Violence Against Women – UN Workshop on VAW Study, Policy, Response
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: February 19, 2006
Violence against
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WORKSHOP REPORT
Workshop for entities of
the United Nations system
Organized
by
United Nations Division for
the Advancement of Women
Department of Economic and
Social Affairs
United
Nations Headquarters
New York, New York
5-7 December
2005
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
I.
Background
II.
Summary of presentations and discussion
III. Conclusions
and recommendations
a. Legal and policy frameworks that guide
United Nations system efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against
women
b. Data collection and research on violence
against women
c.
Awareness raising,
communication, and dissemination of good practices
d. Coordinated responses at the national
level
e. Resource
mobilization
f.
Coordination mechanisms at
the international level
***
Annexes
Annex I
Concept note
Annex II
Programme of work
Annex III List
of participants
I.
BACKGROUND
In December 2003, the General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted a resolution (A/RES/58/185) requesting the Secretary-General to
conduct an in-depth study on all forms and manifestations of violence against
women. The Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (the “Division”) is responsible for the preparation of this
study which will be presented to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session
in the fall of 2006.
The General Assembly requested that the study be prepared
in close collaboration with all relevant United Nations bodies. Throughout the process, entities of the
United Nations system have been actively involved: some 25 entities participate
in the task force established by the Division for the Advancement of Women, and
several entities joined the Division in convening two expert group meetings
earlier this year. United Nations
entities have also provided feedback and comments, as well as studies, research
and other findings as inputs for the study.
Preparation of the study is an opportunity to explore how
the entities of the United Nations system can strengthen their response to
violence against women as a human rights violation and an obstacle to the
achievement of gender equality and other goals in the areas of peace and
development, and to ensure systematic attention by all entities to the many
different forms and manifestations of violence against women from a policy and
operational perspective. It is also
an opportunity to prepare the groundwork for effective follow-up, by the United
Nations system, to the recommendations that will emanate from the
Secretary-General’s study on violence against women.
The Division convened a workshop for entities of the
United Nations system, from 5 to 7 December 2005, at United Nations Headquarters
in New York. The workshop aimed to assess the current status of United Nations
system work on violence against women and to identify gaps and inconsistencies
in the policy and operational response of the United Nations system to violence
against women and areas of potential overlap. It also intended to address the question
of resources that are currently available for activities to combat violence
against women.
The workshop sought to reach agreement on a more
comprehensive and well-coordinated system-wide response to violence against
women, including mechanisms for enhanced collaboration and coordination. To that end, it sought to reach
agreement on:
a.
areas requiring more attention, and steps to provide the required
attention;
b.
opportunities for enhancing synergies in the work on violence against
women across the United Nations system;
c.
measures to enhance the resource base for work on violence against women;
and
d.
mechanisms for better collaboration, coordination and information
exchange.
The meeting was chaired by Ms. Rachel Mayanja, Special
Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and
Chairperson of the Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality
(IANWGE). The concept note and
programme of work is attached as annex I, and the list of participants is
attached as annex II to this report.
II.
SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION
The workshop was comprised of presentations in plenary
followed by comments and discussion.
Points of agreement and concrete recommendations were prepared in a
working group. Presentations and
discussions focused on content issues, where entities’ policy and normative
frameworks, as well as operational activities were highlighted. The workshop also discussed coordination
issues, and ways in which such coordination and collaboration could be
enhanced. The following provides a
brief synopsis of major points raised.
In preparation for the workshop, the Division for the
Advancement of Women compiled an inventory of United Nations system activities
on violence against women which was available to the meeting in draft form. The inventory, prepared on the basis of
responses to a questionnaire, provides information about each entity’s mandate
and policy framework that guides its work on violence against women; areas of
focus; and major activities (policy development and research; awareness raising
and advocacy; and operational activities including capacity building and
training). The final version of the inventory is intended to strengthen the
information base within the United Nations system on this critical
issue.
Participants noted the role, in their own work on
violence against women, of several international and regional human rights
instruments, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and
Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Bélem do Pará); of global
and regional policy instruments and resolutions by intergovernmental bodies as
well as guidance by expert bodies. These include : the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women (General Assembly resolution 48/104), the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, General Assembly resolution 52/86
containing model strategies and practical measures on the elimination of
violence against women in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice,
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, and
General Recommendation 19 on violence against women of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women. They also include policies and
guidelines that are specific to an agency, such as the WHO resolution 96 on
violence against women as a public health issue, and the HABITAT women safety
audit.
Participants identified continuing gaps and challenges in
the knowledge base concerning violence against women, especially in regard to
data collection on all forms and manifestations of violence against women, and
in regard to impact assessments.
Comparable statistics remained inadequate, although efforts such as the
WHO Multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women
contributed significantly to enhancing the knowledge base. Collection methods likewise needed to be
improved, and capacity of national statistical offices to collect such data
strengthened. There was also a need
for stronger support and funding for research, including on the linkages between
violence against women and other threats to women’s human rights.
Participants highlighted their major areas of activities
at global, regional and national level, including support for legislative and
policy development, support for victims, and advocacy and capacity building
efforts. They pointed to work on sexual exploitation and abuse in emergency and
humanitarian settings; the role of men and boys; trafficking in women; violence
against women in the workplace; domestic violence; the links between violence
against women and HIV/AIDS; the public health and criminal justice aspects of
violence against women; violence against girls; support for human rights treaty
bodies and special procedures; and data collection and indicator
development.
III. CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Participants agreed to take a series of steps so as to
achieve a more comprehensive and well-coordinated system-wide response to
violence against women. These steps will be taken in regard to the legal and
policy frameworks that guide United Nations system efforts to prevent and
eliminate violence against women; data collection and research; awareness-
raising, communication and dissemination of good practices; coordinated response
at the national level; resource mobilization; and coordination mechanisms at the
international level. Conclusions and steps to be taken in regard to each of
these areas are summarized below.
a.
Legal and policy frameworks
that guide United Nations system efforts to prevent and eliminate violence
against women
Participants confirmed that the work of the entities of
the United Nations system on violence against women is based on the existing
comprehensive legal and policy framework.
This framework clarifies that violence against women and girls is a human
rights concern and requires a response within that context. In addition, specific policies are in
place in many entities to address violence against women in relation to their
respective mandates. Relevant
entities are also guided by the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on sexual
exploitation and abuse.[1]
The multi-dimensional nature of violence against women and its
developmental implications requires a cross-cutting and systematic approach,
within a human rights-based approach to programming.
At the same time, the discussion revealed that in some instances, the
absence of agency-specific policies perpetuates weak institutional commitment
to, and support for, work on violence against women. Lack of understanding of
the relevance of violence against women to the specific mandate of an entity, or
an unclear policy, makes it more difficult to integrate efforts to combat
violence against women into sectoral work.
In response to
this assessment, participants agreed to take the following
steps:
ü
Undertake entity-specific mapping
exercises to assess gaps in policies and related inadequate attention to
violence against women in programmes and activities;
ü
Strengthen awareness of the
intersection of violence against women and sectoral areas, such as for example
between violence against women and HIV/AIDS, development or food security;
ü
Strengthen entity-specific
implementation of policies, and enhance accountability, monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms;
ü
Establish, or strengthen mechanisms –
within entities – to enhance cooperation on violence against women between
gender focal points and sector-specific staff.
b.
Data collection and research
on violence against women
Participants noted the significant increase in available
data and statistics on violence against women, as well as significant remaining
gaps. Several entities are either
directly involved in, or provide support to data collection efforts at the
national level. Tools, such as the WHO instrument on ethical and safety
guidelines for researching domestic violence against women, are also
increasingly becoming available.
Participants noted that insufficient information exists
about the effectiveness of measures to reduce/combat violence against women in
general, including those supported and funded by entities of the United Nations
system. While a number of efforts have been undertaken to assess the costs of
violence against women, little has been done to cost, for example, the
implementation of comprehensive national action plans.
