United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UN Women undertakes several measures to address sexual violence in conflict situations related to the UN Women workforce such as:

• Message of prohibition of sexual misconduct and SEA and importance of reporting repeatedly communicated by ED.

• Since February 2017, UN Women has provided training to personnel in over 20 field offices and HQ sections.

• Launch of UN Women’s initiative “Take a Stand” in 2016, which provides guidance not only on how to report cases but also on services available to the affected staff member – from telecommuting, to salary advances, to advanced leave requests, and assisting in facilitating their access to safe and secure spaces.

• Established a network of focal points on SEA in headquarters and its Regional Offices from whom staff can request guidance on reporting allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.

• Ensuring that where there are ANY allegations of SEA or other sexual misconduct committed by UN Women personnel or partners, they are promptly referred for investigation.

• Ensuring that alleged victims are referred to the appropriate service providers for protection, medical care and support.

• Collaborating with the Secretary-General’s Victims’ Rights Advocate Ms. Jane Connors on sexual exploitation and abuse and victims’ assistance.

Lebanon PP

In 2017,  UN Women Lebanon in consultation with the Ministry of Social Affairs,  supported  13 centers within 5  regions (Akkar, Tripoli, Beirut, Maten  and Bekaa) to conduct GBV awareness sessions. 4 of these centersl also provided access to GBV multi-sectoral services  to women and girls including legal, health and psycho-social support advisory services.  Furthermroe, UN Women in partnerhsip with UN-Habitat & UNICEF  finalized the establishment  of a Referral Center in Bab Tibaneh/Tripoli,  which will be providing PSS and  multi-sectoral services center for GBV victims.  The Referral Center will be luanched in  June 2018.  

UN Women Palestine office supported MA’AN  to provide legal aid and psychosocial support to Westbanker and Gazan women living in the negev. Those women face challenging issues related to their legal status with the Israeli authorities (they hold a palestinian ID and live in Israel) and many of them suffer from family and intimate partner violence. During the reporting period UN Women Palestine office supported Maan center to provide  legal aid to 110 women from the West bank and Gaza who live in the Negev (inside Israel). The cases evolved around issues related  to personal status matters : (divorce, child custody, alimonies), issues related to their legal status inside Israel (citizenship and family reunification), residency, eligibility to social and health services, national insurance and cases of VAW. Additionally, 79 women from the Bedouin community in the Negev were provided with psychosocial support throughout Ma’an hotline, 30% of them are from the West Bank and Gaza.  Topics covered included legal status inside Israel (citizenship related issues and family unification, residency, eligibility to social and health services, national insurance, etc… ) and on VAW cases.  UNW Palestine in collaobration with the PBA- West Bank provided legal aid support and counselling to more than 100 female inmates in 3 CRCs in the West Bank . As a result of this support, many women have their cases proceeded in courts and some received mitigative sentences. On the other hand, through the support that lawyers provided to inmates, some cases witnessed progress in their relaiton with families, including spouses, as some cases  managed to reach  agreements with their families and  spouses, particularly regarding children visitation matters.

In 2017, UN Women has contributed to enhance the capacity of the providers of essential services to Women Survivors of Violence to be able to effectively prevent and respond to VAW. It has been successfully done through Justice stakeholders training, South-South cooperation and the fostering of coordination. In partnership with the Ministry of Justice, a cycle of three workshops aimed at developing the capacities of a group of magistrates has been finalized. In fact, a third, and final, workshop has been organized and saw the participation of 14 magistrates on andragogy.  Also in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, over 70 social workers from 56 cities participated in a week-long training on the implementation of the Family Code. Various topics were addressed, such as divorce procedures, the Family Support Fund, models and practical cases in the Family Code, and general skills management for social workers. Finally, both South-South cooperation and coordination were fostered thanks to a regional workshop organized in Cairo in December with the attendance of representatives of the relevant sectors (Justice, Police, Health, Civil society) to present the Essential Services Package and to engage the attendees’ departments towards the qualitative upgrading of services and their coordination.

