Cover Design : Thitiporn Winijmongkolsin, UNFPA ThailandPhoto Credit : UNFPA Mongolia

The views expressed in this document are solely those of the author and does not necessary reflect theofficial views of the United Nations Population Fund or the United Nations.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotesthe right of every man, and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supportscountries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure thatevery pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girland woman is treated with dignity and respect.

UNFPA - because everyone counts

UNFPA Country Technical Services Team

for East and South-East Asia

Bangkok, Thailand, June 2007

ADDRESSING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

IN EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

Mere N. Kisekka, Ph.D.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the UNFPA Country Representatives and Programme Officers for facilitatingthe work of consultants who produced country reports on Gender-Based Violence programmes andinterventions in China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, TimorLeste and Vietnam.

The list of consultants respectively comprise: Feng Yuan; Ly Vichuta; Wong Yut-Lin and MariaChin Abdullah; Bindirya Dugersuren, S. Evlegsuren, S. Erdenetuya and J. Naranchimeg; Janice Moore;Gondan Puti Renosari; Aida F. Santos; Siriwan Grisurapong and Mullika Muttiko; Kathryn Robertson;and Kathy Taylor and Vu Manh Lo. This report is largely based on the work of these consultants whoproduced documents with rich information some of which could not, unfortunately, be integratedeither due to limitation of space or because it was beyond the purview of the report. However, eachconsultant’s full report is available in the respective UNFPA Country offices.

I would also like to thank Dr. Rita Reddy and Dr. Pawadee Tonguthai for thier comments onChapters 3 and 4. In particular, I am very grateful to Linda Adams, a consultant, for her valuableassistance in the consolidation of this report.

Overall, I wish to appreciate the inputs and encouragement provided by our CST Director, Mr.G. Giridhar in the process of initiating and completing this report. Although the country offices haveverified the information provided by their consultants, I remain responsible for any shortcomings.

Mere N. KisekkaAdvisor, Gender and Socio-Cultural ResearchUNFPA CSTBangkok, Thailand

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FOREWORD

Prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) constitutes a priority area for achievement of genderequality and reproductive health and rights. In the E&SE Asia region, domestic violence, sexual violence,trafficking and sex selective abortions are some of the existing forms of GBV. These are inextricablylinked to gender inequality and powerlessness of women and have significant RH impacts that furtherdeepen the inequalities and ultimately contribute to under-development.

All countries in the region are addressing GBV in one way or another with varying levelsof technical and institutional resources. This report provides valuable experiences of countries inimplementing interventions by governments and NGOs supported by UNFPA and other developmentpartners. While the laws, policies and institutions to address GBV exist, their effective implementationremains a challenge. Many of them are still ambivalent to the principles of gender equality, reproductiverights and human rights.

This issue has rightly attracted multi-sectoral approaches targeted at a range of stakeholdersfocusing on prevention through awareness creation, treatment and rehabilitation of victims and trainingof service providers. The strategy of involving diverse communities such as faith-based organizations,men and women groups is well demonstrated across countries. In order to enhance the role of boys andmen in preventing GBV in Asia, UNDP, UNFPA and UNIFEM are working together to initiate a jointprogramme from next year.

This report has been prepared with significant inputs from UNFPA Country Offices. It presentssix dimensions of the issue: institutional frameworks, legal frameworks, awareness creation andprevention, medical and psychosocial interventions, legal services and national debates and dialogues.This is similar to the range of interventions recommended in the Secretary-General’s 2006 in-depthstudy of what works in eliminating violence against women. As such, this report contains good referencematerial useful for development and gender advocacy groups as well as policy makers and donors. Webelieve that it will therefore help to further strengthen GBV prevention.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to UNFPA country offices for providing valuable commentsand to the Emerging Social Issues Division, UNESCAP for a review of the draft. I appreciate the energyand devotion of Ms Mere Kisekka, our Advisor on Gender and Socio-Cultural Research, who hasinitiated and coordinated inputs from different UNFPA country offices and prepared this consolidatedreport. UNFPA is convinced that such experience sharing on GBV prevention would be very useful forcountries and for the region.

G. GiridharDirector, UNFPA CST for E&SE Asia andUNFPA Representative in ThailandBangkok.

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Global Mandate1.2 Scope1.3 Gender Terminologies

2. UNFPA AND PARTNERS’ SUPPORT

2.1 UNFPA2.2 Partners

3. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS

3.1 Policy Institutions3.2 Budgetary Support3.3 Implementation Structure3.4 Linkages to International Policy Frameworks

4. LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

4.1 Content and Scope of Legislation4.2 Protection of Victim versus Perpetrators4.3 Clauses on Dimensions of GBV in Related Laws4.4 Laws Under Revision and/or Formulation4.5 Quality of Implementation of Existing Laws. Culturally-Embedded Perception and Prioritization of GBV in Existing Laws. Juxtaposition of GBV Laws with Competing Laws. Failure of Implementation of Laws by Default

5. AWARENESS CREATION AND PREVENTION

5.1 Change Agents and Target groups. Partnering with Men. Coalitions of Change Agents. Community and Faith-Based Groups. Academic and Professional Training Institutions5.2 Message Dissemination. Awareness-Raising Workshops and Seminars. Popular Culture. Research, Publications and Print Media. Internationally and Nationally-Linked Celebrations and Campaigns5.3 Strategy for Communication. Enlisting Community Support. Engaging Leaders and Multi-Sector Stakeholders5.4 Outcomes for Sustainable Change. Limitations. Reliable inputs

CONTENTS

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6. MEDICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS

6.1 Medical Centres6.2 Faith-Based Organizations6.3 Shelters6.4 One-Stop Crisis Centres6.5 Victim Counselling. Counselling venues. Screening and referrals6.6 Support to Provision of Services. Referral System. Post Treatment Linkages. Screening, Examination and Communication Protocols

7. LEGAL SERVICES

7.1 Special GBV Police Units7.2 Police and Legal Assistance Protocols. Formal Justice Processes. Traditional Justice Processes7.3 Police Collection of Data7.4 Efficacy of Legal Services. Uncertain legal frameworks. Competing justice systems7.5 Support to Law Enforcement Agents

8. NATIONAL DEBATES AND DIALOGUES

8.1 Cultural Perceptions8.2 Political and Economic Environments8.3 Media Coverage

9. CONCLUSIONS

9.1. Achievements. GBV on the Development Agenda. Multi-Pronged Approaches9.2 Challenges. Media, Cultural and Religious Contexts. Scale and Sustainability of Interventions9.3 Way Forward. UNFPA Programming to Eradicate GBV. Multi-agency and multi-Coalition Partnerships

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TABLES

Table 1: Summary of Available GBV Services in 2005 in IndonesiaTable 2: Types of Support Provided to Clients of One-Stop Crisis Centres Reported

from 15 Provincial Hospitals in Thailand, October 2002 - April 2003Table 3: Thailand Entities Participating in National On-Line Information and

Coordinating CentreTable 4: Reasons Given for Resort to Traditional Justice in Timor Leste

BOXES

Box 1: International Policy Frameworks on Gender-Based ViolenceBox 2: UNFPA - Supported GBV Projects in the PhilippinesBox 3: Supporters of Work on Gender-Based Violence in Timor-Leste (2005)Box 4: Supporter and Implementers of GBV Interventions in MongoliaBox 5: United Nations Trust Fund Grants in Support of Efforts to End Violence

Against WomenBox 6: Specific Targets on GBV in Cambodia’s Millennium Development GoalsBox 7: Lobbying for Reform of Religious Laws in MalaysiaBox 8: Engagement of Men in Prevention of Violence in MongoliaBox 9: UNFPA China Sex Ratio Imbalance (SRI) ProgrammeBox 10: Indonesia Integrated Services in One Stop Crisis CentresBox 11: Timor Leste: Community Definitions of Gender-Based ViolenceBox 12: Timor Leste: Assessment of Seriousness of Domestic Violence and

Suggestions for Resolution

ANNEXES

Annex 1: Implementers and Supporters/Donors of GBV Interventions in ChinaAnnex 2: Implementers and Supporters/Donors of GBV Interventions in IndonesiaAnnex 3: Implementers and Supporters/Donors of GBV Interventions in the PhilippinesAnnex 4: Philippines: Department of Social Welfare and Development -Revised

Community/Centre-Based VAW Facility Assessment Tool

REFERENCES

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Abbreviations & Acronyms

ADB Asian Development BankADRA Adventist Development and Relief AgencyAIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeAMKV Association of Men Against Violence (Asosiaçã Mane Kontra Violencia)APWLD Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and DevelopmentARH Adolescent Reproductive HealthAUSAID Australian Agency for International DevelopmentAWL Association of Women’s Lawyers (Selangor and Federal Territory)AZG MSF-HollandBCC Behavior Change CommunicationCBO Community Based OrganizationCBS Central Bureau of StatisticsCCF Country Cooperation Framework for Thailand (CCF)CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against WomenCHRD Centre for Human Rights and DevelopmentCHR Commission on Human RightsCIRR Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR)CPCR Foundation of Centre for the Protection of Children’s RightsCRC Convention on Rights of the ChildCST Country Technical Services TeamCVMC Cagayan Valley Medical CentreCWCC Cambodia Women’s Crisis CentreCWD Centre for Women and DevelopmentDAW Division for the Advancement of WomenDESA Department for Economic and Social AffairsDVA Domestic Violence ActECPAT End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children

for Sexual PurposeESEA East and South-East AsiaEU European UnionEVAW Elimination of Violence Against WomenFWCW Fourth World Conference on WomenGAATW Global Alliance Against Traffic in WomenGBV Gender Based ViolenceGDP Gross Domestic ProductGDRI Gender and Development Research InstituteGTZ German Technical CooperationHIV Human Immunodeficiency VirusIATF Inter Agency Task ForceICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural RightsICPD International Conference on Population and DevelopmentIDPs Internally Displaced PersonsIEC Information, Education, CommunicationINGO International Non-governmental OrganizationIOM International Organization for Migration

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IRC International Rescue CommitteeIWD International Women’s DayJAG-VAW Joint-Action Group against Violence Against WomenJSMP Judicial System Monitoring ProgrammeMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMIS Management Information SystemMISP Minimum Initial Services PackageMSM Men who have sex with menNGO Non-governmental organizationNHRC National Human Rights CommissionNOVIB OXFAM NetherlandsNSO National Statistics OfficeOSCC One-Stop Crisis CentreOWAFD Office of Women’s Affairs and Family DevelopmentOxfam GB Oxfam Great BritainPesantren Islamic Boarding SchoolPSI Population Services InternationalPUSKESMAS Community Health CentrePUSPITA Pesantren based women crisis centreRaFH Centre for Reproductive and Family HealthRCGAD Research Centre for Gender and DevelopmentRH Reproductive HealthRHIYA Reproductive Health Initiative for Youth in AsiaSC Save the ChildrenSDC Swiss Agency for Development and CooperationSRH Sexual and Reproductive HealthSTD Sexually Transmitted DiseaseSTI Sexually Transmitted InfectionTBA Traditional Birth AttendantUN United NationsUNCT United Nations Country TeamUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNFPA United Nations Population FundUNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesUNICEF United Nations Children’s FundUNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for WomenUNMISET United Nations Mission in Support of East TimorUNTAET United Nations Transitional Administration in East TimorVAC Violence Against ChildrenVAW Violence Against WomenVAWC Violence Against Women and ChildrenWB World BankWCC Women Crisis CentreWHO World Health OrganizationWIC Women’s International CentreWPD World Population DayWRC White Ribbon Campaign

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Introduction

1.1 Global Mandate

The United Nations Declaration on ViolenceAgainst Women defines gender-based violence(GBV) “as any act that results in, or is likely toresult in physical, sexual or psychological harmor suffering to women, including threats of suchacts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,whether occurring in public or private life”1. TheUN Assembly states that reference to the wordgender underpins the fact that most victims ofinterpersonal violence are women and that violenceis directed to them because they have unequalpower in relationships with men and low status inmost contexts. Accordingly, the many forms of GBVtake place in various contexts ranging from thehome, workplace, disaster and conflict situationsto name but a few. Similarly, GBV varies in timeand place regarding the nature and extent to whichit is sanctioned by culture and the State. Hence,perpetrators can include family and communitymembers, peers, supervisors, strangers and agentsof the State.

The mandate to address GBV is global andconcerted having been spearheaded by the women’smovement in academia, civil society and NGOs andembraced by the UN and international communityin a series of landmark conferences, treaties,resolutions and policy frameworks includingHuman Rights, CEDAW, ICPD and FWCW ashighlighted in Box 1. These frameworks underscorethe fact that addressing GBV is central toattainment of gender equality and women

Photo credit : UNFPA Timor Leste 1 United Nations 1993.

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Conference Declarations

and Resolutions

1. World Conference on HumanRights (1993) and ViennaDeclaration and Programme ofAction

2. International Conference onPopulation and Development(1994) and Programme of Action

3. World Social Summit for SocialDevelopment (1995) andProgramme of Action

4. Fourth World Conference onWomen (1995) and BeijingDeclaration and platform forAction (devoted a section toviolence against women)

5. Congress against CommercialSexual Exploitation of Children(1996) and Declaration andAgenda for Action

6. Millennium Development Goals

Provisions on Gender-Based Violence

. Gender-based Violence and all forms of sexualharassment and exploitation including thoseresulting from cultural prejudice and internationaltrafficking are incompatible with the dignity andworth of the human being, and must be eliminated.

