Jesmin Aktar lives in a village of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. She regularly attends UN Women's "Shanti Khana" [Multi-Purpose Women's Centre – MPWC] learning sessions and is dedicated to improving her life by pursuing a challenging job and contributing to society.

In the past 18 months, by trapping women with their abusers, COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have worsened the already-widespread violence against women while preventing many of them from getting help. But even those who do manage to contact the police come up against another long-standing challenge: a culture and system that treats the survivor as a big part of the problem.

UN Women Representative and United Nations Resident Coordinator a.i., Elzira Sagynbaeva, and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative a.i, Akiko Fujii have arrived in Nauru today for an official visit to Government Officials and to re-establish the UN Joint Presence office. The Joint Presence office focuses on assisting the UN to strengthen collaboration and to better respond to needs identified at country level by working with key Government and Non-Government partners.

Joint Press Release: Ministry of Social Welfare, Women & Poverty Alleviation, UN Women, the Indian High Commission and Barefoot College.