By building the capacity of long term service providers, UN Women works to institutionalize efforts to respond to and prevent SGBV. This is done through service provision and awareness raising. In 2017 UN Women directly supported 4 centres in Amman, Ramtha, Khaldeya and Zarqa to provide service and referral options to meet the needs of both local vulnerable Jordanian women and Syrian refugees (alltogether the joint programme supports 11 centers). In the four centers UN Women supports directly, 1,515 beneficiaries have been able to reach safe spaces and receive quality services. 91 women survivors of violence were offered quality safe and confidential access to shelter through the Jordanian Women's Union's shelter for women. Throughout this reporting period, 36 women survivors of violence were offered quality safe and confidential access to shelter through the Jordanian Women's Union's shelter for women and rehabilitation of their facilities was undertaken. Through UN Women Oases in Zaatari Camp UN Women worked with UNHCR and all camp partners to provide referrals to women survivors of violence for legal and medical and other protection services. UN Women also accepted referrals in from other camp partners for vulnerable women in need of livelihoods opportunities. On average UN WOmen supports 10 refugee women protection cases per month per Oasis. 

DRC: The DRC is a signatory to several international agreements and texts without restriction. The internal legal framework is improving with the promulgation in July 2016 of the revised Family Code. The challenge remains strict law enforcement. The country is also a signatory to international agreements for peace, notably the Addis Ababa Agreement, the Kampala Agreement, etc.

SENEGAL: Senegal has endorsed the international conventions for the elimination of violence against women, which consider such violence as a violation of human rights.

CABO VERDE: IX CEDAW report elaborated with UNW support

CAMEROON: UNW Cameroon worked to reduce violence against women through creating a legislative and policy environment in line with international standards on EVAW and other forms of discrimination and promoting social norms, attitudes and behaviors at community and individual levels to prevent VAW. A national strategy on Gender Based Violence has been adopted in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender. Moreover, 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
LIBERIA: Except for the 2014 Amendment of the Elections Law of Liberia which calls for the list of candidates from political party or coalition to have no less than 30% of its members/candidates from each gender, there are 3 key laws still before the National Legislature for passage; Domestic Violence Law, Land Rights Law and the CRC. 

Some members of parliament have introduced a bill to amend the 2006 Rape Law to allow bail for perpetrators accused of sexual violence. 

UN Women Liberia supported the National Council of Chiefs and Elders and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to host a 3 days consultative session with over 150 traditional leaders and paramount chief to discuss positive aspect of traditional practices in Liberia. The Forum agreed to conduct an inventory of all grooves or “Traditional bush schools” as well as a list of practitioners in the 10 counties that practice Female Genital Mutilation.

NIGER
Like all other African countries, Niger has ratified international conventions and agreements for the elimination of forms of violence against women. But texts like CEDAW have been ratified with reservations. the taking of appropriate measures to eliminate all customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women, especially in matters of inheritance; the modification of the socio-cultural patterns and patterns of men and women; the right of married women to choose their domicile or residence; the equality of spouses in the choice of surname ;the attribution of the same rights to women as men have in deciding the number and space of births and ultimately the attribution of the same rights and responsibilities to women as men have during marriage and at its dissolution. This is merely a misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the terms of the text.  To this misinterpretation is added the lack of knowledge of these texts by the actors of justice and the litigants themselves; the amalgam between positive law and Muslim law, custom, .... the UN Women Niger office works for a better consideration of women's rights and the fight against GBV.

NIGERIA
Within the period there was no passage of any international bill into law in Nigeria, however, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition)(VAPP) Bill and this was signed into law by the former president on the 25th of May 2015 is being utilized by lawyers and advocates to facilitate access to justice for women and girls. UN Women engagement with national coalition of stakeholders - Legislative Advocacy Coalition on VAW (LACVAW) has continued to ensure that the advocacy for implementation is amplified. UN Women also continue to partner with the Gender Technical Unit (GTU) to ensure that legislators are effectively lobbied for issues that affect women

DRC
Strengthening of community prevention mechanisms with vigilance committees; sensitization of the military and police on their role in civil protection. Action to repress the perpetrators of sexual violence with emblematic trials of certain senior military officers. Actions carried out by the office of the Personal Representative of the Head of State in charge of combating sexual violence with the support of partners, in particular UN Women and UNFPA.

CAMEROON
UNW CAMEROON sept up women cohesion space to provide holistance assistance to GBV survivors. In humanitarian settings, awareness raising activities in different forms reached a great number of women, men, girls and boys including traditional and religious leaders who maintain significant influence over social norms and behaviours at the community level, on gender-based violence, girls' education, importance of women's economic empowerment, early/forced marriage and other relevant issues. These community outreach activities were not only prevention measures but also served as a first step to inform the population on available GBV services and to encourage them to report cases in the social environment that traditionally silences the survivors of violence. 