. Gender equality, equity and empowerment ofwomen are important ends in themselves and are acornerstone of population and development -relatedprogrammes.. Governments are to take full measures toeliminate all forms of exploitation, abuse,harassment and violence against women, adolescentsand children.

. Condemned violence against women andreiterated ICPD declaration on the subject. Affirmedthe right to development through the reduction ofpoverty and the protection of the rights and needsof women, children and other vulnerable groups.

. Recognized that the elimination of violenceagainst women especially women belonging togroups such as refugees, migrants, and personswith disabilities is essential to equality, developmentand peace. Beijing + 5 requested Governments toeliminate discriminatory legislation by 2005.

. Called for action against commercial sexualexploitation.

. Reaffirmed goals of previous conferences.. Also affirmed that the promotion of genderequality and the empowerment of women areeffective ways to combat poverty, hunger anddisease and to stimulate development that is trulysustainable.

Source: WHO July 1997.

Box 1: International Policy Frameworks on Gender-Based Violence

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empowerment and are also inextricably linked tothe vision and realization of many goals includinghuman rights, poverty eradication, and goodgovernance. The 2006 Secretary General’s studyon Violence Against Women has given an excellentcomprehensive picture on all dimensions includingcontexts, forms and prevalence, care, preventive andlegislative actions as well as gaps and challenges2.This study shows how UN agencies and develop-ment partners have incorporated GBV in their workat national, regional and international levels.

Observance of UN designated days suchas 8th March International Women’s Day (IWD),25th November International Day for theElimination of Violence Against Women, and otherinternationally-led initiatives including the 16 Daysof Activism to Eliminate Violence Against Womenand the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) haveexpanded the space for high-level governmentofficials and key players to make clear statementsand commitments in the public arena on the issueof GBV. In this regard, it is noteworthy that the2007 IWD theme has featured “ending impunityfor violence against women”.

1.2 Scope

This report takes stock of programmes andinterventions supported by UNFPA and other UNand international agencies and implemented bygovernment and NGOs in East and South-EasternAsia (ESEA). It does not include the issue oftrafficking nor does it cover other criticaldimensions of GBV such as causes andconsequences or patterns and prevalence.

This situation analysis on programmes andinterventions addressing GBV was initiated bythe Bangkok UNFPA Country Technical ServicesTeam (CST) to cover countries it serves in ESEAnamely China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia,Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, TimorLeste and Viet Nam but excluding Lao PDR andDPRK for logistical reasons. Each of the UNFPA

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Country Offices identified a national consultantwho conducted the exercise under the guidance andparticipation of the CST Gender Advisor in thefollowing activities:. Visits to selected government, UN and

international agencies and NGOs. Interviews with key officers. Site visits to projects. Retrieval and review of documents

On the basis of these activities, each nationalconsultant submitted a report. However, UNFPAcountry offices in Malaysia, Timor Leste, Viet Namand the UN Human Rights & Gender Team inMongolia had already initiated their nationalreports on GBV, which are also consolidated inthis report.3

The report is organized around nine topics.After the introduction, the second chapter providesan overview of UNFPA and other entitiessupporting or implementing GBV interventions.The third and fourth chapters respectivelyexamine institutional and legal frameworks forGBV that are operational in the study countries.The next three chapters present and assess theinterventions and programmes on GBV, whichinclude preventive activities as depicted inawareness creation/sensitization and also inprovision of medical, psychosocial and legalservices. The last chapter presents the nationaldebates and dialogues, which emanate fromcultural perceptions, political and economicenvironments as well as the portrayal of GBVissues in the mass media. By way of conclusion,the report reflects on the achievements and

2 United Nations 2006.3 See Mongolia UN Human Rights and Gender Team Group2004; UNFPA Malaysia, 17 April 2006; UNFPA Timor Leste.October 2005; and UNFPA Viet Nam. October 2006. Eachcountry’s GBV consultant report is available from the respec-tive UNFPA Country Office or Gender Team Group. In thesereports due acknowledgement is given to interviewees and othercollaborators. The reports contain additional rich informationon projects and other aspects of GBV, which it has not beenpossible to integrate here.

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challenges revealed in the study countries inaddressing GBV, which by implication point topossible areas of future action.

1.3 Gender Terminologies

Since the terrain of gender is replete withever-changing and sometimes inconsistent use ofterminologies, it is necessary to clarify some ofthe core ones that appear in this report. To beginwith, the very term gender, although theoreticallydistinct from sex, appears to have become the“politically correct” or seemingly progressive termto use (misuse) in many circles. Regrettably, forexample, when filling one’s bio-data one is frequentlyasked to indicate his/her “gender” whereas thecorrect term should be one’s “sex”. Most, if notall our data are simply sex-disaggregated (bymale and female) and it is only when that dataare subject to a gender analysis by attributingthe revealed inequalities and power relations tosocio-cultural norms pertaining to the sexes, canwe then say we have gender disaggregated data.

Then again there is GBV (gender-basedviolence) versus VAW (violence against women).

The crucial point is that, whereas both men andwomen do suffer from GBV as captured above inthe UN definition, the reality is that most violenceis experienced by women at the hands of men,a fact that is linked to society’s assignment towomen of certain subjugated roles, unequal powerrelations, statuses and expectations vis-à-vis men,which then constitute the gender roles. Given thisreality, it is not surprising that the two terms areoften used interchangeably and have erroneouslybecome operationally synonymous.

Last, there are differing views on the use ofthe term “victim” versus “survivor”. One view holdsthat the term “victim” infers disempowermentwhereas “survivor” projects power to overcomethe circumstances of abuse or violence. Others seeit as a process from being a victim to a survivorwith varying outcomes ranging from death,permanent injury or disability to full recovery andempowerment to overcome the damage. No doubtthere is merit in each position but in this report,the terms “victim” and “survivor” will be usedinterchangeably inasmuch as the information isconsolidated from existing national reports withsimilar double terminology usage.

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2.1 UNFPA

UNFPA has a long-standing focus on theissue of GBV as is attested to in a number of policyand programme documents particularly in the areaof reproductive health and emergency situations.4

In the 2004-2007 UNFPA Multi-Year FundingFramework, one of the priority results has been:“National and sub-national mechanisms in placeto monitor and reduce gender-based violence”.Similarly GBV constitutes one of the six priorityareas identified in gender mainstreaming andwomen’s empowerment programming in UNFPAdraft strategic framework for 2008-20115 as willbe presented in more details in the conclusion tothis report.

In ESEA, GBV emerged as the prioritygender issue UNFPA has been addressing6. Indeed,in some countries like China, Indonesia, Malaysia,Philippines and Timor-Leste, UNFPA has takenthe lead on some GBV issues and strategydevelopment as will be clearly apparent in the restof the report. The Fund’s characteristic approachesto addressing GBV include taking on sensitiveissues like sex selective abortions and otherharmful practices, and forging partnerships withthe academic community, NGOs, men, youths andreligious groups.

Photo credit : UNFPA Timor LesteUNFPA supported awareness-raising activities on preventionof GBV among internally-displaced people in Timor-Leste

4 UNFPA 1998, 2001, and 2007 and UNFPA & UNIFEM2005.

5 UNFPA May , 2007.6 This was the finding of a review of Gender Mainstreaming

in UNFPA Country Programmes 2000-2004. UNFPA CSTSeptember. Bangkok 2005.

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Besides addressing GBV in its own right as agender issue, UNFPA Country Programmes inESEA have been mainstreaming it in its other twocore sub-programmes of Reproductive Health andPopulation and Development. In this regard, it isnecessary to note that most interventions onGBV have been on prevention, that is awarenesscreation through IEC/BCC target at communitygroups, policy makers, youth and other

Box 2: UNFPA-Supported GBV Projects in the Philippines

Crisis Centres

1. Nueva Vizcaya Reproductive Health Project (1997-1999 and 2000-2004) Prevention andmanagement of violence against women, among other RH services for women and men,including adolescents’ reproductive health and education and counselling in human sexuality.

2. The Capiz Reproductive Health Initiative Project (“The Pink Room”) 2001-2004 24-hourmedical, counselling, referral and police protection services to victims and survivors ofviolence.

3. Cagayan RH Initiative /The “LAV (Love-a-Victim) Centre” October 2000-present Trainingson Gender Sensitivity, anti-VAWC laws, and other gender-based related issues facilitated bytrained VAWC counsellors, including paralegal training on VAW for male advocates and aVAW course for counsellors on VAW including stress debriefing and counselling.

4. Project HAVEN (Hospital Assisted Crisis Intervention for Women Survivors of ViolentEnvironments; now called the Women’s and Children’s Crisis Care and Protection Unit (WCCCPU)1997-1999 Pilot project for a gender-sensitive and holistic one-stop hospital-based crisisintervention centre for women-survivors of violence.

Other Projects with GBV Components

Strengthening Government Mechanisms in Mainstreaming Gender in the Population, ReproductiveHealth and anti-VAW Programmes 2005-2009 by National Commission on the Role of FilipinoWomen (NCRFW) as implemented in the following activities:

. Strategic plan discussion, revisions and assignment of Technical Working Group of theInter-Agency Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (IAC-VAWC), theInter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking (IACAT), Violence Against Women andChildren Committee (VAWCC).

. Orientations on local adoption and implementation of benchmarks and assessment tools

. Development of Training modules and ToT on VAW for each partner agency.

. Baseline application of tools and analysis of results for a research report on level ofgovernment services for VAW survivors.

. Development of methodology to generate statistics on VAW, which was presented toInter-Agency Committee on Gender Statistics. Presently developing supplemental form tobe pilot-tested with concerned agencies.

constituencies and secondly on advocacy forcollection and utilization of gender-responsive anddisaggregated data by sex and other Socio-economic criteria as well as development of tools.Related to this is UNFPA role as a major donorand source of technical assistance to the AsianForum of Parliamentarians on Population andDevelopment (AFPPD) and the WomenParliamentarians both of which hold trainings

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in the region is presented in greater details in therest of the chapters.

2.2 Partners

GBV is multifaceted and therefore cutsacross sectors and mandates of many agencies. InESEA, it is heartening that Governments, UNagencies, regional institutions, multi-lateral andbilateral organizations have all variously addressedGBV at the local, national as well as regionallevels as revealed through a cursory glance at someof these interventions shown in Boxes 3 and 4.

The United Nations Economic and SocialCommission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)in Bangkok organized a “Sub-regional TrainingWorkshop on Elimination of Violence AgainstWomen in Partnership with Men” in December2003, which aimed at highlighting ideas, concepts,policies, approaches and strategies for a greaterinvolvement and engagement of men to eliminateGBV. In April 2007 ESCAP again convened anexpert group meeting on “Regional Strategiesfor Implementing the Recommendations fromthe Secretary-General’s In-depth Study on AllForms of Violence against Women with ParticularEmphasis on Harmful Traditional and CulturalPractices and the Role of National Machineries”.9

The Meeting recommended strategies onpreventing violence against women focusing onAsia-Pacific’s socio-cultural root causes ofharmful practices such as sex selective abortions,female infanticide, dowry deaths, “honour” killings,forced marriages and sex slavery.

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and conferences on a variety of gender issuesincluding advocacy for legislation, implementationof laws and resource mobilization and allocation7.

UNFPA Asia and Pacific regional prioritiesin the area of gender equality for 2008-2011include prevention of GBV in collaboration withpartners to strengthen implementation andenforcement mechanisms. Secondly, theprogramme will concentrate on support forresearch and advocacy on the issue of sex ratioimbalance in India and China where the problemhas reached alarming level and in Viet Nam andNepal where it is incipient and requires timelyaction8. UNFPA support of GBV interventions inthe Philippines as shown in Box 2 is an exampleof the variety of issues ranging from advocacy totraining and provision of services covered atcountry levels.

Similarly in Indonesia (Annex 2), within theframework of UNFPA 6th Country Programme(2001-2005), IEC for GBV issues were addressedin the Essential Reproductive Health project,providing interventions to strengthen the MotherFriendly Movement that included increasingpublic awareness on male participation, genderissues and maternal mortality. Issues related toGBV such as reproductive rights, trafficking anddomestic violence constituted discussion topics inthe community gatherings and male involvementsessions of the project. Concerning, Rifka Annisacentre, in addition to its routine programme atthe Women’s Crisis Centre, it received fundingfrom the Ford Foundation to strengthen IEC andadvocacy for the prevention of GBV. Indonesiahas also taken the opportunity, presented by theearthquake response progamme in collaborationwith UNFPA, to strengthen IEC on GBV responsein an attempt to minimize the impact of possibleGBV outcomes such as forced prostitution andtrafficking.

