New Protocol Improves Responses to Gender-Based Violence
Date:
With UN Women's assistance, the Caribbean Ombudsmen Association, representatives of police forces and local service providers have agreed on a protocol for protecting survivors of gender-based violence. It will be piloted in four Caribbean countries beginning in early 2012.
The protocol calls for strengthening cooperation between offices of the ombudsman, victim support services and the police in responding to reports of gender-based violence. It stresses expanding access to services, and promoting awareness of the needs of victims and the laws that uphold their rights.
The initiative is one of the strategies UN Women is backing in the Caribbean to increase access to justice for women and girls experiencing violence. It fosters a spectrum of partnerships with governmental and non-governmental actors to strengthen state accountability and community actions to end impunity, to better protect victims and ultimately to build a culture of zero tolerance.
For further information, please contact Sharon Carter-Burke, Communications Specialist, Caribbean, UN Women, sharon.carter-burke[at]unwomen.org, +246 467-6000 x6124.