Measures

The OHCHR office in Brussels, together with the UN Country Team, actively participated in the elaboration and adoption of the European Union (EU) Directive on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting Its Victims. A commentary on implementing the Directive has been developed and submitted to the EU. This Commentary is aimed at assisting EU countries in interpreting the Directives in a more human rights-based approach. UNICEF also contributed to the Joint UN Commentary on EU Directive.OHCHR continued to promote the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking through the organization of regional launchings of the Commentary of the Recommended Principles and Guidelines published at the beginning of 2011 with capacity building activities in Moldova (November 2011) and in the United Arab Emirates (December 2011). The Commentary is an in-depth analysis of the legal and policy frameworks on trafficking.The Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice of the Human Rights Council was appointed in March 2011 and assumed its functions on 1 May 2011. During the reporting period, the Working Group held two sessions in Geneva, decided its working methods and thematic priorities. These relate to women’s right to equality in participating in public and political life including at times of political transitions (2012) and women’s right to equality in participating in economic and social life including at times of economic crisis (2013).More information can be found at:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/WGWomenIndex.aspx Hide

OHCHR submitted two reports to the Human Rights Council’s 17th session (June 2011), respectively on the expert workshop on challenges, good practices and opportunities in the elimination of all forms of violence against women (A/HRC/17/22), and a Compilation of good practices in efforts aimed at preventing violence against women (A/HRC/17/23).OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences in developing and presenting a thematic report on multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination (A/HRC/17/26) which proposes a holistic approach to addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that contribute to and exacerbate violence against women. The Special Rapporteur also submitted her reports to the Human Rights Council on missions undertaken to El Salvador, Algeria, Zambia and the United States. OHCHR further supported the Special Rapporteur in convening a side event on regional standards and violence against women during the seventeenth session of the Human Rights Council in June 2011. The objective of this event, which brought together representatives of regional human rights mechanisms from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Inter-American region, was to analyse the different provisions on violence against women elaborated in the regional human rights instruments and relevant jurisprudence developed by the regional mechanisms. Hide

In Latin America, UNODC Regional Office for Brazil and the Southern Cone developed a project for the strengthening of public and civil society institutions to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The project seeks to improve the countries' capacity to offer support to gender-based violence victims and to develop a regional knowledge/expertise on this problem and to architect a good practices network, gathering players from the community, civil society and governmental institutions. Hide

In May 2011, UNODC Viet Nam, in cooperation with relevant national authorities, published a survey report on law enforcement practices and legal support available to victims of domestic violence. It presents information on what kind of action the police undertook when an incident of domestic violence was reported, how they treated the victims and what the result of the police intervention was. It is expected that the findings of the surveys will play a crucial role in determining existing gaps in Viet Nam’s response to domestic violence and plan future activities and initiatives to address those gaps. Hide

During the period March 2011 to June 2011, the UNODC Regional Office for Southern Africa organized, together with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat and the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (SARPCCO), a 5-day national training workshop, like in November 2010, on the development of effective law enforcement responses to violence against women for law enforcement officials in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe during which a total of 138 law enforcement officers were trained. Furthermore, the Office developed and published contextualized national pocket book versions of the “UNODC Handbook for Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women” and its accompanying “Training Curriculum on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women” for each of the above countries. Hide

In November 2011, UNODC in cooperation with UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP and relevant national authorities, organized a joint conference on the role and responsibilities of the State to respond to domestic violence against women in Viet Nam. About 90 officials attended the conference, both from national and local level representing five different Ministries as well as civil society. Hide

WHO also, with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has been calculating global and regional prevalence estimates of intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, and childhood sexual abuse for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Final prevalence estimates will be released in 2012. Likewise, systematic reviews have been completed on the associations between violence against women and a range of health effects related to mental health, sexual and reproductive health, injuries and death to be included as risk factors in the Global Burden of Disease Study. These estimates will provide sound evidence of the global health burden of violence against women. Hide

WHO supported Mahidol University in Thailand to develop and implement a regional adaptation of a one-week training course based on the manual “Researching violence against women-A practical guide for researchers and activists”. The course addresses the conduct of quantitative and qualitative research and the use of research findings for advocacy and programme development. Hide

WHO is developing an information pack summarizing the evidence for different forms of violence (e.g. intimate partner violence, sexual violence, trafficking, female genital mutilation). Hide

The international partnership "Together for Girls", to which WHO is a member, conducts national surveys to document sexual violence in a number of countries, promotes evidence-based programming to address sexual violence and has developed a strategy to increase global advocacy and public awareness. WHO contributes through technical guidance on survey development and implementation and capacity building as a follow-up of the surveys. Two research papers were published in 2011 from the WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence database, one showing the increased risk of suicide attempts among women who experienced intimate partner violence, and the other showing the risk factors for intimate partner violence across 15 sites. The WHO multi-country study database continues to be analyzed, providing evidence of the risk factors and health effects of violence against women. Hide