Altogether, more UNFPA support inIndonesia, the Philippines and other countries

7 AFPPD, UNFPA/CST 19-21 2001 and AFPPD2-3 October 2003.

8 Discussed at the Asia Pacific Regional Planning Meeting,13-17 November 2006. Bangkok, Thailand.

9 The Meeting took place 26-27 April 2007 in Bangkok

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Legislation on Domestic Violence in the MekongBasin Sub-region attended by 48 NGO andgovernment participants from four countries in theMekong Basin Sub-region; and conducting of aRegional Workshop on Domestic ViolenceLegislation: Moving Towards RegionalNetworking and Strategies, December 1-3, 2003in Bangkok, Thailand. EVAW Phase 2 (2004-2007) consists of a three-pronged approach thataims to:. Encourage and support governments to

introduce legal and policy frameworks,. Develop institutional mechanisms fordelivering services to victims and survivorsof VAW as well as the general populationwith the view to preventing the occurrenceof VAW, and. Encourage social and cultural attitudesand practices to promote EVAW.

On some issues, agencies have been workingtogether either as UN Country Teams or in someother collaborative forms to develop and supporta particular programme by way of funds and/ortechnical assistance. For example, the UnitedNations Joint Programme on Gender in Cambodiawill, in its operationalization of the United NationsDevelopment Assistance Framework (UNDAF)2006-2010, support implementation of the Lawon the Prevention of Domestic Violence andProtection of the Victims particularly atdecentralized levels. Box 4 is another goodillustration of the range of GBV issues and thevariety of agencies that are supportinginterventions either singly or in partnership inMongolia. Initiatives include awareness creationand education, training of the police and judiciary,and dissemination of baseline research that revealsthe underlying factors contributing to familyviolence. At the same time, GTZ acts as the leadagency working with the various frontlineministries such as Ministry of Women Affairs(MOWA), Ministry of Health (MOH), and NGOsin capacity building for the implementation of theLaw on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and

. UNFPA. Canada Fund. USAID. UNDP. UNHCR. Bureau of Population, Refugees andMigration (Dept of State, U.S.Government). AusAid. Ireland Aid. UNIFEM. UNICEF. Caritas Australia. The Alola Foundation. New Zealand Aid. CARE. Asia Foundation. International Rescue Committee

Box 3: Supporters of Work onGender-Based Violence inTimor-Leste (2005)

Source: UNFPA Timor-Leste 2005

Similarly, UNIFEM East and Southeast AsiaRegional Office based in Bangkok implemented aprogramme on the Elimination of Violence AgainstWomen (EVAW) in twelve ESEA countries10.Achievements of EVAW Phase 1 (2001-2003)included: creation and collaboration of nationaland regional EVAW Action Networks ofgovernment organizations, NGOs and internationaldeveloping agencies; support of activities for the16 Days of Activism Campaign to EliminateViolence Against Women in eight countries,including Cambodia, China, the Philippines andViet Nam and support of a Workshop on National

10 The EVAW programme is documented in a handy tool kit(UNIFEM. November 2003), a document on collaborationbetween NGOS and Government in Indonesia (UNIFEMOctober 2003) and is also accessible on the website andhttp://www.unifem-eseasia.org/projects/evaw/evawindex.htm

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Box 4: Supporters and Implementers of GBV Interventions in Mongolia

Implementer

National Centre AgainstViolence (NCAV) withbranches in 13 aimagsand 2 districts ofUlaanbaatar

MSWL, National Boardfor Children, NationalNGOs and InternationalNGOs

Centre for Human Rightsand development (CHRD)

NCAV, General PoliceDepartment and SC

NCAV

Donor

AUSAID, MSWL,Local government,Tuv aimag , US Embassy,USA Peace Corps, WorldVision, USAID and Savethe Children (SC)

ADRA

British Embassy and SorosFoundation

Mama Cash/ Netherlands’sorganization andAsia Forum

UNICEF

Asia Foundation in Mongolia

AUSAID 2000-2003

European Commission

Interventions

Running shelter homes for women theirchildren and elders suffering fromDomestic Violence.Support groups have been establishedwithin the inhabitants to unite themselvesto support each other, to share theirexperiences and to find jointly anappropriate solution to their problems.

A shelter in Selenge aimag amongdensely populated provinces. The Family Information and

Service Centre (FISC) Shelter canaccommodate residents for up to3 months, during which time theyreceive counselling, legal advice,food shelter, clothing, and skillstraining that will prepare thembecome financially independent.. Rehabilitation of victimizedchildren.. FISC protects victims from theirassailants, and provides them withof Mongolia comprehensive legaland psychological aid.. Anti-alcohol programme in thenorthern region.

Legal and Psychological Counselling forVictims and their family membersBattered women

Hotline for people who need counselling.

Involvement of government officials,NGOs, social workers,teachers andchildren in the Regional consultationon violence against children (VAC) onJune 2005 in the framework of ChildProtection Project.

CounsellingInterrogationLegal Analysis for Victims of trafficking

Influencing the behaviour of the violentmen. Australian psychologist Dale Hurstconducted BCC trainings.

Two Conferences on Developing supportservices for victims were held in March2000 for national and regional NGOs.

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Implementer

NCAVECPAT Network

MWLA

CHRD

Nairamdal Children’sCamp

National Agency forChildren

NCAV

The National CEDAWWatch Network Centre,NCAV and CHRD

Donor

UNIFEMUNICEF

Global Rights 2004- 2008

UNICEF 2005

UNICEF 2003- 2005

ROCS- Swedishorganization establishedsince 1995

UNIFEM 2000-2003

Interventions

. Global 16 days of ActivismCampaign against VAW. Yearlycampaigns on various events andactivities dealing with mediaadvocacy, including publishingarticles on domestic violence inthe national daily newspapers,producing a number of TV andradio programmes during the 16days Campaign, and producing adocumentary.. Awareness against children’sviolence in school settings andchild care centres targeting thepublic, mass media, government,men and 6000 children of 20schools in Ulaanbaatar.

Carrying out advocacy to refine legalenvironment that regulates issues relatedto violence against women.

Improving the activities on HumanRights Strategic Advocacy for HumanRights NGOs in Mongolia Trainingmanuals. Discussion among journalists. Press conference. Information sheet. Special edition of newspaper. Information leaflet. Guidebook for citizens on social

entitlementsí benefits. Information package targetinglegal officials, vulnerable groups,public and women and girls

Non-violent environment for children.IEC activities to 1500 children.

. Advocacy on violence againstchildren.. Development of IEC materials andvideo scripts with participation ofUNICEF Goodwill Ambassadorsinger T. Ariunaa targeting thepublic and children.

. Assistance for Victims of DomesticViolence.. Trainings in communication skills,victim protection and counselling. Developing methodology andstrategy for measures against DV.Targeting Police officers, Officialsof law enforcement organizationand clinic and family doctors.

Struggle with Sexual Harassment in theWorking Place.

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Protection of the Victims. The Cooperation alsosupports many other initiatives such asqualitative research on masculinity and its links toviolence and sexuality on one hand, and to HIV/AIDS on the other. Annexes 1-3 present additionallisting of donors supporting and NGOs addressing

The Trust Fund is a unique multi-lateral mechanism established by the UN General Assemblyin 1996 and administered by UNIFEM. Grants are decided collectively by representatives of UNagencies and international NGOs. Since its establishment, the Trust Fund has granted close to US$13 million to 226 initiatives in over 100 countries.

Contributions come from a diverse group of governments, nongovernmental organizations,the private sector, and individuals. In November 2006 the Trust Fund granted US$ 3.5 million toinitiatives in developing countries that are addressing gender-based violence. This is the highestamount ever to be disbursedñ up from $1.8 million in 2005 and close to four times more than in2004.

As in the previous year, grants mainly go to groups that work on ensuring that policies andlaws to address violence against women are implemented. Overall, 28 initiatives in 20 countries,including one regional project, will receive grants amounting to $2.8 million to that end. Granteeswill be advocating for the adoption of pending legislation, review court proceedings to identifyobstacles for the implementation of existing laws, train law enforcement personnel and thejudiciary on the application of new legal provisions, and build the capacity of community groupsto raise awareness on mechanisms to seek redress. A second round of grants amounting to $0.7million for groups focusing on the link between gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS will beannounced in early 2007.

In November 2006, among the grantees worldwide is ESEA joint proposal from Mongolia’sCentre for Citizens’ Alliance (CCA), Centre for Human Rights Development (CHRD) and NationalCentre Against Violence NCAV) which will address obstacles to the protection of women fromviolence, focusing in three most prevalent forms of violence against women in the country namelydomestic violence, trafficking in women, rape and sexual harassment. The joint project by thesethree NGOs, which are well respected in the country, aims to advocate for improved anti-violencelaws and increased budgetary resources, including by boosting the lobbying and monitoringcapacities of civil society groups. It will also train media professionals to cover violence againstwomen in informed and gender-sensitive ways, and challenge gender stereotypes.

Source: UNIFEM http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/trust_fund.php12

Box 5: United Nations Trust Fund Grants in Support of Efforts to EndViolence Against Women

11 Appears in Appendix 4 for NGO Directory in UNFPAMalaysia 2006.

12 Consult the website for more information on the Trust Fundand the complete list of grantees.

GBV in China, Indonesia and Philippines. InMalaysia, up to 173 organizations addressing GBVare listed in an NGO Directory.11

Regional and international NGOs have alsobeen actively involved in supporting countries toaddress GBV. For example, FORUM- ASIA (Asia

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Forum for Human Rights and Development) has aproject on national legislation and runs workshopsfunded by several development partners andnational governments including Ministry of SocialDevelopment and Human Security of the RoyalThai Government. Among the regional workshopsorganized by FORUM-ASIA are i) Nationallegislation on Domestic Violence in the MekongSub-region ii) Domestic Violence Legislation:Moving Towards Regional Networking andStrategies and ASEAN Regional Workshop onGender Sensitive and Coordinated GBV Services13.

A similar joint programme to be coordinatedby the UN Theme Group on Gender is planned tosupport the government of Timor-Leste to enhancethe physical and financial security of women andhelp restore their rights denied and violatedthrough years of conflict and instability14. Thisprogramme, to be supported by UNDP, UNICEF,

UNIFEM, UNFPA, and IOM, will be structuredaround two pillars: (I) reducing the physicalvulnerability of women scarred by years ofconflict through efforts to protect them fromviolence and sexual abuse, and (II) reducing theireconomic vulnerability by ensuring access toresources and services. Pillar I will aim to reducethe physical vulnerability of women by addressingthe issues of physical violence and sexual abuseby ensuring access to justice, protection and thelegal means to fight violence and abuse through:i) adoption and effective implementation of theDomestic Violence Law and the National ActionPlan on GBV ii) providing effective mechanismsto prevent trafficking through capacity buildingof Government of Timor Leste and otherstakeholders at all levels especially local councils(Suco councils) and iii) improved support servicesfor victims of gender based violence and domesticviolence.

13 FORUM-ASIA 28-30 November 200614 Timor Leste. May 2007. Spanish Fund Joint Proposal:

Gender and Empowerment draft 1

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The creation of and resource allocationto institutions entrusted with formulating andimplementing gender-sensitive policies andprogrammes are an indication of a government’scommitment to addressing gender issues. Thissection examines the presence and location withinNational Government frameworks of relevantpolicy-making institutions and the extent to whichthey are empowered and facilitated to meet theirmandates.

3.1 Policy Institutions

Location within government structuresdetermines the clout and visibility of an institution’smandate with respect to decision-making andaccess to human and material resources. A rangeof institutional locations is seen in the studycountries.

Some are given Ministerial status as inMongolia (Ministry of Social Welfare and Labourand the National Committee on Gender Equalityheaded by the Prime Minister) and Cambodia(Ministry of Women’s Affairs) or Departmentalstatus within Ministries. In Malaysia theDepartment of Women’s Development is theimplementing agent for women’s developmentwhile the Department of Social Welfare is taskedwith implementing the DVA (Domestic ViolenceAct). But both agents are located within theMinistry of Women, Family and CommunityDevelopment, which is technically entrusted tomake the decisions and policies. Indonesia hasestablished a specific GBV support institutionknown as the National Commission for Elimination

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Photo credit : Sophanara, UNFPA CambodiaGBV survivor acquiring sewing skills at the CambodianWomen’s Crisis Centre

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of Violence Against Women. Others occupy anoffice within a Government Ministry such asThailand (Office of Women’s Affairs and FamilyDevelopment (OWAFD) within the Ministry ofSocial Development and Human Security) or arelocated within the Prime Minister’s Office as inTimor Leste (Office for Promotion of Equality).As is to be expected, presence within a PrimeMinister’s office offers higher political clout andadvisory status than placement in departmentsassociated with lower priority welfare concerns.

In China, the National Working Committeeon Children and Women (NWCCW) under theState Council is the coordination and consultationorgan of the Chinese government in charge ofwomen’s work. The current NWCCW is headed bya vice-premier of the State Council, and iscomposed of 33 member units (ministries,commissions under the State Council and NGOs)each having one of its vice-ministerial-levelofficials as a member of the NWCCW. TheCommittee plays a leading role in coordinatingand promoting relevant government departmentsto do women and children’s work well, as well asin formulating and organizing the implementationof the outlines for the development of women andchildren as set up in the Programme for theDevelopment of Chinese Women (2001-2010),which translates the spirit of the CEDAW into anational action plan. To date, working organs onchildren and women have been set up by thepeople’s governments of all provinces, autonomousregions and municipalities directly under thecentral governments, prefectures and counties,which are under the direction of officials ofgovernments at the corresponding level. Theirexpenditures are covered in the financial budgetsof the governments at the corresponding level.On the institutional level, most of responsibility toaddress national targets set up by NWCCW in theProgramme for the Development of ChineseWomen has been re-delegated to the All-ChinaWomen’s Federations (the largest women’sorganization in China with a nationwide network

reaching out to all the villages and communities)and other non-governmental organizationsfocusing their work on the development of women.

