Gender Responsive Budgeting Newsletter

UNIFEM has developed this newsletter to seek to encourage knowledge sharing from gender budget initiatives around the world, share news on progress made in incorporating a gender perspective into budgeting, and inform practitioners of new resources and publications on gender-responsive budgeting (GRB). The newsletter aims to reach out to the community of development practitioners, gender advocates, policy makers, government and non-governmental actors. Each issue will shed light on the efforts of specific actors in relation to GRB, demonstrate the application of GRB in a particular area, and highlight a specific country or regional programme supported by UNIFEM or other agencies.

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Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the Elimination of Violence Against Women: Note by the Secretary-General (2007)

In its resolution 50/166, the General Assembly mandated the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to strengthen its activities to eliminate violence against women in order to accelerate the implementation of the recommendations set out in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. That resolution is also the founding resolution of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, which was set up in 1996 and became operational in 1997, with UNIFEM as its administrator. The resolution positioned the Trust Fund as a key inter-agency grant-making mechanism to support local, national and international work by Governments and non-governmental organizations to end violence against women. The present report (A/HRC/7/53–E/CN.6/2008/9), to the fifty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the seventh session of the Human Rights Council, documents the activities undertaken by UNIFEM in 2007 as administrator of the Trust Fund as well as its programming on violence against women.

To download the full report click here [2]

CEDAW and Security Council Resolution 1325: A Quick Guide

Author/Editor(s): Shelly Inglis, Maha Muna, Aina Iiyambo, Vina Nadjibulla, Lee Waldorf and Anne Marie Goetz Established international norms and standards promote the protection of women during armed conflict and their participation in peace and security decision-making. Two sets of standards, UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (UNSCR 1325), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), are critical tools for moving the gender equality agenda forward in conflict and postconflict situations. While both sets of standards are important in their own right, there is also a synergy between them that can enhance their implementation and impact. UNSCR 1325 helps to broaden the scope of CEDAW’s application by clarifying its relevance to all parties in conflict and in peace. CEDAW, in turn, provides concrete strategic guidance for actions to be taken on the broad commitments outlined in UNSCR 1325. Drawing on these instruments together will enable advocates to maximize the impact of norms and standards for gender equality in all conflict and post-conflict interventions. This brief overview provides a basic introduction to each set of standards, as well as the context within which they were developed. It reviews the commonalities and potential strategic uses of UNSCR 1325 and CEDAW. It begins with a description of their shared gender equality agenda and includes a discussion of:

• the ways that each set of standards can expand the reach of the other;
• the application of the standards to the situation of women in the various stages of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction;
• the significance and legal authority embodied in each set of standards; and
• monitoring processes connected to UNSCR 1325 and CEDAW.

This guide aims to support gender equality advocates in bringing the greatest possible political and legal authority to bear on efforts to advance gender equality in the context of peace and security.

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Australian Security Council 1325 Guide

This guide gives a brief overview of the United Nations 1325 Security Council Resolution including its relevance to Australia.

To download the full document click here [4]