This note aims to provide policy and operational guidance for United Nations engagement in the area of reparations for victims of conflict-related sexual violence, including activities to advocate for and/or support the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of reparation programmes and initiatives directed at victims of conflict-related sexual violence. The note is intended to complement other relevant UN tools and guidance notes, in particular the notes on the UN approach to rule of law assistance and to transitional justice.

This report distills vast data and hundreds of studies to shed new light on constraints facing women and girls worldwide, from epidemic levels of gender-based violence to biased laws and norms that prevent them from owning property, working, and making decisions about their own lives. It highlights promising reforms and interventions from around the world and charts an urgent agenda for governments, civil society, development agencies and other stakeholders.

UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2014-2017 and its annexes are presented to the Executive Board for endorsement.

The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development argues that closing these gaps is a core development objective in its own right. It is also smart economics. Greater gender equality can enhance productivity, improve development outcomes for the next generation, and make institutions more representative. The authors use a conceptual framework to examine progress to date, and then recommend policy actions.

In this study on gender equality, researchers asked 4,000 people in 20 countries to describe the gender norms in their communities and the influence those norms have on their lives and their every-day decisions. The researchers spoke with men and women, youth and adults, living in villages and cities in developing countries, as well as higher income countries.

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, Target 5A calls for the reduction of maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. As part of on-going efforts,  World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank revised and improved earlier methods to estimate maternal mortality in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2008; and developed methodology to present trends in maternal mortality from 1990 to 2008 at country, regional, and levels.