In the Philippines, the National Commissionon the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) is thenational body mandated to institute the genderresponsiveness of national development plans andassist in strengthening government mechanisms ongender mainstreaming. National level inter-agencycommittees tasked with coordination role havebeen established to address GBV issues. While theMyanmar Women’s Affairs Federation (MWAF)would be expected to provide support togender-sensitive policy formulation, in practice itis viewed as a State control filter organ and assuch few GBV cases are brought forward for theirintervention. The Government’s official position isthat women have equal rights with men andgender discrimination does not exist in Myanmar.Hence, the Myanmar National Commission onWomen’s Affairs (MNCWA) under the previousgovernment was disbanded and replaced by thelower-level MWAF. The MNCWA had initiatedGBV-related activities including the formation ofa sub-committee and regional workshops on VAW.On the other hand, in Cambodia, the Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs (MOWA), having ministeriallevel status and the ability to initiate policyformulation, was successful to work and advocatewith the National Assembly to adopt the law onthe Prevention of Domestic Violence and theProtection of Victims in September 2005. Inaddition, the MOWA is finalizing a NationalAction Plan, providing national mechanisms toenforce the law and monitor implementation.

Ironically, while prominence within nationalpolicy institutions demonstrates likely power toinitiate policy shifts, the institutional mandateoften indicates lack of their strategic focus withinpolicy-making frameworks. Usually, Gender FocalPoints are posted within line ministries but thesepositions often lack real authority and it is notuncommon in some countries to find that they are

15

saddled with promotion of women’s traditionalroles and culturally correct practices such asfemale style of dressing.

3.2 Budgetary Support

In many of the study countries, the strategyto reduce the rate of GBV is inadequatelyinstitutionalized with personnel and budgetaryresources.

In Malaysia, the Department of Women’sDevelopment has devised a strategy to approachcommunity volunteers to implement its’ nationalWomen Against Violence Campaign. To assist inthe Ministry of Family and CommunityDevelopment’s (MWFCD) mission to retard therate of GBV, the strategy enlists volunteerresponsibility to record and periodically reportto the State level Department monitoring andfeedback information. It is this information thatthe Department relies on in developingpartnerships with relevant agencies. Notsurprisingly, high volunteer attrition rate hasproven this to be an impractical strategy.Similarly, the deployment of Gender Focal Pointsin each Ministry, as “eyes and ears” for MWFCDto ensure gender-sensitive policies and services,appear to be token positions which lack requisiteauthority, decision-making or policy formulationpowers. While the Department of Social Welfareis responsible for implementation of the DomesticViolence Act, it too is under-resourced to meetits’ task of enforcing administrative proceduresand provision of shelters.

In Thailand, Chief Gender Equality Officersand Gender Focal Points are placed within lineministries. As in Malaysia, these positions appearnot to be accompanied with real authority. Inaddition, the institutional framework directsstrategies to advocacy for building of familyrelationships and unity. Funding is allocated toOWAFD from the Ministry of Public Health andthe Ministry of Social Development and Human

Security on broad programmes concerningwomen’s development and not specific to GBVissues. The Programme for the Development ofChinese Women does not outline GBV as a priorityarea and the strategy to reduce the rate of GBV isneither institutionally formalized with personnelnor allocated budgetary resources. In additionthere is a lack of statistical data concerning GBV,which makes it difficult to set up targetedpreventions.

Philippines utilizes a Gender Budgetingpolicy, requiring all government agencies andinstitutions to allocate 5 per cent of their budgetsfor gender and development related programmesand projects. Similarly, financial resourcerequirements are stipulated in other nationalbudgets. However, there is no comprehensivestudy yet to assess the implementation of thispolicy. While the national committee on genderequality is in charge of overseeing the overallpolicy environment, Mongolia’s Ministry ofSocial Welfare and Labour is responsible forimplementation of the National Programme onGender Equality with 30 per cent of its’ annualbudget allocated to the National Centre AgainstViolence for delivery of primary services tovictims. However, women’s organizations haveexpressed concern that the funding available isnot adequate. It is hoped that when Cabinetapproves the National Programme AgainstDomestic Violence, a budget will be created forcombating and preventing Domestic Violence.

3.3 Implementation Structures

Furthermore, the presence of a nationalinstitution does not guarantee provision ofsupport towards the implementation of existingpolicies that provide assistance to GBV victims.For example, Mongolia’s policies on PopulationDevelopment and Family Development specifymeasures for implementation (e.g. humanprotection against GBV, rehabilitation andprovision of shelters for domestic violence victims)

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but lack support from existing institutionalframeworks and resource commitments. Thus,while the government is responsible for providingfunding to implement services stated in the Lawagainst Domestic Violence, adequate funding hasnot been made available in budgeting priorities.Rather, it is women and NGOs that have initiatedactivities in support of GBV victims with littlesupport from government institutions.

In Timor Leste, the Office for the Promotionof Equality is well positioned within the PrimeMinister’s Office in playing both a strategic role ingovernment and entry point for GBV issues. Mainareas of programming include strengthening ofgovernment capacity to address GBV throughdevelopment of legislation and judicial training;mainstreaming gender in all government sectors;promoting a culture of equality through activitiessuch as campaigns and public education; andsupporting empowerment of women through, forexample, support to local women’s networks.

Regarding national policy frameworks, it israre for countries to include provisions for GBV inNational Action Plans and programmes. ButIndonesia demonstrates a specific commitment inlinking GBV issues with a country’s nationaldevelopment plans. For, in addition to a nationalpolicy framework, provincial and district levelpolicies, the government developed a jointagreement between three ministries (Ministryfor Women’s Empowerment, Ministry of Health(MoH), and Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA)and the police force in the management of GBVand provision of integrated services for womenand child victims. Government institutions atsector level have also developed specific policiesaddressing GBV including the MoH (e.g.guidelines for handling GBV victims), MoSA (e.g.guidelines for establishment and operationalizationof crisis centres) and MOWE (e.g. establishmentof a directorate for GBV). Government Regulationno. 4 of 2006 constitutes a significant andstrategic effort in the implementation of the joint

agreement as it puts into effect a CoordinationForum comprising several ministries, NationalPolice and Civil Society Organizations which will“review the implementation of policies andprogrammes, accommodating inputs for planningand policy making purposes, sharing informationamong members and developing monitoringplans”. At provincial and district/city levels thereare similar Coordination Teams that aim toestablish network of VAW services, synchronizeefforts, determine responsibilities of each memberand share ideas and solutions to resources andother problems encountered.15

3.4 Linkages to International PolicyFrameworks

With respect to the international treaties andconventions impacting on GBV and gender, it isgratifying that all study countries are signatoriesto them, including CEDAW, ICPD, CRC, andFWCW, although this action does not necessarilyguarantee compliance. In fact, human rightsviolations and sex discrimination persist despiteratification of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights and the CEDAW in many countries.Rather, it is expected that countries should linkthese international policy frameworks to nationalpolicy formulation. Such linkage should be expressedin, for example, government commitments toformulation and implementation of relevant laws,budgetary allocations, trainings and provision ofGBV services.

In this regard, the Philippines draft billcalled the Magna Carta for Women is the proposedlegal framework for CEDAW while Thailandhas used the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA)and CEDAW guidelines as frameworks to guideinstitutional structure, policy and legal reformson women’s issues. This framework supportsprevious activities and accelerates public support.For example, a Constitutional Court decision (June

15 Indonesia 28-30 November 2006.

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2003) resulted in woman’s right to choose

whether or not to retain her surname after

marriage. Likewise, among the five priorities

currently outlined in the National Women

Development Plan is reduction of VAW against

women which is also endorsed as a necessity in

achieving Thailand’s MDG Plus16 Goal 3.

In Viet Nam, the Government has expressed

its commitment to guaranteeing women’s rights

through laws and legal documents in support of

the prevention of violence; in the prevention of

domestic violence in its’ Comprehensive Poverty

Reduction and Growth Strategy of Viet Nam, Viet

Nam Development Targets within the MDGs; its’

anti-trafficking stance in the National Plan of

Action for 2004-2010 Against Trafficking of

Women and Children, and Viet Nam’s Family

Strategy. More recently, the Law on Gender

Equality, with an Article that strictly prohibits

GBV and discriminatory acts was passed in

October 2006 while the Law on Domestic Violence

and Prevention and guides for its implementation

are being finalized.

Cambodia’s Neary Rattanak 11 (Women are

Precious Gems) five -year strategy (2004-2008)

includes strong policy statements on domestic

violence:

“Violence against women is against the law,an abuse of women’s rights and a further physicaland psychological burden for women. Domesticviolence, rape including gang rape, violenceagainst sex workers and trafficking, all involvingwomen, girls and even small children, is a majorconcern. There is an urgent need to expandexisting counselling services applied to violenceagainst women, and to the men and boys whoperpetrate violence. There is also an urgent needfor the collection of reliable data about allaspects of the issue of violence against women andchildren.”

Cambodia’s commitment towards elimination

of GBV is further reflected in its inclusion of

specific targets in the MDGs as presented in

Box 6.

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16 MDG Plus is a strategy adopted by Thailand to extendtargets beyond those stipulated in the global MDGframework with respect to poverty reduction, education,maternal and child mortality, HIV/AIDS, gender equalityand environment. See UNDP (undated).

Overall target 8: Reduce significantly all forms of violence against women and children

Target 3.16: Developing and implementing laws against all forms of violence against womenand children according to international requirements and standards by 2005

Target 3.17: Collecting annual statistics to monitor violence against women by 2005Target 3.18: Increasing the population percentage aware that violence against women is a wrongful

behaviour and a criminal act to 100% by 2015Target 3.19: Developing and implementing a prevention plan by 2005Target 3.20: Increasing the proportion of cases of domestic violence counselled by qualified

personnel to 100% by 2015.

Box 6: Specific Targets on GBV in Cambodia’s Millennium Development Goals

Source: Cambodia 28-30 November 2006

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Since 1998 Indonesia has had a NationalCommission on Violence Against Women. Between2001 and 2002 three National Plans of Actionon various forms of violence were formulated bygovernment in collaboration with Civil SocietyOrganizations (CSOs) on Elimination of VAW;Elimination of Sexual Exploitation of Childrenfor Commercial Purposes and Elimination ofTrafficking of Women and Children. Other

achievements pertain to the inclusion of women’srights in the Five Year National Human Rights Plan(1998-2003) and the National Human Right Act,Law on Abolition of Domestic Violence (2004) aswell as numerous other decentralized commitmentsat provincial and district level government.However, despite a positive policy environmentfor the prevention and management of GBV,implementation of the laws remains a challenge.

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The existence of gender-sensitive policyinstitutions is an important first step; but theformulation and implementation of effectivelegislation is often a challenge in its’ own right.Drafting of legislation can be a slow process wherepolitical disincentives and cultural norms maynot recognize GBV as a crime. Then, when legislationis adopted and government decrees providemechanisms for implementation, low commitment,capacity and lack of tools and resources by police,medical and judicial actors tend to pose furtherobstacles in the application of these mechanisms.To this end, this chapter focuses on variousdimensions of existing legislation, laws underrevision and/or formulation and various challengesin the interpretation and application of GBV andrelated laws.

4.1 Content and Scope of Legislation

By first examining the landscape of existinglegislation across the study countries, we seek tounderstand what the laws legislate against, whothey protect and what limitations exist both incontent and coverage.

Legislation against GBV must first definewhat behaviours and actions constitute a crime,followed by appropriate punishment and perceiveddeterrents. Many of the laws, at first glance,appear to protect women against GBV (e.g.Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act; Thailand’s Acton Prevention and Control of Trafficking andArticle on Control of Sexual Business; Cambodia’sLaw on the Prevention of Domestic Violence andthe Protection of Victims, and Viet Nam’s

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Photo credit : UNFPA IndonesiaWomen economic empowerment to reduce their vulnerabilityto GBV

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Criminal Law and Marriage and Family Law).However, upon closer examination, eitherdomestic violence (and/or rape) is not identifiedas a separate crime with punishable penaltiesor else conditions must be met by the victim tojustify charges being made against the perpetrator.By not identifying domestic violence or rape as acrime, the nature of GBV (as an outcome of unevengendered relationships), is hidden. This can makeit difficult to identify and implement appropriatemechanisms for investigation of GBV and provisionof services for survivors and their children such asprotection orders, shelters, counselling, and healthsupport measures. The following examples illustratethis point:

. Within Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act,domestic violence is not identified as aseparate crime punishable with penalties.Rather, various behaviours are enumeratedwhich constitute domestic violence,stipulating that the DVA should be readwith the relevant provisions of theexisting criminal penal code to determineappropriate punishment. The identificationof domestic violence largely pertains tophysical acts resulting in confinement,physical injury or damage to property.

