UN Women in Sri Lanka supports the development of national policies and standards, as well as Sri Lanka’s commitments to monitor and report against these international standards, towards sustained global progress.

This brief summarizes the key gender equality issues and key commitments in Kiribati. Thematic areas covered in the brief include Women’s Human Rights, Women’s Representation and Leadership, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Education, Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health, Ending Violence against Women and Girls, and Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action.

The provision, coordination and governance of essential, multisector health, police, justice, and social services can significantly mitigate the consequences that violence has on the well-being, health and safety of women and girls’ lives, assist in the recovery and empowerment of women, and stop violence from reoccurring.

These documents highlight key accomplishments supported by the Pacific Partnership in Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Tonga.

This report presents the findings, lessons, conclusions, and recommendations of the Independent External Midterm Evaluation of the Pacific Partnership implemented between November 2020 and April 2021 by hera and Aid Works under the governance of an Evaluation Reference Group that included representatives of donors, partners and implementing civil society organisations (CSOs).

This publication showcases the results of Rapid Gender Assessment surveys (RGAs) on the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in seven countries in Asia and the Pacific. For some of these countries, this is the second round of RGAs and thus these findings may follow up those of “Unlocking the Lockdown”. The report is meant to be a statistical snapshot that could inform responses to the crisis but is not meant to provide policy recommendations or analyze the policy context in each country.

UN Women and UNDP have piloted a training programme on Non-Violent Communication – a method which has found success in international mediation and conflict resolution settings – in Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The project was generously supported by the Government of Australia and the European Union. This brief provides an overview of the approaches used in the pilot project and presents results from the evaluations of the trainings.

This study addressed this gap in the literature by analysing primary and secondary data from private, formal enterprises in the manufacturing, trade, and service sectors to understand the attributes of firms that influence the demand for women workers.

These statistics set the tone for a series of conversations jointly hosted by UN Women and the French Embassy in Sri Lanka, in the broader context of COVID-19 and the parallel worsening of gender equality. In the course of the six discussions – each based on the thematic focus areas of the Generation Equality Forum – experts and activists repeatedly highlighted three underlying problems in relation to gender equality and women’s rights in Sri Lanka.

The Pacific region has some of the highest rates of violence against women recorded in the world – twice the global average with an estimated two in every three Pacific women impacted by gender-based violence.

This evidence brief summarises the key findings from the South Tarawa Healthy Living Study: An Impact Evaluation of the Strengthening Peaceful Villages (SPV) Violence Prevention Intervention in Kiribati, which was carried out in early 2019, and aims to make the research findings freely available and accessible to audiences beyond the programme.

Violent extremism has emerged as one of the leading challenges to the realization of sustainable peace globally. Across South and South-East Asia, violent extremism poses a direct threat to inclusive development by fuelling intolerance, forcibly displacing communities, exacerbating cycles of insecurity and armed conflict, exploiting existing inequalities, and obstructing the enjoyment of human rights and the rule of law. Underpinning this violence are gender stereotypes that are used to radicalize and recruit men and women, as well as girls and boys, to violent extremist groups.

This document aims to inform Sri Lanka’s national policy on the protection of rights of women migrant domestic workers. Guided by normative commitments and international standards on gender equality and migrant labour rights, the document captures the concerns of a diverse set of stakeholders, including government officials, civil society representatives, and the most marginalized women migrant domestic workers.

This publication has been produced by the Kiribati Police Service (KPS), Government of Kiribati in partnership with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and with technical support from the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO).

The study is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka to use a gender budgeting framework to examine government plan, policies and budgets and its impact on women with disabilities. In this study, 400 persons with disabilities covering 4 districts were surveyed on difficulties faced in entering and remaining in the labour force. Evidence shows that they encounter multiple barriers in access to economic opportunities and women with disabilities are twice as disadvantaged...

Gender equality lies at the core of human rights and is the bedrock from which sustainable development can be achieved. Women and girls represent 50 per cent of the world’s population, yet are often excluded from the political arena, and shut out of decision-making that directly affects their lives. Increasing women’s political participation and leadership are vital mechanisms that support women to realize their human rights. Increasing women’s participation...

Pressure has been building on addressing the needs of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) survivors in Sri Lanka, but political will is needed to deal with CRSV in a cohesive manner. The proliferation of National Action Plans and policies does not ensure their implementation. Resources need to be allocated for the specific needs of CRSV survivors to be addressed. Cases of CRSV must be documented in a more systematic manner, maintaining the confidentiality of the survivor, so that...

Increasing women’s participation in leadership and decision-making is not only critical for achieving gender equality, it is also essential for general economic and social development. Studies have found that longer exposure to women’s political representation increases women’s overall labour force participation, the share of public employment opportunities allocated to women and women’s increased access to public goods such as roads and health services. The Pacific...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Ending Violence against Women and Girls programme delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Covering 14 Pacific countries and territories, the programme supports Pacific-led activities to improve the policy environment on ending violence against women and girls as well as to meet the immediate needs, at a community level, of women who are experiencing violence. It supports Pacific organisations in delivering services that meet survivors’ needs, as well as...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Increasing Community Resilience through the Advancement of Women to Address Climate Change and Natural Hazards (IREACH) programme delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Covering 14 Pacific countries and territories, the programme is designed to ensure that Pacific women become full, equal partners in, and beneficiaries of, all disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, as well as overall sustainable development.