In response to
this assessment, participants agreed to take the following
steps:
ü
Conduct mapping exercises, at
regional/national level, of existing data and data collection efforts, with the
involvement of national machineries for the advancement of women and national
statistical offices;
ü
Make greater use of existing data and
support standardization of data collection efforts, including through the use of
existing collection instruments and tools;
ü
Involve, or consult those with the
requisite expertise within the United Nations system when embarking on any kind
of data collection activities on violence against women, and ensure women’s
safety in data collection efforts;
ü
Document good practice in data
collection, and disseminate these within the United Nations system;
ü
Exercise quality control over
research for which funding is provided;
ü
Support operations research to
strengthen the evidence base on violence against women;
ü
Support or develop methodologies to
undertake impact assessments, including indicators, and conduct impact
assessments of programmes and projects that are supported by the United Nations
system;
ü
Support costing exercises of
comprehensive strategies to combat violence against women.
c.
Awareness raising,
communication, and dissemination of good practices
Participants noted the work done within the United
Nations system to compile and share promising practices in
preventing/eliminating violence against women. Opportunities existed to replicate or
scale up such projects in other settings.
However, participants noted a need to improve communication and feedback
within and between entities, regional commissions, country teams and
headquarters to strengthen knowledge about such opportunities. In addition, the United Nations system’s
advocacy/bridge-building role at national level offered entry points to advocate
for concerted national action to tackle violence against women.
In response to
this assessment, participants agreed to take the following
steps:
ü
Identify and support “drivers” to
lead national-level efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women,
such as civic, community or political leaders;
ü
Strengthen partnerships and
stakeholder coalitions at various levels, including the regional and local
levels, especially those that already exist outside the United Nations
system;
ü
Encourage the inclusion of advocacy
activities in national strategies/action plans to eliminate violence against
women;
ü
Document and share information about
activities implemented individually or collectively by the United Nations, and
highlight in particular multi-sectoral approaches to preventing and responding
to violence against women;
ü
Encourage United Nations country
teams and theme groups to place priority on efforts to prevent and eliminate
violence against women, and provide support to such activities.
d.
Coordinated responses at the
national level
Participants stressed that the United Nations system is
in a unique position to promote, support and advocate for national level action
to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. To that end, existing mechanisms and
processes can be used more effectively, such as reporting processes under
international human rights instruments, those concerning the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), and poverty reduction strategies (PRSs).
Participants discussed opportunities for increasing the
impact of their work on violence against women at the national level. Relevant efforts should aim at enhancing
action by national and local partners, as well as strengthening coordination and
collaboration among United Nations entities, in particular the United Nations
country team.
In response to
this assessment, participants agreed to take the following steps to support
action by national and local partners:
ü
Advocate for enhanced national
implementation of global commitments to eliminate violence against women and
girls;
ü
Advocate for the use of international
and regional human rights instruments on the prevention and elimination of
violence against women and girls;
ü
Support, encourage and initiate,
where possible, policy dialogue about violence against women at national and
local level that includes ‘conventional’ and ‘non-conventional’ interlocutors,
such as national machineries for the advancement of women, finance ministries,
national statistical offices, local governments and other entities;
ü
Support national and local efforts,
such as preparation and implementation of national action plans and other
instruments and initiatives, to combat violence against women, and provide
funding for such efforts;
ü
Advocate for inclusion of a focus on
violence against women in national development strategies;
ü
Use National Development Forums,
where they exist, to lobby for attention to violence against women in national
planning tools;
ü
Advocate for inclusion of measures to
prevent and eliminate violence against women in conflict prevention and
peace-building strategies and programmes, and in responses to humanitarian
crises;
ü
Advocate and support the use of
planning, programming and reporting tools to tackle violence against women,
including reporting/follow-up processes under international human rights
instruments, national Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reports, poverty
reduction strategy papers (PRSPs), and United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) outcomes;
ü
Support capacity-building of all
stakeholders at the national and local/municipal level to address violence
against women – these should include law enforcement, judiciary, media, civil
society, workers and employers organizations, national statistical offices, and
national human rights institutions;
ü
Support partnerships,
multi-stakeholder participation as well as coalition building at national and
local level to prevent and eliminate violence against women, including resource
mobilization for programmes and activities.