. In Thailand the definition of rape in thecurrent law is “the act of sexualintercourse initiated by a man with awoman not his wife”. By this definition,the law fails to protect wives fromrape by their husbands and leaveshomosexuals unprotected. Meanwhile,the law on divorce and maritalcompensation unwittingly supports men’ssexual promiscuity when it allows thehusband to use adultery as grounds fordivorce but not for the wives. To sue fordivorce, the wife must prove not only thehusband’s unfaithfulness but that hefinancially supports and publicly honorsanother woman as a wife. However, these

laws are in the process of being revised.The first draft amendments tabled inthe first quarter of 2007 by the JusticeMinistry proposed jail term and fine forrape and sexual offences unless theyinvolved marital partners, thus unwittinglyappearing to endorse the long existingdefinition of rape in the penal code.Fortunately the draft was criticized in theNational Legislative Assembly, whichcalled for a revision of the proposedamendments17.

. Rape is criminalized under the Penal Codein Myanmar, with a maximum of 10years of imprisonment. Marital rape isrecognized with reduced sentences up to2 years unless the wife is less than 12 yearsof age. However, there are no provisionsfor domestic violence under the PenalCode as this is covered under general lawsdealing with assault. Similarly, no lawrelating to sexual harassment exists.Limited legal protection for GBV is to beexpected as the Government states thatthere is no discrimination between menand women in Myanmar society.

. In Cambodia domestic violence is notspecifically identified as a crime butpunishable in the existing penal code.Cambodia’s Law on the Prevention ofDomestic Violence and the Protection ofVictims considers domestic violence asan act subject to violence but does notdefine it as a crime unless severe injuriesresult either in physical or mentaldamage to the victim. As defined by thislaw, any act of sexual violence and rapewithin the context of domestic violence aredeemed illegal, subject to punishment by

17 Sanitsuda Ekachai, 25 January 2007, makes a criticalcommentary on these gender discriminatory provisions andamendments in the existing laws.

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penal code in force. Similarly, Viet Nam’sCriminal Law does not recognizedomestic violence but, rather, prohibitsviolence regardless of whether it is a manor woman using it against another manor woman. Furthermore, a case of violenceis only prosecuted if the victim’s injury isestimated to be more than 10 per cent lossof health and if the victim files charges.18

. In Cambodia, rape and sexual assault arecrimes under both the article 33 ofUNTAC (United Nations TransitionalAuthority in Cambodia), and the article5 of the Law on AggravatingCircumstances of the Felonies withconditional punishments: imprisonment of10-15 years for rape or attempted rape;15-20 years imprisonment with labour isapplied if rape is accompanied by useof weapons or if the survivor is pregnant,physically or mentally disabled; or is aminor under age 14. However, the rapelegislation has many loopholes. Forexample, the age of consent is not clearlydefined and therefore statutory rape is notrecognized. Further, rape is insufficientlydefined with narrow restrictions tovaginal or attempted penetration, whichis subject to misinterpretation byjudges. For example, a judge may use apenetration test and a loss of virginity testto decide whether rape has occurred.

. Following the end of occupation in 1999,Indonesian Law continues to govern thehandling of GBV cases in Timor Leste. LikeCambodia and Viet Nam, Indonesian Lawtends to focus only on physical violence.Rape is defined narrowly as an actresulting in severe injuries that constitutejustification for charges. Furthermore, thelower status of women in Timor Leste is

reflected in the fact that rape within marriageis not defined as criminal and grounds fordivorce are severe, giving more rights tomen than women to leave a marriage.

Altogether, these examples demonstrate anunacknowledged “invisibility” with regards tosexual violence in some countries. Domesticviolence is not recognized as a gender-motivatedcrime when it is packaged together with generallaws against violence. Similarly, when rape is notrecognized within marriage but accepted as a crime(only if it results in severe physical injury) outsideof marriage then the underlying message is thatthe institution of marriage entitles members toperpetrate regulated violence. This invisibility ofgender- based crime is further demonstrated insexual assault cases in Timor Leste. The policemust request forensic examination of a sexualassault victim (as opposed to the victim being ableto request an examination independently and thendeciding whether to pursue a police case). Ineffect, the police decide whether a crime has beencommitted, disempowering the victim’s right toclaim a crime, by seeking collection of evidence.

4.2 Protection of Victim versusPerpetrator

It sometimes appears that existinglegislation does not serve to protect victims of GBVbut shifts the defensive position onto the victimrather than the alleged perpetrator. In Malaysia,for example, Trengganu state passed a bill onIslamic criminal law which requires the burden ofproof to be shifted to the rape survivor, producingfour “good Muslims” as credible witnesses to proveinnocence, or face punishment for “slanderousaccusations”. Here, the victim is presumed guiltyby default unless she can find four people, acceptedby the authorities, to “speak” for her.

By contrast, important advances have beenmade in the Philippines and Mongolia where lawreform has improved previously narrow definitions

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18 Government of Viet Nam Regulation No. 12/TTLB

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of GBV, thus defining criminal acts against womenand children. The Anti-Rape Law in the Philippineshas improved upon the previous Revised Penal Codewhereby rape is now a crime against personhoodand not against chastity. However, it is importantto note that rape committed in the context ofmarriage deemed legal under existing Philippinelaws, forgiveness by the wife extinguishes thecriminal action or the penalty (Art. 266-C). TheRevised Penal Code now includes abuses againstchastity, adultery, concubinage and acts oflasciviousness. In addition to defining behaviourswhich constitute GBV, improvements have beenlegislated in service delivery to victims (e.g. theRape Victim Assistance and Protection Actmandates the establishment of rape crisiscentres in every province and city with relatedappropriation of funds; Anti-Trafficking in PersonsAct identifies mandatory government servicesto victims such as emergency shelter, counselling,free legal services, medical or psychologicalservices; and the Republic Act or Anti-ViolenceAgainst Women and their Children Law providesclarification with respect to the definition and scopeof crimes and provides for security measures suchas protection orders and mandates governmentbodies to provide necessary support services tovictims). However there is yet no comprehensivestudy has been done to determine the extent andefficacy of implementation of the above laws,although there is at least one high profile case incourt where the accused, i.e., the man, has beenable to use the legally mandated protection orderagainst the victim who originally filed the ofviolence. He managed to obtain custody of thechild using the protection order.

Mongolia’s Law Against Domestic Violencebroadly defines domestic violence as any act, whichinfringes upon another person’s rights or freedomsor any act that causes or contains a threat to causedamage. Specified forms of domestic violencein the Criminal Law include: beating, abuse,defaming, threat, assault, causing severe andconsiderable injuries, torment, incitement to

suicide, being left in a situation dangerous tolife, causing death and rape. The Law againstDomestic Violence also stipulates a range ofactors (line departments, Local government,Police, NGOs) to undertake various roles andactivities to combat and prevent domestic violence.Further, the Criminal Code of Mongolia containsa chapter on Crimes against the Child, Family andSocial Morals which criminalize violence againstthe child and women and determines criminalacts (e.g. recognizes property and non-propertydamages including psychological damage from acrime, specifies penalties for convicted criminals,obliges an offender to live separately, deniescontact with an under-aged child under his/her care,and impels alcohol or drug addicted persons tohave medical treatment).

Despite important advances in some areas,limitations in authority and both coverage andcontent of laws meant to address GBV can reduceeffectiveness of existing laws. Lack of authorityhas limited implementation as seen in examplesfrom the Philippines and Malaysia. Althoughthe Anti-Sexual Harassment Act in the Philippinesis incorporated in the Civil Service, Governmentagencies, private sector and other groups have notyet adopted this law in defining implementationmechanisms. Similarly, the Malaysian governmentproduced a code of ethics to prevent sexualharassment in the workplace, but it has no legalauthority and adoption by registered companieshas been minimal. The code is applicable to bothmen and women, but contains specific provisionsto protect women.

Limited reach of the law can ironicallyexempt potential beneficiaries and protect possiblecriminals. For example, while the DomesticViolence Act in Malaysia offers a range ofprotection to GBV survivors, it specificallyexcludes protection to foreign domesticworkers; victims of dating violence and mental,psychological and emotional forms of domesticviolence. In Myanmar, the military is exempt from

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prosecution under the Penal Code, thus abettingmilitary personnel to carry out violations withimmunity from legal recourse. Surprisingly,coverage for jurisdiction over Malaysia’sDomestic Violence Act appears to straddle bothSyariah law and Federal Law. While Syariah lawhas jurisdiction over family matters for Muslims,criminal matters fall under the administrationof the Federal court, with criminal law (includingthe DVA) applying to both Muslims and non-Muslims. The DVA offers protection (e.g.protection order, compensation for claims againstinjury, property damage or financial loss) to:survivors identified as immediate; former or defacto spouse; a child; an “incapacitated” adult orany member of the family.

Important reforms to existing laws havebeen accepted in Malaysia (e.g. mandatory jailsentences for convicted rapists, raising statutoryrape age, permitting abortion when deemed tosafeguard mental and physical health of rapesurvivor, prohibition under cross-examinationof survivor’s past sexual history, and raisingjail term for sexual molestation). However,others such as expanded definition of rape,marital rape, and shifting burden of proof fromsurvivor to perpetrator are still being advocatedfor. Hence, despite broad jurisdiction, the DVAprovides limited use since the police oftenclassify domestic violence cases as “non-seizable”offences. The classification diminishes both theability to implement the law and the deterrentvalue of the DVA by creating obstacles (e.g.requiring orders from the deputy publicprosecutor before investigation, and a warrantbefore arresting offenders or obtaining interimprotection orders for the victim) to ease effectiveimplementation.

4.3 Clauses on Dimensions of GBVin Related Laws

It is not always the case that clauses ondimensions of GBV in related laws (e.g. Marriage

Law, Family Law, Labour Code) are in harmonywith Civil Law. It has been found that related lawscan be empty declarations without provision ofsupporting regulations, present double standards,or at worst stand in contradiction to Civil Law.

Mongolia’s related laws are a good exampleof harmony in legislation. The Family Lawrecognizes domestic violence, specifying thatmarried couples be obliged not to use any form ofviolence against each other. Further, provision fordivorce is spelled out, allowing courts to proceedto marriage dissolutions without reconciliationattempts if it deems a perceived threat to the lifeand health of one of the spouses, or if the damagehas been proven. Residing family members whohave suffered health and lost working capabilityas a result of domestic violence are entitled to berefunded under Civil Law. However, Mongolia’sLabour Code presents an empty declaration whenonly the general principle of equal opportunity tomen and women in employment is stated but doesnot provide regulations for sexual harassment.

Although Viet Nam’s Criminal Law outlawsthe use of violence, it does, not specifically addressthe nature of GBV and its’ presentation. One canargue that protection of GBV victims under theexisting Criminal Code is inappropriate becausethe latter requires a violence case to be prosecutedonly if the victim’s injury is estimated to be morethan 10 per cent and the victim files charges. Whenapplied to GBV cases, the victim would have todemonstrate that injury as a result of a violent actcaused the loss of health by more than 10 per cent.Measurements of psychological or emotionalviolence would likely be problematic in practice.Moreover, governing divorce law puts emphasison “reconciliation” by community authorities inthe case of family violence. Thus while themajority of family violence and divorce cases arefiled by women on the grounds of family conflict,being beaten and maltreated, such serious actsof violence are treated under reconciliationrather than being subjected to criminal and civilpunishment.

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The Philippines Marriage and Family Lawcite spousal abuse as possible grounds forseparation, yet women find it more difficult toget out of abusive marriages given the doublestandard of the penal provisions on concubinageand adultery. Further, the hierarchy of theCatholic Church continues to provide stiffopposition to pass a divorce law. On the other hand,Indonesia’s Marriage Law is understood to be incontradiction to existing laws on population. For,although the law on population stresses theimportance of contraception for women,obligating their inclusion in family planning, theMarriage Law states that the husband is the headof household, while the wife is a housewife, thusconfining wives to their domestic role. Likewise,reform of the health law needs consideration asit reduces women to their reproductive role only,thus removing access to other health services,including safe abortion. There is apparent lack ofincentive to revise these laws in parliament, as itwould not be politically saleable.

4.4 Laws Under Revision and/orFormulation

As has been outlined earlier, interpretationand implementation of existing laws can beproblematic especially when they are recognizedfor having inadequacies and also in the case ofpending laws under debate. Both revision of lawsand the moving forward of pending legislationrequire negotiation of the status quo. Theseprocesses can be difficult as they are embedded ingendered beliefs, particularly when they are linkedto a religious belief system. Further, some areas ofbehaviour in society are considered to be the moraldomain of religious leaders. They often provideguidance by interpreting causality of actions andlinking it with specified codes of behaviour insociety (e.g. dress, freedom of movement, andcontrol over reproductive function). The followingexamples illuminate some of the moral and legalterrain, which must be negotiated in improvingor finalizing legislation.

