Launching this month, the Lila.help website directory lists accurate, vetted and safe helplines and local emergency service information for more than 90 countries, and aims to expand to every country and territory. The website was developed by the Global Network of Women's Shelters (GNWS) with financial and technical support from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and UN Women.

A UN Women initiative, as part of a joint UN project funded by the Government of Sweden, is training teachers across the country in self-defense and communications skills to prevent and mitigate the risk of violence in schools.

Morocco has restructured the national police force to better support women survivors, like Layla Bennani, and to prevent violence against women.

“Women’s organizations on the front lines of the COVID-19 response continue to adapt and provide vital services for survivors, even in the face of unprecedented challenges. As violence against women rises, the services offered by women’s organizations must be included in governments’ COVID-19 response packages,” said Aldijana Sisic, Chief of the UN Trust Fund.

On the margins of the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security in New York, at a side event on 30 October, survivors, leaders and experts came together to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

This interview features Demecia Yat, one of 15 women survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Guatemala. From 2011 – 2016, they fought for justice at a national high court. The groundbreaking case resulted in the conviction of two former military officers of crimes against humanity and granted 18 reparation measures to the women survivors and their communities.

UN Women welcomes the conviction of Bosco Ntaganda by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 8 July 2019 for crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2002 and 2003. The former rebel leader was found guilty on 13 counts of war crimes and 5 counts of crimes against humanity, including rape, sexual slavery, displacement of civilians, and enlisting and conscripting child soldiers under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

Drita Hajdari is a prosecutor for the Special Prosecution Office of Kosovo, where she investigates and prosecutes war crimes. Today, police investigators and special prosecutors, like Ms. Hajdari, are working on an increasing number of cases, with a victim-centred approach. UN Women, through the Gender-Sensitive Transitional Justice project, funded by the European Union, has facilitated mentoring support from international criminal law experts to prosecutors and investigators in Kosovo.

Meet Imad Natour, a Palestinian police officer who specializes in domestic violence cases as part of the Family and Juvenile Protection Unit. The unit, supported by a joint programme by UN Women, UNDP and UNICEF, provides survivors of violence with medical, legal aid, temporary shelter and police protection. The unit is also creating powerful gender equality advocates like Natour within communities.

During the 36-year-long Guatemalan civil war, indigenous women were systematically raped and enslaved by the military in a small community near the Sepur Zarco outpost. What happened to them then was not unique, but what happened next, changed history. From 2011 – 2016, 15 women survivors fought for justice at the highest court of Guatemala. The groundbreaking case resulted in the conviction of two former military officers of crimes against humanity and granted 18 reparation measures to the women survivors and their community. The abuelas of Sepur Zarco, as the women are respectfully referred to, are now waiting to experience justice. Justice, for them, includes education for the children of their community, access to land, a health-care clinic and such measures that will end the abject poverty their community has endured across generations. Justice must be lived.

Rukmini Rao, from India, is the founder of the Gramya Resource Centre for Women that tackles the issues of land rights for women, their right to education, and the prevention of violence against women and girls.

Shamima Ali is a feminist activist from Fiji. She is the chairperson and one of the founding members of the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women. She has been a Coordinator at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre for the past 31 years. Ms. Ali has also served as a Human Rights Commissioner in Fiji from 2004 to 2006. Her work has included developing and conducting training with police and other service-providers in Fiji and in the Pacific region.

At the first-ever United Nations World Data Forum in Cape Town, South Africa from 15 – 18 January, data and statistics experts from around the world will join governments, private sector, civil society and academia, in exploring innovative ways to measure progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri at the United States National Summit on Female Genital Mutilation on 2 December in Washington D.C.

In Mexico City, nine in ten women have experienced violence in public transport. Through the “Mexico City Safe City and Safe Public Spaces for women and girls” programme, UN Women is promoting women’s safety, including through women-only buses.

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) is supporting the CAMTRA organization, which stages artistic and cultural events in areas where there are large concentrations of young people in order to raise awareness about violence against women and girls.

In an op-ed, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says "the drugging, abduction and violent gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil calls us all to turn the tide of sexual violence against women and girls in Brazil and in every country in the world. This is Brazil’s moment to shake that confidence to its core and reassert the rule of law and its respect for human rights. This is the time for zero tolerance for violence against women and girls."

Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri at the Comprehensive High-level Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action roundtable on human and social development and good governance at all levels, in Antalya Turkey on 29 May.

To strengthen the partnership and path to development for the world’s 48 poorest countries, representatives from Governments, the UN system, civil society and the private sector are gathering in Antalya, Turkey from 27-29 May 2016, to undertake a Comprehensive High-level Midterm Review of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) for the Least Developed Countries.