Measures

DPI worked to promote the Secretary-General's Campaign, focusing on raising awareness of violence against women globally; mobilizing public opinion to urge decision-makers to implement or change policies, in order to end violence against women; and generating awareness about the role of the United Nations in efforts to end violence against women. DPI’s network of UN Information Centres (UNICs) actively participated in promoting the Campaign at the national and regional levels, including through work with governments, students and civil society. UNICs organized media workshops, panel discussions, performances, photography and art exhibits, as well as film screenings. DPI also worked to further develop a visual identity for the campaign, as well as a campaign slogan and poster, a campaign ideas brochure, and a brochure setting out the campaign’s Framework for Action. The campaign website was updated on a regular basis in the six official UN languages.A segment on domestic violence, entitled Austria: Showing the Red Card, was completed for the “21st Century” television series, and new radio programmes on ending violence against women and promoting gender equality were produced. Hide

UNECE participated in the "International Conference on a Joint Approach to Family Violence: legislation, indicators, enforcement" organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, European Commission, Soros Foundation, UNECE, World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Center for Research of Democratic Processes. UNECE provided a presentation on international initiatives to develop indicators on violence against women. Hide

UNECE conducted a workshop on measuring violence against women for users and producers of statistics in the Kyrgyz Republic. The workshop included participants from the national statistical system, crisis centres and gender machineries. Hide

Implementation of the project "Enhancing capacities to eradicate violence against women" was commenced, being coordinated by ECLAC in collaboration with the other four regional commissions, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women and the UN Statistics Division, as observers. A meeting was held in May, in Geneva, in order to coordinate the main activities of the project. The objective of the project is to strengthen national and regional capacity to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women, through enhanced statistical data and indicators on violence against women, as well as to create or reinforce knowledge-sharing networks at the regional and interregional levels. The project recognizes the importance of collaboration, participatory action and the sharing of good practices, including the need for Regional Commissions to promote active participation of national machineries for the advancement of women as well as national statistical institutions and civil society. Hide

ECLAC contributed to the proposal on indicators on violence against women which was put forward in the report of the Friends of the Chair to the United Nations Statistical Commission and adopted as an interim set of indicators at the Commission’s 40th session. Hide

Work continued on the Gender Observatory, coordinated by ECLAC in collaboration with INSTRAW, PAHO, UNDP, UNIFEM and UNFPA together with the technical assistance of the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation (AECID) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Hide

Technical cooperation was carried out by ECLAC with the Ministry of Health in Chile to elaborate a new clinical guide for health services’ attention to adult victims of domestic violence. Hide

ESCAP issued a publication on commercial sexual exploitation in the Pacific region, entitled “Pacific Perspectives on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children and Youth”, providing an analysis of the cultural, political, economic and social aspects of the commercial sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, as well as its root causes and consequences in the Pacific. Hide

The IASC Gender Sub-Working Group (SWG) on Gender and Humanitarian Action, in collaboration with InterAction, developed an e-learning course for humanitarian workers to teach them how to develop programming that ensures that the needs and capacities of women, girls, boys and men are met in humanitarian situations. This course draws on important IASC handbooks, including:- Women, Girls, Boys and Men, Different Needs – Equal Opportunities- Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings Hide

OIOS recently commenced a thematic evaluation of the start-up phase of the Secretary-General’s Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”. The evaluation will also consider the broader framework in which the campaign is carried out, namely the UN’s work on gender mainstreaming and gender equality. The regional (ECLAC) working group for the Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign, in addition to UNIFEM, UNFPA and ECLAC, expanded to include the Interamerican Commission for Women (ICW), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), ILO, OHCHR, PAHO, UNAIDS, UNDP and WFP.As part of a review of the implementation of the mandate of OHCHR, OIOS surveyed 1,200 Colombians from different regions and socio-economic groups. Two thirds of all respondents indicated respect for human rights, as the most important issue to them, on a list that also included economic development, environmental protection and international relations. Women reported significantly higher levels of interest in human rights and significantly lower levels of knowledge concerning human rights mechanisms in Colombia than did men (A/64/203, Box, Knowledge of human rights among the population of Colombia, pp. 9-10). Seventy two per cent of respondents felt violence and civil unrest were definitely human rights issues. Staff of the OHCHR and its partners, from a wide range of stakeholders, were also interviewed, indicating that the OHCHR had contributed to increased protection of potential victims, reduction of human rights violations and more measures to improve access to human rights by marginalized and discriminated groups, including women.OIOS is providing support to the building of capacity and specialized skills for investigating SEA, including advanced training techniques involving victims of sex crimes. OIOS issues reports that request confirmation of follow-up by Member States contributing troops for peacekeeping operations, in order to ensure that allegations of SEA are not treated with impunity. Hide