In Malaysia, discussions on proposedamendments to the DVA are underway as it isrecognized that weaknesses in the Act hinderinterpretation and provisions. For example, policehandling domestic violence cases have beenreluctant to file reports, advising, rather, that thevictim settle the problem at home. The rationale isthat men are the heads of the family and thereis no need to make a police report. Other featuresof the DVA which make implementationproblematic include: difficulty to serve IPOs(Internal Protection Orders) where perpetratorsare on the move; provision of a safe place whichmeets physical requirements; mechanisms forapplication for compensation to domestic violencesurvivors; and lack of clarity in defining differentforms of violence.

Of late, women’s groups as well as theMWFCD have been discussing the need for aGender Equality Bill. Making this discussionpublic for the first time, the MWFCD, Departmentof Women Development, JAG as well as theEmbassy of Sweden jointly organized a publicseminar on “Gender Equality Seminar: SwedishExperiences” on 5 June 2006 in Kuala Lumpur.The Swedish Embassy brought over Swedishexperts from the Inquiry on Gender Equality Policyand Special Advisor on Gender Equality to sharetheir experiences in Sweden. Key Malaysian womenleaders were invited to deliberate on the need forgender equality and gender mainstreamingin Malaysia. A Gender Equality Bill will thusconstitute an overarching framework of genderrights that could address the gender inequalitiesunderlying and impacting GBV in the long term.Related to this is the compelling issue of lobbyingfor reform of gender discriminatory religious lawsincluding GBV as shown in Box 7.

Bills pending in the Philippines include theAnti-Prostitution Act and Anti-Discrimination Billand Reproductive Health bill which are meant toaddress human rights violations against personsin prostitution; the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/

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Transgender population; and women and men’sreproductive health rights in provision of servicesand programmes. Opposition from the male-dominated Congress has put these proposed lawson hold for years. Additionally, opposition bythe Arroyo Government and the hierarchy of theCatholic Church to the Reproductive Health Billhas been fierce. For Viet Nam, as mentionedearlier the Viet Nam Law on Domestic Violenceand Control is being finalized and is expectedto be approved by Parliament in November 2007.

In Thailand, in addition to the laws gearedtowards the prevention of GBV and control oftrafficking in women and children (Act onPrevention & Control of Trafficking, Article onControl of Sexual Business, and 20th Penal Code’sArticle on Child Protection to assist girls andwomen in the prosecution process), Cabinetapproved a Draft Act on the Prevention andResolution of Domestic Violence in July 2005.Under deliberation in the current NationalLegislative Assembly, highlights of this Draft Actinclude19: intent not only to punish but also torehabilitate the offender; six 6-months jail term

maximum for Domestic Violence (in comparisonto 2-year term for other forms of violence underthe Criminal Code); wide scope of the Act toinclude current, former and de facto spouse,legitimate and adopted children, other familymembers living in the household; obligation toreport Domestic Violence by any person witnessingthe act; and entitlement of the victim toprotection and a range of professional services.

In Timor Leste, the formulation process ofthe Domestic Violence Law has been ongoing since2001 with it’s submission to government in 2005and placement on the agenda of parliamentduring 2006. The law outlines the roles andresponsibilities of services providing support tovictims (lawyers, public defenders, police andstate); defines domestic violence broadly (i.e.physical, psychological, sexual harm andmaltreatment), and types of punishment.Punishment is forward thinking in that it goesbeyond incarceration, with rules on maintenancepayment after separation as a result of domestic

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Box 7: Lobbying for Reform of Religious Laws in Malaysia

Sisters-in-Islam (known as the SIS) advocates for the rights of Muslim women under Islamic(Syariah) laws. It has established a specific law reform project focusing on public education andlobbying for better legal protections for Muslim women. The project also attempts to sensitizeSyariah lawyers, Kadis (Islamic judges) and Muslim counsellors to the discrimination and biasesagainst women that exist in the Syariah laws, or in their implementation. The public educationcomponents highlight issues specific to Muslim women, such as polygamy, legal protections, andthe implications of the hudud laws. The organization has published simple pamphlets such as “CanMuslim Men Beat their Wives?” and “Are Women and Men Equal before Allah?” to disseminateinformation to women who face abuse. It also responds to media on issues related to Muslimwomen so as to raise public awareness of their rights. Targeted lobbying that seeks review andamendments to the Syariah laws has complemented these general activities. This work is primarilycarried out through meetings, seminars and consultations with key religious leaders, Islamic judgesand Islamic academics. Various memoranda have been submitted to the government on the need toreview and reform the Syariah laws so as to ensure women gets justice, but these attempts faceuphill battles.

Source: UNFPA Malaysia.17 April 2006

19 See full discussion in Tonguthai, Pawadee April 2007

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violence. It is expected that the implementationand gathering of resources needed to fulfill the lawwill be a challenge for Timor Leste.

In China, there is no a specific national lawon GBV but several clauses on domestic violence,trafficking and protection of the girl-child havebeen added to some laws:

. The Criminal Law amended and implementedin 1997 has been revised to include andseverely punish crimes on abducting andbuying women.

. The revised Law on Marriage implementedin 2001 clearly stipulated that violenceagainst women, including domesticviolence, is a human rights violation andshould be prohibited. In this revision,domestic violence as basis for divorcecame into effect.

. The Law on Population and FamilyPlanning of Peoples’ Republic of Chinapublished and implemented in 2001 hasstipulated the prohibition of discrimination,ill treatment, abandoning of girl babies andnon-medical sex selection.

. In 2005, the amended Law on theProtection of Women’s Rights includeddomestic violence and sexual harassmentas two major issues. In addition, the lawprohibits drowning, abandoning orinfanticide in any manner of femalebabies; discriminating against ormaltreating of women who give birth tofemale babies or women who are sterile;cruel treatment causing bodily injuryto or death of women by means ofsuperstition or violence. Trafficking,buying and kidnapping of women are alsoconsidered criminal offenses.The Hunan provincial implementarymeasures of this law (issued in 2006)

further identify several types ofharassment, including text messagesfrom mobile phone.

. About 16 provinces have promulgatedlocal laws preventing domestic violence,and 90 counties and municipalities haveformulated supportive policies.

4.5 Quality of Implementation ofExisting Laws

While this topic will be discussed in furtherdetail in Chapter 7 under efficacy of legal services,it is useful to flag here how the quality of existinglaws is influenced by weaknesses in implementa-tion. A law is only useful if it has recognizedapplication and interpretation.

Culturally-Embedded Perception andPrioritization of GBV in Existing Laws

In addition to analyzing existing laws bylooking at their content and coverage, understandinghow GBV is perceived in society is useful as it canbe a reflection of the recognition and need forlegislation. The following examples provide someexplanation of the inadequacies we see in existinglaws.

In Thailand, GBV is viewed as a “familyproblem”, rather than a human rights issue, tobe protected by laws. Similarly, by defining GBVas a “women’s issue” in Indonesia (and as suchremoving responsibility as a “gender issue”), itreduces the call on problem-solving processesand resources within government. These sameviewpoints are held in Myanmar, where domesticviolence is normal and considered to be a privatematter dealt within the family. Adding to thisinvisibility of GBV is the fear of speaking outpublicly on individual rights, a phenomenon whichis culturally rooted and politically bred throughrepression. Like Thailand and Myanmar, thehandling of GBV cases is considered to be

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personal and culturally perceived as shameful inTimor Leste. Further, women are considered to beat fault for GBV, rather than victims, as it is theirduty to keep the family together and maintainharmony. On paper, it appears that DomesticViolence victims are protected under the law.In practice, it may give room for maneuver ininterpreting which activities and under whatcircumstances they are to be managed as “familymatters” or criminal acts.

The prioritization and enforcement of lawscan be culturally embedded as demonstrated inIndonesia. The existing “health law” views womenonly in their reproductive role, removing accessto health services such as abortion. Reproductiverights are not viewed as a fundamental humanright and receive less priority than, by contrast,the anti-pornography bill. The anti-pornographybill limits women’s movement in the name ofdecency and morality, and is driven by religiousfundamentalist groups seeking to control theirgrip on society’s behaviour. The fundamental viewis that women are seen as the source of problemswithin the community and, by implication, invitingabuse and violence on themselves. As such it isdeemed necessary that women’s movementsshould be regulated by local governmentinterventions. In contrast, a gendered perceptionwould take the view that it is the unregulatedbehaviour of men in the community that putswomen at risk. This distorted logic of viewingwomen, as a “problem” would, therefore, justifyrape as a woman’s fault or a divorced womanescaping GBV worthy of honour killing forshaming her family. Thus, religion can be the faceof discrimination when laws are formulated onthe basis of “morality” and “local tradition”.Reportedly, violence conducted by the state isincreasing in the form of laws and regulations inIndonesia that violate women’s human rights. Upto now there are at least 26 such local regulationsbills in the name of modesty and morality.

Cultural practices can also be underlying

vehicles for GBV in some parts of Indonesia. Forexample, the tradition of belis where wives arepurchased can lead to an acceptance of GBVon the rationale that a husband can treat hisproperty as he likes. It also provides justificationfor inheritance of women within a family when thehusband dies. The removal of perceived individualrights can play a part in the acceptability of GBV.Finally, cultural limitations can affect the qualityof legislation. The strong presence of the CatholicChurch in the Philippines seeks to link moralbehaviour with reproductive health rights, in its’opposition to both abortion and contraceptives.Similar opposition is expressed towards theDivorce Law, provisioning guilt towards womenwho seek to leave abusive marriages. Similarly,enactment of the Domestic Violence law in TimorLeste is facing concern from some quarters,including the Catholic Church, which fear that itwill lead to family breakdown through divorce.20

This shows that framing the discourse on GBV canbecome the moral territory of religious leadersin countries with an underlying theocraticorientation. Thus, for some groups, genderedlegislation is perceived as a protection of humanrights against GBV, while for others it is a tool forcontrol of moral behaviour.

Juxtaposition of GBV Laws with CompetingLaws

In Indonesia, we see problems of interpretationand application when GBV related laws areplaced side by side with Islamic Law. The numberof cases prosecuted using the ADV (Law onAbolition of Domestic Violence) remains low asIslamic law and civil law have different processes:Indonesia Islamic law is tied to Islamic rules ofbehaviour with cases being enforced in religiouscourts. For example, the marriage institutionis tightly bound with and strongly based onreligion with the religious courts using the book

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20 Personal communication from Timor Leste team at UNFPAESEA Regional Planning Meeting, 13-17 November 2006

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of compilation of Islamic law as the basis of itsprocesses. Hence, there is a need to look at thelocation of these processes for enfor cement ofexisting laws as GBV cases tend to be reportedthrough religious courts where the ADV law isnot used. A case of domestic violence must bebrought to legal court to be processed using theADV law. Another twist is that, administratively,one of the unintended consequences ofdecentralized system of local government isthe tendency for some districts to enact byelaws,which infringe on women’s rights in the realm ofpersonal behaviour. In Aceh and West Java, forexample, the perpetuation of traditional genderroles that disadvantage women are justifiedby a fairly orthodox interpretation of religious(Islamic) teachings including reassertion andformalization of traditional, patriarchal values suchas requirement of wearing the headscarf in public.Failure to observe these rules has at times madewomen targets of GBV and other risks.

In Cambodia, rape and sexual assault lawsare weakened by the lack of implementation, partlydue to patriarchal values held by police officersand judiciary. The limited quality of investigativeprocedures and uncertain legal framework resultin poor understanding of GBV crime at best anddenial at worst. Conversely, implementation of lawsrelating to GBV can be problematic when somemembers of society are exempt from prosecution,enforcement is inadequate, and when victims arehesitant to report a crime. These are evidentlycharacterized by the culture of impunity,corruption and unlawful compensation payments.For example, as mentioned earlier although rapeis criminalized in the Penal Code in Myanmar,military personnel are exempt from prosecution.Further, victims have reported intimidation orbribery by local authorities not to report ortestify.

Failure of Implementation of Laws byDefault

Finally, failure of implementation of laws canbe by default when competing laws and processes(i.e. international, national, and traditional) failto guide transparent standards. The result is thatthe justice system fails to apply a law whenappropriate and/or victims choose not to seekprotection from the law due to frustration.

Even good laws need operational guidelines,and user understanding of terminology andelements of law. We see this phenomenon inpractice in the case of Timor Leste whereinternational law, Timorese law and Traditionalprocesses compete. Traditional processes, bydefault, are used to respond to GBV throughoutthe land as tradition maintains that individualswill turn to local community resources whennegotiating disputes or perceived crimes. Victimsoften report dissatisfaction with the outcomesand disempowerment by traditional processes.Such a process typically lacks transparency andis open to influence by either party; judgmentsare based on maintenance of patriarchal genderedroles; and punishment is a fine for presentdamages rather than more severe deterrents toaccommodate extenuating factors such as historyof abuse. However, seeking justice through formallegal processes is perceived as both costly and riskywhen operating in new terrains that they do notknow how to negotiate. Frustration results for boththe client and service providers within the legalsystem.

