United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

In Burundi, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, , UNDP, UNESCO and UNICEF worked together to provide training and reporting assistance for civil society organizations and police to improve statistics and data collection on cases of gender-based violence. Hide

In June 2008, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, organized a workshop with representatives from Afghanistan, Haiti, Liberia, Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Uganda as part of a programme on Supporting Women’s Engagement in Peace-Building and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Community-Led Approaches. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, collaborated with several agencies to support “Women on the Frontline”, a seven-part series of the BBC aired in April 2008 that profiled forms of violence against women around the globe. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, provided capacity development to the Burundian police and judiciary to improve protection mechanisms for survivors of violence against women and to civil society partners, working on violence against women in Indonesia, Thailand, Timor-Leste and the Philippines. It also supported the development of a training course, "Empowerment, HIV and violence against women in the Caribbean." As part of the Safe Cities Programme, UNIFEM and Red Mujer y Habitat supported an online learning course, “Urban violence, insecurity and discrimination”. Hide

In June 2008, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in cooperation with UNICEF, OHCHR, UNFPA and the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, held a regional consultation towards the creation of the regional action plan to eradicate sexual violence and end impunity in the Great Lakes Region. Hide

DAW, now part of UN Women, completed the first issue of Words to Action, a quarterly newsletter designed to disseminate information about measures undertaken to address violence against women by: intergovernmental bodies of the United Nations; expert bodies, including the human rights treaty bodies; entities of the United Nations system; and States at the regional or sub-regional level.DAW, now part of UN Women, produced a brochure on the database on violence against women and the related questionnaire, which was distributed to Member States during the sixty-third session of the General Assembly and is available online. DAW participated in the closing conference of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence, in Strasbourg, France, in June, and in the 13th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in California, United States of America, in September 2008. Hide

In May 2008, UN-INSTRAW, now part of UN Women, undertook an assessment of gender-based violence in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Noel in the Dominican Republic. The study revealed that there was very little attention to, or provision in post-disaster reconstruction efforts to address gender-based violence, particularly among residents of temporary shelters. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, advocated for the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) on sexual violence in conflict. As Chair of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, UNDP/Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) advocated with Security Council members for the adoption of Security Council resolution 1820 (2008). Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, contributed to the development of national strategies and plans on gender-based violence in Afghanistan, Liberia and Ecuador. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, supported the issuance of two publications to raise awareness about the linkages between violence against women and HIV, namely “The Multiple Faces of the Intersections Between HIV and Violence Against Women” and “Women, Violence and HIV&AIDS: Exploring Interfaces”. Hide