LIBERIA
Liberia is not in a conflict situation at the moment. However, measures are available as part of disaster response strategy. 

NIGER
The Diffa region is prey to the interventions of the boko Haram nebula. To support displaced, returned and refugee women, high-impact activities were implemented, including three hundred and fifty income-generating activities in the camps, the provision of more than 1,000 domestic gas kits to enable women not to leave the camps to search for firewood, Equipping health centres in three camps to care for survivors of violence, the three cohesion spaces, gender training for the FDS, GBV and gender mainstreaming in security activities, and the five gender units within the law enforcement services. All these activities benefited more than 5,000 people.

NIGERIA
UN Women supported the state ministries of women affairs and social development in the focus states to commemorate the 16 days of activism on violence against women;
The National Advisory Committee on the implementation of the National Action Plan was inaugurated by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with support from Un Women and the State Action Plans on UNSCR 1325 was launched n Adamawa Gombe and Plateau state in the period 
The HeforShe campaign was launched in three state and male traditional and community leaders were recognized for integrating women in traditional councils and local community leadership committees.
A simplified NAP has been developed to facilitate uptake by the public and the costing for the implementation is underway 
Plateau Peacebuilding Agency’s Strategic Plan has been drafted with support from UN Women and state partners  

Egypt CO

UN Women Egypt in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Solidarity developed the capacities of over 1500 women community workers across Egypt, capitalizing on their facility to reach women and men in rural and remote areas, to raise the public’s awareness, through conducting house calls, awareness raising meetings, and other means, on the various forms of violence against women and their social and legal ramifications. The community workers also serve as a vital tool for disseminating information on the support services provided by credible organizations for women victims/survivors of violence. In addition, UN Women Egypt in collaboration with Care International Egypt supported the formation of a network of over 400 young volunteers (both women and men) and developed their capacities to engage community members; over 2600 members reached, utilizing innovative context sensitive approaches, such as interactive community theater, shadow theater, graffiti art in addition to conventional methods, such as door-to-door campaigns, to raise societal awareness of various forms of violence against women, change negative attitudes and beliefs of men towards violence against women, and the gender norms that normalize and justify gender inequality and violence. 

UN Women succeeded in establishing the Iraq National Steering Committee for the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund with high level leadership and representation from the government in addition to the UNRC as co-chair and membership of women civil society, the donor community and the UNCT. UN Women, as WPHF Technical Management and Secretariat at global and national levels, convened  the first Steering Committee meeting in March. The National Steering Committee, will be in charge of providing strategic direction, oversight and coordination of implementation of their portfolio, including: provide a platform for partnership, coordination, advocacy and resource mobilization at the national level; manage the WPHF allocation for Iraq; monitor progress and provide oversight on project performance. UN Women has succeeded in securing funding of $2 million for Iraq from the governments of Canada and the UK. A call for proposals is expected to be announced in the second quarter under the guidance of the NSC.

A total of 255 beneficiaries (Jordanians and Syrians) have been reached from different subjects related to GBV and women’s’ rights through 11 awareness-raising activities. Social cohesion have been evident as a result of Including Syrians and Jordanians both in the awareness sessions. Under LEAP, UN Women and IFH organized five awareness raising sessions on protection and all forms of violence targeting 72 Syrian and Jordanian women and men. In addition, awareness of 154 Jordanians and Syrians were raised on issues related to early marriage and gender-based violence through scheduled plays ( through the Hemayati project). A discussion following the play between the audience and the moderator helped to clarify issues related to early marriage.  This approach promotes women's and girl's self-expression and self-awareness, while providing them with skills to articulate changes they would like to see in their reality. A consultative writing process (“writeshop”) was developed with key stakeholders to ensure ownership of the messages that feed into the development of a toolkit to disseminate specialized legal knowledge relating to violence against women and girls among non-specialized audiences. the toolkit was launched in November aiming at familiarizing and sensitizing readers with current gaps, challenges and realities of VAWG in Jordan in order to start a social dialogue that can foster positive changes in attitudes toward women and girls, as well as promote and inform legislative and policy changes. 