Thus, without a clear understanding ofcompeting laws and processes, the outcome is thatjudges may fail to apply standards of internationallaw where appropriate and government is not readyto accommodate traditional processes in its efforts

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to strengthen the rule of law. By default, efforts tocriminalize GBV remain in the realm of Timoreselaw where the majority of victims do not seekjustice. An even deeper problem in protectingwomen from GBV is when society doesn’t see theneed for legislation. This can be due to prevailingcultural norms of behaviour or historical suspicionof laws, either imposed by occupying regimes orperceived as imported from the west. Suspicionand lack of trust in Timorese law is an outcome ofthe perceived link to corruption in the courtsystem during Indonesian occupation. The resultis a dependence on traditional justice processes,with own inherent lack of transparency and GBVdenial attitudes. Complicating this situation isthe perceived inaccessibility of formal justice toGBV victims owing to a lack of understanding thata “crime” has been perpetuated; long distances tocentres to file a report; lengthy court processes;complex procedures and expectation of lowprosecution rates.

Gender blindness in laws, such as lack of aspecific law, which identifies women as avulnerable group and/or lack of guiding frameworkare among factors, which are detrimental toaddressing GBV. For, in that situation it becomeseasy for the State to be complicit in the shameand fear of victims associated with GBV crimes,when laws are not enforced to deter a problem,which is not understood. Further, Confucian andother traditional norms can promote an acceptanceof and justification for GBV. For example, it isacceptable for a husband to use violence to “teachhis wife” if she has done something “wrong”.Judgments are subjective, leaving her actionspossibly open to abuse. Women are meant to obeytheir father, husband, or eldest son (after theirhusbandís death), thus enforcing a system ofpatriarchal power in existence for generations.

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In China Despite the explicit prohibition ofdomestic violence in both the revised Law onMarriage and the Law on the Protection ofWomen’s Rights, there is a lack of comprehensivenational legislation on violence against womenthat also provides access to justice and meansof support for victims and punishment ofperpetrators. As mentioned above, 16 provinceshave promulgated local laws preventing domesticviolence, but even then, the implementation of thelaw remains weak. One reason for this is that theimplementation of the law and the protection ofwomen are considered the responsibility of thelocal women’s organizations; which are mandatedto request the government department or unitand/or employer of the husband concerned toinvestigate and deal with the case so as to protectthe interest of the women. However, in practice asa (GO) NGO both at national and at provinciallevel, the Women Federation lacks both thebudget and the authority to mandate partnerships with relevant government.

Another issue that hinders effectiveimplementation is that none of the Chinesedomestic legislations contains a definition ofviolence against women including domesticviolence, sexual harassment, and discriminationof the girl child or trafficking. This leaves littleguidance and lead to wide interpretations of thelaws by sub-national governments at provincial andcounty levels. Consequently, the formulation,implementation and execution of the law varywidely between provinces. Hence, the translationof ‘domestic violence’ to ‘family violence’ and‘gender based violence’ to ‘gender violence’ inChinese reflects how the concept of gender basedviolence and domestic violence are largely viewedas “family problem”, rather than human rightsissues to be protected by law.

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With specific reference to rape, despite thelegislation against sexual harassment in the Lawon the Protection of Women’s Rights and rape inthe Criminal Law of the Republic of China, itsexecution is weak. In practice, in many cases rapeis considered a result of the woman’s seductivemoves, which justify her being abused, or raped

even though it is prohibited. Moreover, the law doesnot recognize sexual violence behaviour withinmarriage as rape. Again, this perception is deeplyrooted in prevailing masculinity norms abatingand justifying male sexual aggression towardswomen.

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The desire for change requires committedagents, an identified target group, an agreementon issues and messages to raise, a strategy forcommunication, and delivery of reliable outcomesto sustain the desired change (e.g. enactment ofpolicies and laws, availability of services andtrained service providers embedded in governmentinstitutions and/or service organizations,gender-responsive education and counsellingprovision as a component of deterrents). To thisend, the development of advocacy messages,knowledge and awareness campaigns, andbehaviour change strategies are inevitablyintertwined in practice. This chapter addresses thecomponents, outlined above, for change delivery.

Raising issues underlying GBV and advocatingbehaviour change pose a challenge, particularly insocieties where GBV is still a highly sensitive topic,documentation is scanty, understanding of it asa human rights issue subject to criminal law isrudimentary at best, and where legal protection isinconsistent and often inadequate. This results inGBV being largely ‘invisible’ in the public domain.However, advocates argue that we cannot affordto consider GBV as a ‘private affair’ as it impactsthe individual, family and societal well-being anddevelopment and has thus merged into the publicsphere of criminal laws (e.g. international humanrights) and the global economy (e.g. humantrafficking).

On a strategic level, advocating the recognitionand eradication of GBV require multiple strategies,focusing on knowledge building, awareness creationand change in behaviours. There is a need to educate

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the victim/client, the perpetrator and potentialsupport agents on GBV. The victim needs to beaware of her/his rights in seeking redress. This mustbe supported by institutional agents in society,whose actions on GBV issues must include:awareness raising, training and provision of legaland psychosocial services, and safety andprotection for the victim. The perpetrator needs tounderstand the nature of GBV as a criminal, ratherthan take it as a domestic management measure.Further, behaviour change directed at theperpetrator needs to be carried out in a non-threatening and supportive manner.

5.1 Change Agents and TargetGroups

Change agents can work at different levels,depending upon the areas they seek to influence(e.g. policy development, law formulation, victimsupport, perpetrator behaviour) and theirassociated target groups (e.g. government civilservants, local authorities, religious leaders,parents and spouses of victims). Across the studycountries, we see a range of change agents andtargets for IEC and BCC.

Partnering with Men

Alarmed that men’s voices and participationin the promotion of gender equality have beenrather muted, gender activist NGOs in the studycountries have resolved that partnering with mento address gender inequality in general, and GBVin particular, is one of the potentially effectivestrategies that needs to be vigorously pursued. Thestrategy to achieve this partnership is a twopronged approach involving: i) sensitization ofmen to downsides of dominant masculinity andfemininity norms to both men and women’sself-concepts and gender relations and ii) engagingmen in active transformation of their behavioursand hierarchical societal structures and processwhich contribute to, among other things, GBV.

In Malaysia, MAN.V (Men Against Violence)is an extension of AWAM (All Women’s ActionSociety, an NGO) that has been actively engagedin various aspects of programmes and activitiesrelated to gender and rights issues. Resourcepersons from both MAN.V and AWAM have beeninvolved in developing the training materials aswell as conducting training workshops on genderand GBV. Efforts have also been made to ensurethat young men constitute about half of theworkshop participants. However, difficulties arereportedly encountered in attracting young mento attend such training workshops and to get newmale recruits as resource persons. To further raiseawareness on GBV/VAW a White RibbonCampaign (WRC)21 was planned for launching on25 November 2006 in collaboration with MAN.V,AWAM and UNCT22.

In Cambodia, Project Against DomesticViolence (PADV) has since October 2002, withsupport of GTZ, developed a communitydevelopment framework project “Men StopViolence” working with Cambodian men to stopfamily violence. In March 2006 GTZ contracted aconsultant to conduct a 2-week training23 for NGOsand Ministry staff on “understanding and workingmore effectively with men” with a focus on:. Masculine identity in the family context. Why are men angry?. Violence and anger. Drug and alcohol abuse. Dealing with Excuses and denials. How to address a perpetrator with the aim

to motivate him to change?. Men can help to solve domestic violence. Development of a toolkit for addressingmen across age, marital status and socio-economic categories with messages, leaf-lets, posters, radio programme and others.

21 The WRC is a week-long campaign, encouraging men’svoice against sexual violence on women. The men wear awhite ribbon to signify their commitment to the cause ofelimination of VAW.

22 UNFPA Asia and Pacific Division 13-17 November 2006.23 Ellis, Hurst and Associated, Pty. Ltd March 2006

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address both their violent actions and theirviewpoints on domestic violence. It has beenreported that men’s threats and intimidationtowards their spouses and other members havedecreased, as they gain self-control over their acts.

Coalitions of Change Agents

At another level, we see the formation ofcoalitions of change agents in the study countriesto deliver messages to multiple target groups. Inthe Philippines, the linkage of violence anddiscrimination forms a common platform inbringing together different change agents against

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Source: http://www.ncav.org/en/program.php?id=11

The NCAV jointly with the General Police Department implemented the programme tochange the attitude of male perpetrators. The programme was based on the model “Developmentpromoted by the community” developed in Australia. This programme is distinctive in that it offersinformation and services to the male perpetrators in order to change their bahaviour. The contentsof the programme were fighting not only the violent actions by the perpetrators but alsotheir viewpoints on Domestic Violence.

The main significance of the programme observed was it engaged men in activities to reduceDomestic Violence. Training “Ways to alter the attitude and behaviour of perpetrators” was runand publication “The man cries” to men were distributed to communities. Counselling wasdelivered to men detained for committing Domestic Violence and manual by the Australianpsychologist Dale Hurst and his training input. Counselling male perpetrators engaged policeofficers working at grass-root levels with perpetrators and encouraged them to be involved intraining and workshops. As a result of counselling, men’s threats and intimidation towards theirspouses and other members decreased. As a result of the involvement of different stakeholdersclose cooperation of local men NGOs working with men such as AA Association, Mongol Visionand Gal Golomt was improved.

The following outcomes were drawn:. Men wanted to change themselves. While 1/4 of them gained self-control over their acts,15 per cent of them understood their emotional motives. Whereas 1/10 of them realizedthat Domestic Violence was a crime and felt guilty, 10 per cent of few of them blamedothers.. Men wanted to express themselves and share their feelings with others and have morecounselling.

Box 8. Engagement of Men in Prevention of Violence in Mongolia

In Timor Leste, the Association of Menagainst Violence (Asosiacao Mane KontraViolencia) was established in 2002 as the primaryinitiative directing IEC and advocacy work atmen. Their mission includes conducting grass-roots education about GBV and human rightsas well as IEC/advocacy advocacy work such asrallies, street theatre, workshops and the lobbyingof Government to include gender education in thenational school curriculum and national mediacampaigns. On the other hand, some programmesin Mongolia (see Box 8) have targeted maleperpetrators for counselling, sensitization anddissemination of behaviour change messages to

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GBV. It is not only women speaking out but alsoadvocates of gender orientation choice(homosexual, bisexual and transgender). InCambodia, a number of workshops, public foraand meetings have been conducted with lineministries; members of Cambodia National Councilfor Women; and representatives from GenderMainstreaming Action Group in line ministries,provincial line departments, commune councilsand communities to increase their understandingof GBV. A coalition of NGOs (GAD/C, ProjectAgainst Domestic Violence (PADV), CWCC,ADHOC (Cambodia Human Rights and Develop-ment Association), LICADHO and CambodiaDefender Project (CDP/women’s ResourceCentre) has organized advocacy campaignsagainst GBV in several national events to targetrelevant groups, particularly illiterate people inremote areas. They have also targeted students,citizens, civil servants, police officers, and localauthorities to increase their awareness of genderand domestic violence. Research, training andpublic awareness raising activities have beenembedded in their programmes. This higherprofile positions them to provide advocacy supportin rescues, cooperation with authorities, and legalintervention for survivors of GBV.

Community and Faith-Based Groups

In Viet Nam, pilot projects have beenchallenged to provide IEC/BCC materials tospecific beneficiary groups (victims andperpetrators) without publicly targeting theaudience. Efforts have been made to diffuse thestigma of victims and perpetrators of GBV withinsome community-based projects by bringing itout in the public arena and providing a safeenvironment for change. This approach seeks toreduce the possibility of victims being re-victimized and perpetrators being condemned fortheir actions, allowing space for transformationand renewal. While both victims and perpetratorsstill report stigma, there appears to be greaterability to discuss the matter and find support

within the community to address it. Specifically,the RaFH (Centre for Reproductive and FamilyHealth) and UNFPA/SDC projects have bothformed Husband and Father Clubs and Wife andMother Clubs. While, initially, community memberswithout violence in the family along with maleperpetrators and female victims of violence wereencouraged to participate, the latter two groupswere ashamed to be identified in the community.As a result, the RaFH club began holding separate“seminars” for victims and perpetrators, withoutlabeling them in the community as such. Bothvictims and perpetrators voiced their appreciationfor being able to speak about their problems andto learn more about domestic violence andgender equality. The outcome has been that somevictims went to the commune counselling room andrequested help from the Intervention Team whilesome perpetrators reported that they used lessviolence to resolve their problems. UNFPA/SDCproject clubs did not provide separate meetingsfor perpetrators, but invited them to meetingshoping to integrate them into a wider group, thuslightening the stigma.

On the other hand, Faith-based organizationshave also been appropriate change agents. InIndonesia NGOs such as Nasyiatul Aisyiah,Rahima, Fatayat, and Puan Amal Hayati haveactively conducted IEC for their members bytargeting information regarding women andIslam, including GBV and Islam. The Rahimaorganization, for example, has published researchon women and Islam and maintains a website ongender/GBV and Islam that is accessible to thepublic. Fatayat and Nasyiatul Aisyiah conduct IECsessions at grassroots level for religious leaderand community members, thus increasing publicawareness on domestic violence and the 2004Law on Abolition of Domestic Violence. Similarly,Puan Amal Hayati, in collaboration with AsSakienah pesantren and Cipasung pesantren,has inserted GBV topics such as domesticviolence and polygamy into the speech script ofreligious leaders. GBV issues, in particular

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domestic violence and other womenís rightsissues, have been highlighted during routinediscussion sessions or Qur’anic recital. Further,the Puan Amal Hayati publishes a newsletterwhich includes monthly topics such as polygamy“nusyus”24, trafficking, domestic violence andpornography.

