Outcome Statement: Regional Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Services Symposium

Outcome Statement Regional EVAWG Services Symposium 2022

Author(s)/editor(s)

UN Women and the Pacific Community

Approximately 150 government and civil society delegates from 12 countries gathered in Nadi, Fiji, from 17 to 19 August 2022 at the Regional Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) Services Symposium to discuss best practices in survivor centered approaches to advance the delivery of life-saving services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The Symposium was convened ahead of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Regional Working Group on the Implementation of Domestic Violence / Family Protection Legislation (RWG). It served to highlight key progress made across the region to date in support of advancing national systems that respond to GBV, including standards for GBV counselling and innovative models for EVAWG coordination.

The purpose of this Recommendations and Outcomes Document is to summarise key lessons learned from diverse countries in the region on accelerating commitments to support national GBV response systems and feed outcomes into other key regional fora and processes, including, but not limited to, the:

Regional Working Group on the Implementation of Domestic Violence /Family Protection Legislation
Triennial Conference of Pacific Women
Revised Pacific Islands Leaders Gender Equality Declaration
National and regional policymaking and systems development and response on EVAWG and GBV in Emergencies

After the Symposium concluded, the recommendations were presented at the RWG on the Implementation of Domestic Violence / Family Protection Legislation convened from 22 to 26 August 2022 in Nadi, Fiji. The RWG deliberated on the recommendations and their conclusions will be outlined in the 2022 RWG Outcomes Document (forthcoming).

The Symposium was supported by the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Pacific Partnership) and the RWG on the Implementation of Domestic Violence/Family Protection Legislation. The Pacific Partnership is funded primarily by the European Union, and the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and UN Women, and is led by the Pacific Community (SPC), UN Women and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. SPC is the Secretariat of the RWG and is supported by the Government of Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden.