficking measures into national development and gender equality plans, supports the provision of legal aid and psychosocial services to survivors, and strengthens efforts to reduce the risks of trafficking in conflict, crisis, and migration contexts. It also advocates for addressing the structural inequalities—such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to education and employment—that increase women’s vulnerability to exploitation.
Technology Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls (TF-VAWG)
Recognizing the rapid rise in online and technology-facilitated violence, UN Women has taken a leadership role in addressing this emerging form of VAWG. TF VAWG includes online harassment, non-consensual image sharing, doxing, cyberstalking, and digital sexual exploitation, disproportionately affecting women and girls—particularly journalists, activists, and public figures.
UN Women supports policy and legal reforms to recognize and criminalize TF VAWG, and works with governments, civil society, and technology companies to develop safe digital environments including the Global Digital Compact, an annex to Pact for the Future. It conducts research to better understand the scope and impact of TG VAWG, and raises awareness through global campaigns such as #SafeSpacesNow and #OrangeTheWorld.
Resources
RESPECT women: Preventing violence against women (2019)
Training Manual on Gender and Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (2017)
Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence Against Women (2012)
Essential Services Package for women and girls subject to violence (2015)
Femicides in 2023: Global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides.
Safe consultations with survivors of violence against women and girls (2022)
Handbook on gender responsive police services for women and girls subject to violence (2021)
*See also the resource links to numerous tools referred to in the narrative above and under specific measures.
Egypt CO
UN Women Egypt in partnership with UN HABITAT carried out a gender analysis of transport patterns in Greater Cairo with the aim of informing the planning, design and tendering of the Bus Rapid Transit national project. A survey was conducted at public transport terminals to gather quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated data on passengers’ characteristics, travel patterns, travel costs, security and safety feelings, etc. Sex-disaggregated data proved to be useful to understand public transport usage and access by both women and men, their preferred transport modes, their experiences of harassment, threats to safety, cost of transport, etc. Then, to obtain in-depth information on women’s specific issues in relation to accessibility, affordability and safety in public transport, women-only focus groups were held in three different districts, where women’s mobility patterns were discussed, as well as issues related to their safety and security. In addition, train operators were asked a series of questions on transport, choice of routes, issues related to female passengers’ safety, including some questions on their perception and attitudes towards sexual harassment. The aim of this exercise was also to identify potential economic opportunities for women in the transport sector.
UN Women conducted two research pieces in partnership with Oxfam. A Gender and Conflict Analysis in ISIS Affected Communities of Iraq was published May 2017. A Gender Gap Analsyis is in the final review stages and is expected to be published in the second quarter of 2018.
In collaboration with the Centre for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), UN Women Regiona Office for the Arab States published the study "Estimating Costs of Marital Violence in the Arab Region" as a part of a regional project on estimating the cost of violence against women in the Arab region. This economic model measures the costs of intimate partner violence by estimating household costs associated with violence, community level costs of service provision, and costs related to women’s loss of productivity in the labour market. https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20arab%20states/attachments/2017/estimating-costs-marital-violence-operational-model-english.pdf?la=en&vs=4616
In 2017, UN Women and REACH launched a report aimed to increase the understanding of the impact of the crisis on women’s access to basic services. The report identified specific issues related to harasshment and perception of safety among women living in communities hosting a larger number of refugees, including through their experience in accessing basic services and public spaces. UN Women is currently working with the Minister of Social Development and other actors in order to address key reccomendations presented in the report through targeted programming and pilot interventions in various Governorates of Jordan.
In 2017, UN Women supported the production of 3 unprecedented reports: (i) through the regional Programme “Men and Women for Gender equality”, UN Women supported the conduct of the International Men and women for Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), a study that provides a holistic look at the lives of men and women in the region of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, including their experiences as children, (ii) through the same programme, UN Women supported the Center for Women's Studies in Islam (CERFI), a research center placed under the official religious institution to conduct a survey on perceptions regarding Qiwamah, i.e. the husband’s duty of providing financial support for his wife and children, (iii) in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, UN Women conducted the evaluation of the Family Mutual Aid Fund created in 2011 to support women who do not receive alimony payments.
Aiming at supporting the Palestinian police's Family Protection and Juvenile Unit (FPJU) in data collection and in effectively managing VAW cases, SAWASYA joint Program will support the developemnt of RIAM (case information management system that will support the FPJU of the Palestinian Police and the Specialized prosecutors on VAW to applying the risk assessment template for GBV cases and preparing for the automation of the risk assessment process through this system). UNW has supported the FPJU and the Specialized Public Prosecutors in applying the risk assessment template in preparation for the automation of the risk assessment process through RIAM system. A workshop took place in August 2017 for police officers and specialized public prosecutors to introduce the risk assessment template (RAT) that was piloted for 6 months in 2 districts.