In 2017, UN Women MCO continued to develop its own initiatives, strengthened and broadened its support to CSOs, national partners and the private sector’s initiatives to prevent VAW. As a result, a wide audience was reached (more than 3 million people, including through regular tv spots on the main national tv channel) and was mobilized during sensitization efforts and numerous events organized all year-long, and largely intensified during the 16 Days campaign, with a specific focus this year on engaging men and boys through innovative communication campaigns. The MCO succeeded in engaging partner agencies through UNCT and the Gender thematic group, national Ministries (Women’s machinery, Ministry of Justice and Liberties, Ministry of Interior), national institutions (City councils and Wilayas in Marrakech and Rabat, the Parliament), multilateral organizations (European Union Delegation), CSOs, Universities, with young boys and girls, the media and the private sector (telecommunications, public transports).

UN Women Palestine office supported MA’AN (an NGO based in the Negev which focus on legal awareness and protection of women from West Bank and Gaza and Bedouin women who live in the Negev and are subject to Israeli jurisdiction) to conduct raising awarness workshops for the West bankers and Gazan women living in the Negev. Those women face challenging issues related to their legal status with the Israeli authorities (they hold a palestinian ID, but they  live  in  Israel with their spouses without any legal document)  and many suffer from family and intimate partner  violence. During the reporting period UN Women Palestine office supported MA'AN to organize 14 raising awareness workshops and targeted women from the West Bank and Gaza. The workshop covered the following issues: family status laws, residency, legal and citizenship rights and access to social and health services and VAW. Similarly, 4 workshops were  organized in the Negev targeted social workers on different issues; such as:  VAW, legal rights  of women from the West Bank and Gaza who are married to men from the Negev.  Additonally UNW Palestine office supported MA'AN in the publication of two legal newsletter discussing concerns related to the legal status and legal rights of West Bank and Gaza women who live in the Negev. 450 copies of the newsletter were printed and distributed. UNW Palestine supported Al- Muntada ( a coalition of 17 women's organizations that work on combatting VAW) to lead a national advocacy campaign on VAW,  including legal discirmination against women and the need to adopt a responsive FPB. The campaign included radio episodes, TV programmes, and field  awareness sessions in differnet districts , which aimed at raising awareness of public and participants on women's rights, VAW and rights' gaps existing within the applicable legislative framework in Palestine, and building allies to advocate for the adoption of a gender responsive Family Protection Bill.                  

Within SAWASYA - UNDP / UN Women Joint Programme on Strengthening the Rule of Law: Justice and Security for Palestinian People, the PCHR (The Palestinian Center for Human Rights) conducted 30 awareness raising sessions targeted  both males and females with  awareness sessions on femicide,  the so- called honour killing and women’s legal rights in remote and marginalized areas all over the Gaza Strip. Most of the interventions carried out within the project’s duration focused on providing legal awareness,  awareness sessions  about  the so-called " honor  killing" and femicide as a mechanism to prevent violence against women and engage men and youth mainly to advocate for women's rights- as a result of these interventions,  511 women and 247 men were targeted.

Lebanon PP

In 2017,  3 induction/capacity building sessions on GBV tools for around 12 youth-led NGOs active in different areas in Lebanon was organized. The main focus of the induction is Gender Roles & Societal Expectations from both Women and Men in Public and Private Spheres.  Furthermore,  to support the role of youth-led and women-led organizations,  UN Women  organized in partnership with ABAAD a GBV/Masculinity  TOT training workshop in October  2017 which involved 9 CSOs.  The 3  days’ workshop aimed  at  building the capacities of  participating NGOs  on  the concepts of human security,  gender based violence and masculinities and  addressing negative coping mechanism.  The CSOs were able to  utilize their newly acquired knowledge and technical skills while conducting GBV awareness raising sessions within their community to address stigma against GBV survivors and reduce all forms of violence.  

The UN Women Gender Specialist secondee to OCHA has been working closely with national and sub-national cluster coordinators, gender focal points and humanitarian funding partners to improve gender outcomes, including conducting training on Gender and Age Marker for 90 participants.

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.

