The CoE participates in the Webinar series on Measuring Gender-based Violence in Asia and the Pacific

Bangkok (Online) – 25-27 April 2023 - The CoE attended the webinar series on measuring gender-based violence in Asia and the Pacific, jointly organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and supported by UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP. The webinar series was organized to enhance the knowledge and capacity of participants to optimize the use of survey and administrative data for the monitoring of gender-based violence. The webinar series included expert presentations, discussions on best practices and sharing of experiences from countries already producing statistics and indicators on gender-based violence.

 

Gender-based violence against women continues to be a significant public health concern and a human rights violation, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, statistical data remains insufficient to monitor this phenomenon. To tackle this issue, different initiatives have been put in place both at the international and the regional level to monitor violence against women. For example, UNODC and UN Women have developed and a statistical framework for measuring the gender-related killings of women and girls. Most United Nations Regional Commissions maintain various datasets or portals on gender discrimination and violence, and provide, jointly with UNODC, technical assistance to enhance their capacity to collect and process data and eventually analyse and disseminate gender statistics.

The webinar was held over the course of three days in three online sessions, each 90 minutes in duration, with simultaneous interpretation in English-Russian. Participants were encouraged to actively engage in the discussions through the use of interactive tools. The first session provided an overview on the need for data on gender-based violence, and featured an open discussion with participants on which gender-based violence statistics are being produced in countries and how they are used to inform policymaking. The second session focused on monitoring gender-based violence through both administrative data and the use of surveys. Finally, the third session presented tools to count femicides and innovative initiatives to curb violence against women. In this session, the CoE delivered a presentation on the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-related Killings of Women and Girls (also known as femicide/feminicide).

Participants included staff of agencies of the National Statistical System responsible for the production of data related to gender-based violence and the users of these data, including participants from the National Statistical Office, Ministry of Women and Family Affairs, Ministry of Justice and any other national entities involved in the topic. A total of 239 participants from Asia and the Pacific joined the event.

This webinar was organized as part of several initiatives pushed forward by UNODC to raise awareness and introduce tools to tackle the lack of data on gender-based violence.

Further information on the CoE can be found here, Twitter @CoE_UNODC and Facebook @UNODC.CoE.