UNW Palestine office conducted different researches on VAW and women's access to justice to generate, documemt and disseminate knowledge and awareness.These included a study on women's access to justice in East Jerusalem, entitled " In the absence of justice", a study on legal aid to women entitled " the impact of legal aid on womenn", women's access to formal and informal justice in Gaza, informal justice system and gender equality in the West Bank, the Situation of Access to informal and formal justice systems for women and girls with dissabilities.
Algeria PP
In Algeria, UN Women has reached an important milestone, in strenghtening the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women Condition's (MSNFCF) capacities to collect data on women and girls victims of violence. A modernized and common data collection framework integrating international guidelines and indicators on WSV, with a focus on SDG 5, was developed by UN Women in partnership with the MSNFCF. The new administrative databased named "AMANE" will allow the MSNFCF and its different structures to collect comprehensive data on Survivors seeking aid from its services. All 54 professionals from the Directorates for Social Action and Solidarity (DASS) and from Women Shelter's have benefited from a specific training on how to use AMANE with a component on gender-based violence and gender issues.
UN Women has embarked on a number of prevention and awareness raising campaigns and advocacy such as “Take a Stand” initiative.
Internally, within the UN system, UN Women is coordinating closely with other UN agencies on issues related to Prevention of and Reporting on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (by UN personnel)
In addition to this, we have UN Women Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) focal points in all of our six regions whose roles within UN Women are to:
- communicate their role and raise awareness of the ST/SGB/2003/13;
- to ensure that complaints against the individuals/entities to whom the ST/SGB/2003/13 applies are reported to OIOS;
- to report to the UN Women SEA working group at HQ in order to share any issues, cases or local observations; and gather data for onward reporting;
- to educate the UN Women workforce regarding the prevention of SEA.
UN Women internal policies:
UN Women has policies which are available to its personnel. They receive these through their welcome letter the moment they join the organization, available links on our intranet pages, and in house non/mandatory courses and information sessions.
Here are the policies:
- The UN-Women Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct defines misconduct and the mechanisms within UN-Women for reporting and investigating it. The investigations function for UN-Women is assumed by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which has the mandate to investigate all reports of alleged misconduct involving staff members and allegations of fraud and corruption, whether committed by staff members or outside parties.
- TheUN-Women Policy on Protection Against Retaliationestablishes "whistleblower protection."
- The UN Women Policy on Workplace Harassment and Abuse of Authority is a helpful document in providing definitions, measures of prevention, and steps to resolving improper conduct.
DRC
Multisectoral assistance to over 30,000 victims of survivors of sexual violence by organizations supported by United Nations agencies (UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UN AIDS, UNJHRO, UNHCR).
SENEGAL
UN Women supported the women's collective for peace in Casamance (Senegal) to set up a centre for the care of victims of violence, by providing them with health, justice and security services. This same "one stop center" model is replicated in 2 health centers through the Muskoka project for the medical care of women and girls’ victims of violence.
CABO VERDE
Continued technical support in strengthening capacities of CAV and Rede Sol, as the main existing structures for the assistance of victims, in the context of the GBV Law implementation.
MALI
To facilitate access to services for women and girls’ survivors of GBV, two "one-stop" holistic care centres where all care services will be available were initiated.
The first Centre is initiated by UN Women through the Police Social Service on the left bank of Bamako and the second by UNFPA through the Commune V reference health centre on the right bank. These two centres will provide sufficient quality services to meet the specific needs of women and girls’ survivors of violence in and around Bamako District. In the light of the lessons learned from the previous programmes on care units, UN Women has begun to reflect on the functioning of victim care units in order to define a more practical content, which will increase the flow of functioning of these units and respond to recurrent difficulties encountered, such as conflicts of interest. To make the process of dealing with GBV victims effective and uniform, UN Women started the process of updating the Standard Operating Procedures with the involvement of all stakeholders
CAMEROON
UWN Cameroon, women and girls among refugees, IDPs, and host communities, including Boko Haram survivors know and use the protection mechanisms available to them through Un Women intervention in collaboration of others humanitarian actors. GBV survivors benefited from integrated services through different mechanisms: a) Women Cohesion Spaces, b) four GBV units in the Women Empowerment Centers c) Gender desks at police stations, and d) mobile clinics.
LIBERIA
In 2017, 1,685 GBV survivors accessed the referral pathway and obtained services based on need. A total of 1,225 survivors accessed health services, 1,028 reported case to the Women and Children Protection Section; 1,199 obtained psychosocial support with 88 provided legal aid. 120 were lodged in safe homes and 7 persons out of 1,225 were provided economic support.
NIGER
Through the gender and humanitarian action projects, the UN Office for Women in Niger provided important support to displaced women, refugees and returnees in 2015-16. This is how he developed a holistic approach with the Gender and Humanitarian Action programme in Diffa where violence reached its paroxysm with the intervention of Boko Harm through a holistic approach, prevention and care of women, girls.