As part of UN Women efforts in supporting the Palestinian police to improve the Family Protection and Juvenile Unit (FPJU) performance in dealing with VAW cases, and supporting the implementation of the capacity building plan of the FJPU, a two-day workshop has been conducted in Jan 2018 on cybercrimes against women and girls.  24 police officers from FJPU and the cybercrime unit have been targeted and agreed on recommendations to improve coordination between both units whe dealing with VAW cases.  following that, UNW facilitated a meeting  between heads of the specialized units of the cyber-crime and VAW, to reflect on the workshops main points  and present the findings and recommendations. Both units agreed to discuss internally proposed arrangements,  including the assginment of the  FJPU as the first responder for the cyber-crime -violence against women and  the aspects of coordination mechanisms between the units when dealing with VAW casesto ensure privacy and confidentiality. 

Egypt CO

UN Women Egypt in close collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW) supported the comprehensive review of the Personal Status Laws (family laws) and Penal Code to analyze the impact of such laws on women's ability to access justice for all forms of violence. The process brought together multiple actors in the justice chain, including members of the judiciary, prosecution, police, social affairs, in addition to specialized councils to develop draft laws and/or amend existing ones to prevent violence against women, punish perpetrators, and ensure the rights of survivors. As a result of several rounds of consultations by national stakeholders, a draft comprehensive law on violence against women, that aims to support a comprehensive response to survivors of violence, including the provision of support and protection services, was developed and will be submitted to parliament by the NCW.

UN Women has been advocating for the passage of The Anti-Domestic Violence Law, introduced to parliament in 2015 and still under review. In January 2017, the law was presented to discussion in front of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, however it failed to pass the committees. The strengths of the draft bill include provisions for services for domestic violence survivors, protection orders (restraining orders) and penalties for their breach, and the establishment of a cross-ministerial committee to combat domestic violence. However, the law does not set penalties for committing the crime of domestic violence, does not repeal provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code that condone domestic violence (such as weaker penalties for ‘honor crimes’), and prioritizes reconciliation over justice. 

Morocco MCO

UN Women first acted through supporting the civil society in its advocacy efforts to align draft law no 103.13 with international norms and standards, and more especially through supporting the memorandums of the coalition Printemps de la Dignité composed of 25 NGOs throughout the national territory. The coalition is specialized in advocating to the government and to the Parliament on laws and public policies related to EVAW, and has developed a Memorandum on each of the expected reforms and defended their arguments before the Ministry of Justice. UN Women has supported the coalition providing it with tools and guidance on international norms, laws and strategies to EVAW.

UN WomenPalestine supported national counterparts to develop a Family Protection Bill (FPB) in line with international human rights standards. UNW's  support included technical advice to the technical committee that was formed by the Council of Ministries to work on the FPB. UNW also facilitated the engagement of the CSOs in this process through sensitizing partners on the rights of CSOs to take part in this process and supporting CSOs simultaneously by providing them with technical and financial support to advocate for the adoption of a responsive bill. UNW has also supported the justice sector strategy to identify legislative priorities for the years 2017- 2022 , which included the penal code, the personal status law, the family protection bill, cybercrime law and others. 

Lebanon PP

UN Women  Lebanon, in cooperation with several activist civil society organizations, supported a campiagn in 2016 to repeal article 522 of the Penal Code related to rape-marriage,  which releases the perpetrator in case he marries the victim. In  June 2017,  the campaing efforts  were  materialized  with the approval of the Parliament to repeal the article.  

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.

Jordan CO

The UNCT in Jordan - under the leadership of UN Women, in collaboration with the Jordanian National Commission for Women and in partnership with the civil society and members of the international community launched the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence national campaign under the theme ‘Too young to marry’.  Key highlights include:
- More than 1,374 people directly engaged in activities organized by UN Women– the majority of which were youth and those living outside the capital; 
- around 350 events were organized in the country during the campaign, generating increased interest and discussions on the issue from different perspectives in participatory approach. 
- 3.9 million users reached on social media through the various hashtags and social media content used. 375,349 social media users were reached only during the ‘orange hour’ which marked the beginning of the campaign on 25 Nov 2017 (hashtag ‘16daysjo’ trending on Twitter).
- Original song by The Voice winner Nidaa Sharara reached half a million views on Youtube. 
- Systematic engagement of local-based initiatives, media professionals, youth movements and members of the international community.
- 3 policy papers presented during the dedicated event organized with judges and justice sector professionals.

