Gender-based violence Rapid Response Teams in 17 communities, led by local police, and consisting of a Women’s Union Officer and a Justice Officer, Youth Union Officer or Community Leader, deliver timely and coordinated responses and protection for women and girls experiencing violence in their communities.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA) held a high-level public event today to mark the launch of the national consultations across Fiji to produce a whole-of-government and whole-of-community, evidence-based, measurable, inclusive and funded five-year National Action Plan (2021-2026).

For the first time ever, prevalence data is available on men’s use of violence, alongside women’s experience of violence in Kiribati. This data and its key findings are from the ‘South Tarawa Healthy Living Study: An Impact Evaluation of the Strengthening Peaceful Villages (SPV) Violence Prevention Intervention in Kiribati’ which collected data related to community attitudes and behaviours on violence against women and girls in South Tarawa.

UN Women offices around the world have partnered with tech giants like Google, Twitter and Facebook to provide important information about helpline services for domestic violence survivors.

One of the most striking impacts of COVID-19 has been the increased reporting of violence against women in many countries.

Gender-based violence crisis centres from six countries in the Pacific have faced not only the COVID-19 crisis, but also in some countries, the dual impact of a tropical cyclone. UN Women’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls programme works in close collaboration with government, civil society organisations, communities and other partners to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls, and increase access to quality response services for survivors, especially during emergencies.

A cross-agency training on gender in communications brought together UN staff from 13 agencies in Nepal last month. The two-day session provided the 25 participants with a range of tools and skills to develop gender-responsive communication materials in their respective lines of work. “There is a need for devising coherent communications plans and strategies that position the United Nations as the torchbearer of incorporating gender in communications,” said Valerie Julliand, UN Resident Coordinator.

Victims of domestic violence and other sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) require specially trained counsellors and support services to recover from the violence.

An unexpected visit sparked a glimmer of hope during a dark time in Arihi’s life. She is now an empowered survivor of domestic violence who now knows her rights and how to access financial and legal services.

Women and girls who are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence are benefitting from improved access to timely, coordinated and survivor-centred services from government and civil society agencies in Solomon Islands.

Mina Shrestha, 30, was visiting her parents some 90 kilometres from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on 25 April 2015. She hadn’t seen them in a few months, so she left her two sons with her husband at home in Dharmasthali, a small town on the outskirts of Kathmandu. When the earthquake struck, she immediately tried to contact her husband but the phones were jammed. Unable to reach her family, she tried to leave early the next morning, but the roads were blocked. It took her two days to get out...

In the wake of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on 25 April, which according to Government reports has caused more than 5,000 deaths and left more than 10,000 people injured, a flash appeal was issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator and partners.

The workshop that brought together over 40 participants including key policy makers and gender experts from the Government aimed to review challenges and achievements in advancing gender equality in Viet Nam in the past two decades. It was part of a sustained effort by the Government and key stakeholders to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) in preparation of the 20th Anniversary of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, to be globally celebrated next year.

Sharing the voices of Indian women, a new UN Women report details work towards meeting MDG targets and sheds light on the issue of female infanticide, son preference and violence against women.

New self-help groups are aiming to start their own income-generating activities, and hopefully, diverse businesses that could provide some financial relief to survivors of domestic violence, widows, single mothers and other community members.

With locally produced goods set up throughout the community centre, self-help group members in Timor-Leste were in high spirits, and enjoyed showing local leaders the proof of their labor.

Nearly 2000 calls have been received in the first five months of the Samoa Victim Support Group’s 24-Hour Help Line Service

Papua New Guineans – near and far – donned orange on Friday to demonstrate support for safe public spaces and the elimination of violence for the global United Nations campaign ‘Orange Day’.

As many as three in four women have experienced physical or sexual violence in the Pacific Island nation of Tonga, according to a National Study on Domestic Violence against Women in Tonga released in 2012. Yet until now, there was no law to criminalize domestic violence or establish prompt police safety and protection orders or prevention measures.

It has been over six years since India passed its historic legislation, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005. The PWDVA is a progressive, rights based piece of legislation. It is India’s key law to prevent and punish incidences of domestic violence.