The aim of the anti-violence component of this programme is to prevent violence through awareness-raising and the establishment of a system for dealing with victims of violence:
Activities implemented:
- The creation of cohesion spaces in Cablewa, Boudouri and Sayam Forage;
- The creation of gender units in the services of the National Guard, the Gendarmerie and the Police to care for survivors of GBV in Diffa;
- Training SDFs on gender, taking gender into account in their security actions;
- Awareness campaign on GBV with parliamentarians in Diffa;
The following results were achieved:
- More than 100,000 people were sensitized on women's rights and gender-based violence with parliamentarians in the Garin Wazam, Kablewa, Buduri, Tam, Mainie Soroa and Sayam Forage camps in the Diffa region;
- More than 400 police forces (police, gendarme, national guard) were trained on gender, GBV, GBV survivor care, etc;
- Three spaces of cohesion have been created in the camps (these spaces allow women to get together in a safe environment and discussed issues related to women's rights, GBV with the support of a psychologist) for discussions on GBV and GBV management.
- An alert system is created between the camps equipped health centres gender law enforcement units for a coordinated intervention between these different services for faster care;
- Five units were created to take charge within the FDS structure: 2 units in the gendarmerie; 2 units in the police and one unit in the National Guard;
- Five documentary films were made as part of this awareness campaign on women's rights, the fight against GBV and harmful practices.
All these achievements have contributed to raising awareness of women's rights, significantly reducing GBV, and taking care of survivors with great innovations through cohesion spaces and gender units.
NIGERIA
UN Women Nigeria during the reporting period continued its advocacy to end GBV at national and its programmes states levels. During the 16 Days of Activism, it organised a symposium titled; Mobilizing to Eradicate Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions to discuss GBV in education, with particular reference to sexual harassment in tertiary institutions and to explore how leadership, advocacy and alliance-building can create an enabling environment for the eradication of sexual harassment in educational institutions. There were also several media advocacy by UN Women and her partners
Also UN Women supported the federal ministry of women affairs and partners to collate the Nigeria Periodic Report on CEDAW
106 Chiboks Girls rescued from Boko Haram returned to school following UN Women collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and other partners
DRC :
UN Women supported the UN system through the Gender Score Card in 2015 but in February 2018 the gender focal points of the agencies were on gender accountability. In June and July 2017, there was a regional capacity-building workshop on gender mainstreaming and gender-based violence response in emergencies and humanitarian crises. Several agencies (UN Women, UNFPA, UNHCR, GenCap) took part. The revitalization of the One UN Gender Team allows a good readability of gender interventions in the DRC. Jointly, support was given to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Family for the organization of the forum of ministers and heads of gender division for the coordination of gender issues.
SENEGAL :
UN Women in Senegal, through its leadership ensured the coordination of interventions on the elimination of gender-based violence. Thus, the activities of the gender thematic group work to strengthen this momentum for the protection and health of women and girls.
CABO VERDE:
In additional to mobilizing UN agencies to implement advocacy campaigns and of knowledge sharing, UN Women Cabo Verde has been able to engage different agencies in the elaboration of joint programme proposals to address gender inequality, including gender-based violence. Among projects in pipeline, there are 3 projects related to GBV, being one about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights program (UN-Women, UNFPA, UNICEF), the second on human security and resilience (UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNODC), and the third one on GEWE, being GBV one out of the three domains. In the two first GBV is considered as one of the main issue to be addressed.
CAMEROON:
UNW Cameroon has coordinated the UNCT SWAP scorecard process and the elaboration of action plan. The country office has been engaged in the implementation of the UNSWAP Scorecard plan and has succeeded in inscribing gender in the 2018 UNCT annual work plan. The office has also worked to mainstream gender in joint programs of the 2018-2020 UNDAF
LIBERIA:
Through the Gender Theme Group, UN Women Liberia coordinates UN Support to the Government of Liberia, especially with international celebrations such as the International Women Day and the 16 Days of Activism. Besides, in 2018, UN Women is hosting a GenCap Advisor to strengthen the capacities of Gender Specialist within the UN System. The GenCap Advisor provides technical leadership and support to UNCT on Gender Equality programming as well as building the capacity to ensure that Gender specific needs are taken into consideration in the planning and the implementation of programes in Liberia. This includes mainstreaming gender in the development of the new UNDAF.
NIGER
UN-Women Niger is the vice-chair of the thematic group. This status enables it to contribute to the coordination of activities on the elimination of gender-based violence, gender mainstreaming and women's rights.
NIGERIA
The UN Women support the GTG to ensuring that the capacity of members are built to enable them better understand the issues of GEWE and GBV.