Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

ESCWA’s Centre for Women (ECW) developed a comprehensive Database on National Legislations on VAW in the Arab Region drawing on close consultations with fourteen Member States. The Database is accessible to all Member States through ESCWA’s web portal, to be used and updated as a monitoring and reporting tool on any legislative developments relevant to VAW in the region. Participating countries received training on the usage of the Database supported with an analytical regional report that summarizes the findings of all collected data and proposes a framework for action oriented measures. Hide

A regional Expert Group Meeting on “Identification of legislative gaps for the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in the Arab Region”, was held by ESCWA, in partnership with ECA and IPU. Hide

ESCWAS’s Centre for Women (ECW) dedicated one of its periodic newsletters to the topic of elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. Hide

In partnership with UN-WOMEN and the Norwegian Embassy in Beirut, the ESCWA Centre for Women (ECW) has jointly published a flagship publication entitled “Combating Domestic violence: Policies to Empower Women in the Arab Region”, in addition to a policy brief building on the main findings of this study. Hide

ESCWA continued to provide training and advisory services for Member States, enabling them to prepare national plans and programmes to fight all forms of GBV and to remove structural foundations of gender-based discrimination. Hide

At the conclusion of the recent ESCWA’s 6th Session of the Committee on Women, Member States unanimously adopted the “Kuwait Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women”, collectively condemning all forms of VAW and declaring their commitment to enhance joint and individual efforts to monitor, address and combat GBV. Hide

During the 5th session of the Committee on Women held from 19 to 21 December 2011 at the UN house in Lebanon, a session was dedicated to discussing the issue of violence against women (VAW), and the main findings and recommendations of ESCWA’s Regional Study on Violence against women included: 1) the enactment of special laws to criminalize the acts of VAW ; 2) provision of services for the protection of victims of VAW and their psychological, social and physical rehabilitation; and 3) initiation of nation-wide campaigns to raise awareness about the negative effects of VAW and sensitize the public at large. Hide

ESCWA reported that an e-learning course delivered by the Development Account Project entitled “Measurement of Violence against Women through Statistical Surveys” was conducted from 26 November to 10 December 2011. The e-learning course focused on the following objectives: 1) enhancing knowledge of the conceptual understanding of pervasiveness of violence against women (VAW), in addition to increasing awareness about the available sources and use and limitation of statistics on VAW; 2) enhancing understanding of the importance and use of the core indicators recommended by the Statistical Commission; 3) enhancing the understanding on how to use the UNECE module as part of a questionnaire developed for a dedicated survey; 4) being able to develop, adapt, translate and pre-test a questionnaire for a survey on VAW; 5) being able to develop an appropriate training curriculum for training of field staff and knowing how to use training materials as developed for the UNECE module; 6) enhancing knowledge on the role of stakeholders to ensure use of statistical data on VAW. The training targeted persons working in different ministries in the ESCWA region. Hide

ESCWA has implemented the project on "Enhancing Capacities to Eradicate Violence against Women (VAW) through Networking of Local Knowledge Communities” in coordination with all other United Nations Regional Commissions, the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and the former United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW) (now UN Women). This project addresses the need to strengthen the capacity of the countries to regularly and appropriately measure violence against women in respective regions. Effective policies and programmes to eradicate violence against women need to be planned on the basis of extensive knowledge. Hide

ESCWA Centre for Women organized several events on 25-26 October 2010 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the UN SCR 1325, including the launch of the publication entitled “Means to strengthen the role of women in conflict resolution and peace-building”, a round table discussion with the theme “Ten years 1325: Where are we now?”, and a workshop for Member States on drafting national action plans to impelement the UN SCR 1325. On the occasion of the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women and the 16 Days of Activism, ESCWA Centre for Women organized several events, including a discussion on violence against women in conflict settings in Arab countries, held on the International Human Rights Day. Hide