Virtual Workshop

Preventing & Responding to Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

20 ~ 27 April 2022

Background

The prevalence of violence against women and girls has been systemic and culturally ingrained.” Gender-based violence (GBV), violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or which affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, sexual, or mental harm, threats of such acts, coercion, and deprivations of liberty, impairing and nullifying fundamental human rights of women. 1

The number of women and girls subject to GBV is staggering: 1 in 3 women globally, aged 15 years or older, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives2 and almost more than half of women intentionally killed were killed by intimate partners or family members.3 However, evidence shows that only 40 percent of women who experience violence seek help of any sort 4and many hinder from reporting due to shame, fear of reprisals, or lack of knowledge on how to access available help.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against women reports has increased around the world, as widespread stay-at-home orders forced women to shelter in places with their abusers, often leading to tragic consequences. Service providers in India, Indonesia, and Singapore also report staggering increases5, with a Women’s Helpline in Singapore noting a 33% increase in February over calls received in the same month last year6. 

However, with front-line service providers and systems such as health, policing and social welfare being overburdened with COVID-19 cases, implementation of lifesaving GBV prevention and response programs have been met with financial and logistical challenges. Support services and shelters, and preventative programmers are often strained or no longer function due to the prevention of transmission. Even as efforts are made to adapt to the current pandemic by adapting their in-person programs to online, either staffing capacity limitations, mobile network restrictions, limited access to mobile phones by women and girls, etc. hinder the progress.7 

Nonetheless, the detrimental and prolonged impact of GBV on the lives of women and girls has not halted. With such violence causing not only physical and mental health consequences but also social and economic costs, leaving those affected in isolation, inability to work or be educated, loss of wages, lack of participation in regular and societal activities, it’s crucial to accelerate prevention and response measures.8

Violence is rooted in discrimination and inequality that are upheld by individual attitudes, beliefs, and practices; broader social norms around gender and violence; and systems and structures that replicate and even codify this inequality and discrimination. 9Hence, to eliminate all forms of GBV (a) strengthening policy, legal, and accountability frameworks related to GBV, (b) tackling harmful or discriminatory gender and social norms and stereotypical practices and power relations; (c) scaling up access to high-quality and gender-transformative, survivor-centered essential services is key. 10

In this regard, this workshop aims to offer an opportunity for participants to increase their knowledge and understanding of the concept of gender-based violence and strengthen their capacity to deliver quality prevention and response programs for GBV survivors – such as ensuring essential services, changing social norms, providing social services, etc. It also aims to explore the adaptive actions necessary to tackle the challenging conditions caused by COVID 19.

Event Objectives

For the capacity building, this event will:

• Offer a venue for knowledge sharing and motivate participants to discuss the status and issues of Gender-based Violence(GBV) to accelerate prevention and response for women and girls.

• Provide an opportunity for policymakers and experts to share and exchange their good practices.Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• Understand the basic concepts related to Gender-based violence (GBV) and the current challenges

• Identify key challenges and recognize best practices and lessons learned to address Gender-based Violence(GBV), as well as prevention and/or response methods for survivors of GBV

• Build professional networks, and exchange relevant information and knowledge

Target Audience

Government officials and personnel from non-profit, civil, and private sectors in Asia and the Pacific region who are focal points responsible for developing and implementing policies and projects to combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and/or promoting gender equality.

Program Agenda

Application and Deadline

Please register by April 6, 2022 (Wednesday) 23:59 KST through the following link.

https://bit.ly/3ickcx9

Requirements

Selected applicants are required to complete the following to be eligible for a Certificate of Completion:

• Attend and actively participate in all sessions with the camera on at all times

• Complete individual pre-workshop assignment and group assignment

Organizer

UNITAR CIFAL Jeju/Jeju International Training Center

For further inquiries please contact UNITAR CIFAL Jeju

Tel 064-735-6575 / Email jeju.cifal@gmail.com

1 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No.19: Violence against women, 1992

2 World Health Organization, Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018: global, regional and national prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against women and global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partner sexual violence against women, 2021

3 UNODC, Global Study on Homicide 2018, 2018

4 United Nations Economic and Social Affairs, The World’s Women 2015, Trends and Statistics, 2015

5 Sonia Sambhi, Ecobusiness, “Covid -19 and increase in domestic violence in Asia Pacific,” 3 April 2020

6 Shailey Hingorani, CNA, Commentary: Isolated with your abuser? Why family violence seems to be on the rise during COVID-19 outbreak, CNA, 26 March 2020.

7 UN Women, Prevention: Violence against women and girls and COVID-19, 2020

8 WHO, Factsheets: Violence against women, 2021

9 UN Women, Prevention: Violence against women and girls and COVID-19, 202010 UNFPA, The UNFPA strategic plan, 2022-2025, 2021