“His verbal attacks were merciless,” says Gemila, a 28-year-old Syrian refugee, about her husband. UNFPA Turkey is running safe spaces funded by the European Commission - Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Operations - ECHO to help survivors of gender-based violence like Gemila.
UN Women Deputy Executive Director Asa Regnér wrapped up a two-day trip to Panama, visiting a Government-sponsored safe space for survivors of gender-base violence. UN Women's work on femicide It took Irinea Buendía six years to get justice for her daughter's murder, but her pursuit of justice led to a historic precedent in prosecuting femicide in Mexico.
When she was 15, Halima Yakoy Adam was forced to become a suicide bomber. Now, she is a paralegal dedicated to educating her community about all forms of violence against women.
On a day celebrating the Philippine’s freedom from colonial rule, 65 high school students painted pictures on roads by Quezon City Hall to call for another kind of freedom—for women and girls to go about public spaces without fear of sexual harassment. In bright, bold colors, the student artists painted the roads from the entrance to the main building of Quezon City Hall with words and images depicting the problem of harassment and calls for everyone to help build safe public spaces. “Stop Violence against Women,” was among the painted appeals.
Started in 2017, the Hayat Business Incubator (Food Incubator) initiative in Gaza, Palestine is piloting a comprehensive model for addressing violence against women by providing women survivors with skills training, income-generating opportunities, and essential services such as psychosocial support and social workers who assist them in accessing legal aid.
Around South Sudan, UNFPA supports programmes to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, including training social workers and health staff to sensitively and professionally meet the needs of violence survivors. At one facility, the Family Protection Centre, located in the Juba Teaching Hospital, these and other services are integrated together under one roof, helping to ensure survivors receive the full range of care available, including clinical treatment for rape, psychological first aid, counselling, legal support and other services.
Addressing a leading forum on development in Brussels, known as European Development Days, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that the joint Spotlight Initiative was a key element for making Goal 5 on women's empowerment, of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a reality.
The case of Noura Hussein Hammad Daoud, a Sudanese teenager convicted of fatally stabbing the man she was forced to marry, after he had allegedly raped her, highlights the country's failure to tackle the tragedy of early and forced marriage, marital rape and other discrimination and violence against women and girls, the United Nations human rights office said.
In Ecuador, ACDemocracia, a grantee of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, is working to address gaps in service delivery and to guarantee access to justice for women survivors of violence.
This International Women's Day, a new EUR18.2 million regional programme to improve gender equality and address violence against women and girls is being announced. The new Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Pacific Partnership) brings together governments, 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.