Participants
also agreed to take the following steps to strengthen coordination and
collaboration among United Nations entities, in particular the United Nations
country team:
ü
Jointly plan and implement
capacity-building efforts for United Nations country teams on violence against
women;
ü
Advocate for a leadership role of
United Nations Resident Coordinators, and Special Representatives of the
Secretary-General where applicable, in calling for action to prevent and
eliminate violence against women;
ü
Enhance links, feedback and
communication between United Nations entities, and in particular between the
national, regional and global levels, when working on violence against women;
ü
Support and encourage joint
programming at country level on violence against women, and improve
country-level coordination;
ü
Make better use of ‘Action 2’ and
integrate measures to combat violence against women in human rights-related
programming.
Participants agreed to discuss further the proposal of
piloting in some countries a coordinated system-wide approach to violence
against women, including selection of potential pilot country/ies, time line,
participating entities, and other aspects.
This discussion is anticipated to take place at the time of the annual
meeting of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (February
2006).
e.
Resource
mobilization
Participants noted that efforts to prevent and eliminate
violence against women remain significantly under-resourced at all levels,
notwithstanding existing massive demand and absorption capacity. They acknowledged donors’ reluctance to
provide resources in the absence of impact assessments of past efforts, but
noted that funding was also required to implement such assessments.
Participants underlined that fundraising strategies must
take into account donor reluctance/fatigue to support fragmented, apparently
duplicative or overlapping proposals from United Nations entities.
Participants noted the difficulties for obtaining
resources to implement violence prevention work. They highlighted the need to tap
‘mainstream’ resources for activities aimed at preventing/eliminating violence
against women, including by incorporating measures on violence against women
into the PRSPs. Opportunities to expand such ‘mainstream’ funding existed both
at global and national level. At
the same time, resources needed to be secured for the Trust Fund to eliminate
violence against women, as a fund specifically devoted to combating violence
against women, as well as activities of other entities on violence against
women.
In response to
this assessment, participants agreed to take the following
steps:
ü
Advocate for increased resources for
the United Nations Trust Fund for violence against women;
ü
Seek out, and utilize, mainstream
funding mechanisms at national level, such as PRSPs;
ü
Encourage relevant stakeholders to
tap into other trust funds at the global level, for example those in the field
of human rights;
ü
Enhance awareness of the
inter-sections between violence against women and other areas such as HIV/AIDS,
or emergency situations, so as to increase potential
ü
Consider up-scaling projects
initially funded by the United Nations Trust Fund for violence against
women;
ü
Seek funding for impact assessments
of projects supported by the United Nations.
f.
Coordination mechanisms at
the international level
Participants confirmed their commitment to make better
use of existing coordination mechanisms to strengthen collaboration on violence
against women. They proposed that
the next session of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality
(IANWGE) consider the establishment of a Task Force on violence against women so
as to carry forward the work commenced at the workshop.
Participants also agreed to take steps to enhance
inter-action with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, as well as
with other special procedures where there is a strong link to violence against
women. Stronger interface with
regional mechanisms such as the African Union (AU), the Organization of American
States (OAS) and the Council of Europe will also be further explored.
Participants
agreed to continue to refine several issues for discussion and possible action
by the IANWGE at its next session, in regard to violence against women. These
include :
ü
Modalities for better interaction of
the IANWGE with UNDG;
ü
Involvement of the high-level
committee for programmes (HLCP) and the Chief Executives Board for Coordination
(CEB);
ü
Modalities for piloting the
coordinated system-wide approach in identified countries;
ü
Follow-up to the Secretary-General’s
study on violence against women.
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