United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

In Mauritania, UN Women supported gender equality advocates for the implementation of the Africa UNiTE campaign, and a draft law for the prevention and punishment of violence against women was presented in November 2011, to members of the government, more than 50 national non-government organizations, and to the main donors and technical partners. This draft law constitutes a key advocacy tool for bringing about legislation on eliminating gender-based violence and mainstreaming this issue into national policies.In Algeria, UN Women continued to support the advocacy efforts of some members of the non-government coalition for the criminalization of violence against women, which contributed to the submission of a draft law making gender-based violence a criminal offence. In January 2012, it was reported that the Algerian Parliament Bureau reviewed the draft law and decided to submit it to the next session of Parliament for discussion.In Morocco, UN Women supported the Spring Time for Dignity Coalition, which led it to develop its communication and advocacy strategy and finalize the preparation and update of its Memorandum on the gender-sensitive reform of the penal code in light of the provisions of the new constitution adopted in July 2011.In Afghanistan, UN Women provided technical assistance and substantive support to the Afghanistan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) Commission to support the implemention of the Law on EVAW. OHCHR/UNAMA also supported the implementation of the new law by undertaking monitoring, advocacy and capacity-building activities. Hide

UN Women supported the National Judicial Academy to conduct trainings on gender-based violence, gender equality issues and gender justice to 122 law enforcers/implementers and 99 civil society actors in five districts of Nepal. Hide

Through the UN Women-spearheaded Partnership for Peace (PfP) Violence Intervention Programme in the Caribbean, statistics from a longitudinal assessment in Grenada show that less than 20% of the men who have gone through the programme return to court as repeat offenders. Even though the programme´s evaluation is currently in progress, the available information suggests that its methods are effective in changing men´s violent behaviours. Hide

Based on the outcome of a 2010 expert group meeting, organized by UN Women, in cooperation with ECLAC/Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean. UN Women developed and issued in June 2011 a Handbook for national action plans on violence against women. The Handbook presents a model framework for national action plans on violence against women, which sets out detailed recommendations, accompanied by explanatory commentaries and good practice examples. The Handbook is available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/handbook-for-nap-on-vaw.htm. The Handbook will be available in hard copy in 2012 in all official United Nations languages. Hide

UN Women continued to support the first multi-purpose Centre in the occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank) for women victims of violence through provision of technical and financial assistance. The Centre includes a shelter which has hosted twenty women and their children on a monthly basis. Towards the end of 2011, the revision of policies and procedures of the Centre was initiated and will lead to the upgrading to national policies and procedures. The first multi-purpose Centre in the Gaza Strip was established modeling the Centre in the West Bank. Hide

The Supplement to the Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women: “Harmful Practices” Against Women was published, and its final version is available on the website of UN Women in all UN official languages, at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-handbook.htm#handbook_supp. This Supplement should be read and used together with the Handbook for legislation on violence against women. Hard copies were also produced. Hide

In Colombia, prior to the adoption of the Victim and Land Restitution Law, UN Women provided technical assistance to the government to incorporate a gender perspective and promoted regional consultations with women`s organizations and a public hearing at the National Congress. This law recognizes that women are among the most vulnerable victims and therefore they need to receive special attention in the provision of medical and physiological services, access to education and restitution of their properties. Hide

In the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), UN Women has trained Police Family Protection Units (FPUs) officers (level I and II) on violence against women (VAW) cases and has supported them in the development of their first strategy, standard operating procedures and minimum guidelines for the establishment of the Units. An initial group of six Palestinian judges have also been targeted in order to support the development of their capacity to deal with VAW cases during trial. Technical support to the Palestinian Bar Association has also been initiated in order to develop a specialized group of lawyers capable to deal with and legally represent cases of VAW in a gender sensitive manner. Hide

In partnership with DPKO and the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, UN Women developed scenario-based pre-deployment training for military peacekeepers to prevent and respond to sexual violence, which were tested in several troop contributing countries, such as Nepal where 466 army personnel were trained. Both the Security Council, in resolution 1960, and the Secretary-General, in his annual report on conflict-related sexual violence, have encouraged member states to incorporate these modules into their regular training for peace operations. Hide

In the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), UN Women has continued to support the multi-purpose Centre for women victims of violence by assisting in the development of formats for the data collection. Hide