gender-based violence

Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, briefed the Security Council’s open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) on Tuesday, presenting the Secretary-General’s annual report and stressing the need to support survivors in conflict zones where services are increasingly inaccessible. 

Amid alarming reports of sexual violence being used as a weapon of terror across Sudan, UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, is warning that over 12 million women and girls – and increasingly men and boys – are estimated to be at risk.

More than 60 million women and girls worldwide who are forcibly displaced or stateless face high risks of gender-based violence (GBV), but funding for lifesaving services to support them is woefully lacking, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. 

Every year, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign led by UN Women serves as a powerful reminder of the widespread violence women and girls face worldwide.

In a wide-ranging briefing on Friday, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths highlighted the need to keep aid flowing into northwest Syria and to allow Ukrainian and Russian grain exports to reach global markets amid the ongoing war.  

The UN’s top humanitarian officials on Wednesday voiced shock and condemnation over increasing reports of gender-based violence in Sudan as the military power struggle there continues.

It is estimated that at least 30 per cent of Haitian women between the ages of 15 and 30 years old have been the victims of sexual abuse or violence. The Spotlight Initiative, a global Initiative of the United Nations supported by the European Union to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, is working to transform the lives of Haitian women for the better.