Support for Policy Development

UNDP held policy dialogues with senior bureaucrats on gender-based violence in Kuwait. 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

Following the launch of the UN Interagency Statement ‘Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation’, by the UN Deputy Secretary General in February 2008, UNICEF-supported efforts were made to implement the approach described therein in national policies. Hide

As part of UNFPA’s collaboration with the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) on costing violence against women, workshops were conducted during this reporting period in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Morocco, to test the domestic violence costing model developed under the partnership. Hide

The UNFPA and UNICEF Trust Fund and Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) aims at reducing FGM/C by 40 per cent in 17 countries by 2012. Over the last six months, work plans were finalized in eight countries and funds disbursed for programme implementation. Hide

WHO coordinated the preparation and publication of the interagency statement on the elimination of FGM, signed by 10 UN agencies in 2008. WHO continued to strongly condemn the practice of FGM by medical professionals. UNFPA hosted an internal high-level meeting on sex selection in October 2008 in New York, to initiate the development of the Fund’s strategy on this issue. Hide

In April 2008, UNAIDS presented “Gender Guidance for National AIDS Responses” to its Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), on strategies to strengthen attention to gender issues within national AIDS programmes, including combating violence against women in the context of AIDS.UNAIDS, together with WHO, completed technical and policy guidance to support the integration of gender issues into national proposals to the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) for Round 8, with emphasis on better integrating programmes aimed at combating violence against women with AIDS services. Hide

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, in partnership with national counterparts, ministries, civil society and UN sister agencies, provided support for the development of national strategies and plans in Albania, Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Kazakhstan and Slovakia.Under the UNIFEM-supported Safe Cities Programme in the Southern Cone of Latin America, a protocol is under development to guide the Urban Municipal Guard in Rosario, Argentina, in responding to gender-based violence, which is stimulating policy reforms in Santa Clara, Chile, and lessons are being shared with local authorities in Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. Hide

UNICEF facilitates the establishment of partnerships with governments and non-governmental organizations, and places emphasis on the development of national action plans on gender-based violence. Hide

UNFPA is working in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders to address gender-based violence, including policy reforms. Hide