Morocco MCO

UN Women strengthened its support to CSOs and national partners’ initiatives in the context of the UNiTE campaign.  A focus was given to raise the awareness of boys and men through 11 initiatives that took place during the UNITE SG’s campaign : the launching event with the UNCT (orange balloons), 5 projects / activities were developed with CSOs for dedicated and intensified awareness-raising efforts during or close to the 16 Days of activism campaign (Aquarium, Zanka Bla Violence, ARMCDH, AMDF, Printemps de la Dignité) , 2 partnerships engaging the main written, tv and radio media for a 16-day coverage of the campaign (EcoMedias, 2M SOREAD), a digital awareness-raising campaign on UN Women Maghreb twitter account and UN Women Arabic Twitter and Facebook accounts and a communication campaign through weekly videos around the slogan « Because I am a man » that succeeded in reaching over 500K likes, shares and likes on Facebook alone and more than 32% of the audience share on TV broadcast. Three awareness-raising workshops on women’s human rights and gender-based stereotypes were held in three different cities towards youth (in a high-school (29 Dec), a fine arts institute (13 Dec) and a business and management school (26 Dec)) through the use of cartoons to initiate debate around these issues.

In 2017, UN Women Algeria used social networks to launch its largest 16 days EVAW campaign to date, impacting several millions of Algerians.  Leveraging the potential of social media, 20 Algerian public figures - writers, singers, actors, scholars – and a leading mobile operator joined the 16 days campaign by taking position against GBV. UNW Algeria invited 20 national figures - writers, singers, actors, scholars - to speak up against violence towards women and girls. Their quotes were then disseminated across social medias between November 25 and December 10, in partnership with civil society organizations, major national media and other UN agencies. An advocacy video was also produced gathering the quotes and will be uploaded to Youtube in support of the 2018 16 days campaign. UNW also partnered with mobile phone operator Djezzy who sent bulk messages on GBV to its subscribers each of the 16 days. As a result, more than 16 million Algerians from all over the country received an awareness-raising message, which contained information on the 16 days campaign in both Arabic and French.

Within the  16 Days of Activism against  GBV, UN Women in partnership with  ABAAD and National Commission for Lebanese Women,  launched the “LifeForLife” public  campaign, which aimed to amend Chapter Seven of the Lebanese Penal Code. More specifically, the call is to amend the law that condemns any offender found guilty of sexual assault of a daughter, sister, granddaughter, nieces or any person of whom he has physical or legal custody with a life sentence in prison.  Incest rape is one of the most dangerous and most widespread forms of rape and sexual assault in Lebanon.

As part of the internal “Take a Stand to end violence initiative” UN Women has a range of internal mechanisms available to protect, support and provide service to victims/survivors focused on the UN Women internal workforce.

Support and Emergency Services

• Financial support in terms of flexible salary advances or staff association loan programmes are considered a source of fast extra funds on a case by case basis, by HR and Finance;
• Flexible leave and advance leave requests; reduce and re-assign workload to avoid additional stress and give them time to concentrate on their case;
• Information in an aide memoir which has available country resources and support services and it is provided to all UN Women personnel;
• Counselling, UN Women personnel can contact UN Staff Counsellor or the Critical Incident Stress Management Unit for psychosocial support and assistance. UN Women also assists personnel in gaining access to psychosocial support. Further information on support can be accessed here: https://hr.un.org/page/how-contact-your-staff-counsellor or https://hr.un.org/page/mental-wellbeing-psychosocial-support. 

• Dedicated service provider at UN Women HQ: In cases in which UN Women personnel or dependents at Headquarters are affected by violence outside the workplace, affected person/s can contact a confidential and appropriate external specialized service provider directly. The service provider will arrange for referrals, as appropriate, to NYC-based services, including local hospitals that conduct sexual assault forensic examinations. Colleagues may also send an email to takeastand@unwomen.org. 
• Awareness: UN Women has information briefs on gender based violence and support for personnel here. These briefs are shared with all UN Women personnel, spouses and dependents to raise awareness of internal support and response mechanisms available for personnel who may be affected by gender-based security incidents. 

For NY HQ Colleagues

• In 2017, UN Women and Safe Horizon piloted a Gender Based Violence Hotline for its personnel which was available 24/7. After one year this pilot was discontinued, but UN women continues to inform the workforce on Safe Horizon’s general hotline number
• Dedicated intranet pages for personnel on Employee information and Understanding Violence: reporting internal misconduct; Guidance for Managers; Types of Violence; Recognizing the signs of Violence; and Supporting friends family and colleagues
• Multiple resources ranging from posters, cards and guidance materials for personnel.