Other faith-based organizations such as theseminary of Sisters of Good Shepard conduct IECon GBV through religious sermons. The strategyhas been useful in gaining influence and raisingthe prominence of GBV issues by associating itwith the teachings of respected religious leaders.Altogether, use of religious leaders, as changeagents, can be powerful given their role in shapinggender relations. Further, such agents can providean important clarification role where religious-backed preservation of moral behaviour is usedto justify GBV.

Academic and Professional TrainingInstitutions

Apart from sensitizing and educating thegeneral public and their respective constituencieson GBV, formal training in schools and professionaltraining institutions constitute very good transfor-mative avenues for attitudinal and behaviourchanges of the youth and tomorrow’s leaders, part-ners and service providers. For this reason, UNFPAprogrammes on adolescent sexual and reproductivehealth for both in- and out-of-school youths includechanging traditional masculinity norms that fuelthe occurrence of GBV. Alongside that, countriesare involved in revising curricula to integrate GBVin various academic and professional subjects suchas religion, law, nursing, journalism, and medicine.

In the Philippines, the Department ofEducation is planning to include adolescentreproductive health in the teaching syllabus forstudents from Grades 4 to 6 and High School withthe core message “Adolescents have rights to beprotected against all forms of reproductive health

violence and discrimination”. This has causedcontroversy as a similar project during the UNFPA5th Country Programme (2000-2004) under theNGO TRIDEV Specialists Foundation, Inc. was metby protests from the Catholic Church. The sameNGO also implemented the School Based YouthPeer Educators and Advocates for ReproductiveHealth project, providing for the training of 69peer education volunteers on, among other topics,the prevention and management of VAW. SupportingIEC materials were produced.

Of course in all study countries there arerespected institutes and universities doing researchand offering courses on gender, gender and healthand GBV in various faculties, some developed asfar back as the 1980s. For example, the Facultyof Medicine at University of Malaya advanced tothe league of progressive innovative medical schoolswhen it adopted the Newly Integrated Curriculum(NIC) in 1998 which stresses healthcare needs,disease prevention and health promotion,competency-based learning and continuing medicaleducation to balance the previous biomedical biasand towards integration of the patient into thefamily, community, and society. Similarly in 2000in the Philippines, Cebu Doctors’ College (CDC)of Medicine and De La Salle University SocialDevelopment Research Centre’s Task Force onSocial Science and Reproductive Health developeda course and student’s and teacher’s modules thatintegrate the social, cultural and legal aspects ofdomestic violence issues in a medical curriculumin the Philippines.25 These learning materials, whichare also being shared with and adapted inMalaysia and other countries in ESEA, do not onlyinclude the roots of violence within the contextof gender and culture but also approaches inidentifying high-risk family situations forprevention and management.

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24 Arabic term used in religious text translated asdisobedience of the wives against their husbands.

25 The development of this curriculum was funded by thePhilippines Commission on Higher Education and the FordFoundation

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The in-service training of staff has beenequally emphasized. For, it has been noted thatwhile most have the relevant technical knowledgeof their professions (i.e. medicine, judiciary, lawenforcement or teaching) they have usuallyinternalized patriarchal and gender insensitivevalues in their socio-cultural milieu and henceneed to be re-socialized in the rights-based andgender-sensitive perspectives on GBV. To this end,generally in UNFPA-supported projects, genderand culturally sensitive approaches as well asrights-based perspectives are integrated in the coreareas of reproductive health and population anddevelopment sub-programmes.26

By way of illustration, we see that inThailand, the provision of technical and gender-sensitivity training to health personnel constitutesan important component in the operation of theOne-Stop-Crisis Centres (OSCC) as will be coveredin the next section. The training on gender issueshas included topics such as: women’s healthand rights, gender roles and power relationships,myth and realities about VAW, and factors thatperpetuate domestic violence. A study measuringthe effectiveness of both trainings, using the pilotmodel in Khonkaen hospital and Udornthani as acontrol hospital (i.e. not receiving specializedtraining), was conducted to document knowledgeand attitudes of hospital staff on VAW. It isinteresting to note that after six months training,knowledge scores on VAW increased in theexperimental hospital but there was no change inscores demonstrated in attitude scores betweenexperimental and control hospitals. The findingsindicate that while it is possible to increaseknowledge on VAW among hospital staff, it is noteasy to change their attitudes regarding victimsof violence. This notion was confirmed bymeasurement of knowledge and attitudes ofpolice and middle school students, undergoing thesame analysis. It demonstrates that attitude changeneeds more than hypothetical knowledge suchas direct contact with people experiencing orsituations generating GBV.

5.2 Message Dissemination

The planning of IEC entry points is a sensitiveexercise. There is fear that it would be rejected byparticular target groups (e.g. male perpetrators)if it is culturally insensitive, resulting in denial,rejection and even opposition. Similarly, IECmessages directed at victims of GBV can causelimited attendance if the issue is hit head-on,causing public shame or guilt. In this regard, theplanning and delivery of IEC campaigns can be asdiverse as the targeted audience. The selectionof IEC mediums will inevitably limit the audiencewho are defined by access and their own motiva-tion/ incentive in receiving the messages. Acrossthe study countries we have seen many creativetransmission methods and formats, includinggovernment seminars, posters, local theatre,popular songs, research publications, journals,national celebrations, and radio and TV shows.

Awareness-Raising Workshops and Semi-nars

Indonesia’s MOWE has been conducting IECto sensitize civil servants on the ADV law andissues of GBV throughout strategic governmentinstitutions down to provincial level and somedistricts. Similarly a limited target audience isreached by the MOWE, who provides seminars andmeetings on GBV to officials at provincial level.Other government institutions such as BKKBN(National Family Planning Coordinating Board),Department of Education, Department of SocialAffairs, Ministry of Health, and the Police haveconducted similar exercises. A range of IECmaterials have been produced, including TVadvertisements on GBV covering forcedprostitution, domestic violence, and traffickingaired during primetime. For the most part,however, government institutions have generallypreferred awareness-raising sessions and seminarsfor their staff and to large NGOs/CBOs with

26 UNFPA CST Bangkok. 2005.

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representation down to grassroots level. Despitecoverage across several government institutions,information dissemination has not been conductedin a systematic manner. Rather, it has been ad hocin nature or short running programmes. For instance,the MOWE conducted a series of seminars andmeetings for officials from the provincial leveljudiciary and legal institutions for the year 2004but then moved to another geographical area inthe following year. Thus, sustainability of IECinterventions was compromised, as it was notbuilt into information dissemination mechanismswithin the target institutions.

As is the case in Indonesia, prioritizinginconsistent coverage over depth raises concernsover sustainability in Timor-Leste. Village-levelworkshops often last one day or less, with allmembers of the community invited. Theseworkshops provide introductory information onGBV issues and domestic violence and sexualassault, in particular. Some organizations haveconducted more in-depth events, for several daysat a time, and some have returned to the samecommunity more than once, in an effort toconsolidate the learning that took place. However,many workshops have never been followed up.Because of the relatively limited time in mostworkshops, trainers are unable to enter intoin-depth discussions about attitudes and beliefscontributing to GBV and how these might beovercome.

For the most part, efforts to educate thepublic have not been coordinated with one another,so some communities and individuals may have hadthe opportunity to participate in several eventswhereas others have not. Some attempts have beenmade to consolidate information on these variousefforts, but these have never been able to capturethe full extent of what has taken place. In 2002-2003, there was an effort to unite the work ofseveral organizations with one central theme -“Do not: domesticate violence” (Labele: ViolensiaDomestika”). The relatively simple theme and the

powerful graphic that was used were helpful ingetting the message across. Several messageshave been used to campaign and educate on GBVamong them are:. Women’s rights are human rights. Peace in our homes, peace in our nation

(emphasizing the interest in reconciliationand the rebuilding of the nation after thedestruction of 1999). Our children are watching. Violence destroys our future. Violence is against women’s rights. Speak out about violence (encouragingvictims to overcome their shame). Domestic violence is a crime. Being married in the church is a sacredact that brings two people together. Wecan’t let domestic violence destroy ourhomes

Popular Culture

International NGOs conducting awarenessraising exercises in Indonesia have utilized a rangeof popular mediums to capture and sustainthe attention over a range of age and sex targetgroups. In addition to radio, printed media, andcommunity gatherings, Indonesia’s BKKBN(National Family Planning Coordinating Board)and Community Radio have used local traditionalart and puppet show (wayang) to convey messageson GBV. This medium, which can go on all night,is very popular in Java Island. Another traditionalart performance, the tarling, and radio drama hasbeen used to convey messages related to trafficking.Transmission of GBV messages embedded in folkentertainment forms provides a safe and lightmedium to provide community education. It hasbeen found useful also to present IEC messageswithin health information sessions or agriculturevillage gatherings.

Public education on GBV in Timor Leste hasfocused on popular mediums, which generateinterest, as they are attractive to display or offer

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entertainment. Posters, pamphlets and, to a lesserextent, T-shirts and stickers, have been used.Posters are a particularly attractive method ofcommunication dissemination as they serve thedual purpose of decorating homes and offices forrecipients. A popular local theater group, “BibiBulak”, has created radio drama shows, publicservice announcements, and recorded a hip-hopstyle song about GBV to appeal to youngeraudiences. The song has been distributed to localradio stations, used in workshops, and tapeswere given to mini-bus drivers, known for playingloud music as they travel their route. Indeed,“Bibi Bulak” has been contracted by variousorganizations to produce popular radioprogrammes, public service announcements, skitsand songs regarding not only GBV but also manyother issues of particular concern to youth, suchas dating relationships. Radio has been the mosteffective way to communicate to most people inTimor Leste, as many parts of the country have alimited supply of electricity, television and printmedia.

Sometimes the dissemination of behaviourchange messages can be distorted. The mediaportrayal of sexual violence in Thailand ismisleading as it puts the blame on the rape victim.For example, her style of dress or movement inisolated areas is seen as justification for invitingattack. Here, a woman’s status is framed by hersexual physiology and sexual harassment by malesis therefore perceived as normal.

Research, Publications and Print Media

Research publications and journals havebeen used to advocate policy and provide IECmaterials. In Indonesia, one of the most activeNGOs is “Jurnal Perempuan”, publishing aself-titled journal on women related issues suchas discrimination, political participation and GBV.The monthly publication covers one theme permonth. GBV-related themes have includeddomestic violence, pornography, trafficking, GBV

in emergency, religion and GBV, polygamy, gendermainstreaming and decentralization, the state andGBV, and reproductive rights. Jurnal Perempuanalso broadcasts radio programmes coveringsimilar issues. An innovative approach for IECdissemination has been Jurnal Perempuan’scollaboration with “The Body Shop” to printmessages to end violence on the “Body Shop’s”advertisements on printed media, product postersand shopping bags. Using slogans (e.g. “stopviolence at home” and “empower yourself”) topiggyback on private company marketingmechanisms is an innovative link betweenconsumerism and advocacy campaigns.

Kalyanamitral Women’s Communicationand Information Centre is another leading NGOin Indonesia which is providing informationdissemination on GBV related issues. In additionto the production and dissemination of originalresearch, the NGO has promoted: women-specificlibraries; the advocacy of gender-sensitive policy(e.g. for women’s needs in the conflict areas ofPoso in North Sulawesi); the publication of thequarterly bulletin “Kalyanamedia”; the developmentof a website for information on GBV cases; andproduction of a training module on increasingsensitization toward domestic violence.

Together with institutionalizing communityresponsibility and multi-sector support in Viet Nam’sproject piloting a community-based approach, IEC/BCC activities have been a cornerstone of GBVand Domestic Violence prevention activities.Several methods were used to raise communityawareness including dissemination of leaflets,posters and booklets on gender equality, GBV orDomestic Violence prevention, and women’s rightsand laws. The use of loudspeakers, local radio, TVand articles published in local newspapers andcommunity talks were also effective in sharinginformation at grassroots level. These multipleforms created greater public space for victims orwitnesses of violence to speak out and seek helpwhere they had previously been ashamed.

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Internationally and Nationally-LinkedCelebrations and Campaigns

Last but not least, many countries in ESEAparticipate in annual international celebrationsand campaigns on designated days to highlightissues of GBV. These events include 8th MarchInternational Womenís Day, 25th NovemberInternational Day for the Elimination of ViolenceAgainst Women, 16 Days of Activism to EliminateViolence Against Women and the White RibbonCampaign (WRC). In the WRC, committed menspeak out in public against a range of GBV issuessuch as rape, female feticide, gang rape, domesticviolence and sexual abuse. These events aresupported by various organizations including UNagencies, government and NGOs. In this regardThailand instituted the month of November for theelimination of VAW in 2005. The activities areorganized in public areas such as Silom-SiamSquare and attended by prominent business andentertainment figures.

In Timor Leste, national celebrations havebeen used as a platform to raise the profile ofwomen’s issues, including International Women’sDay, restoration of independence in 2002, and theSixteen Days of Action Against Violence AgainstWomen. Usually a theme is selected for the eventseach year to take stock of issues and priorities.The celebration of these days typically involvessome kind of symposium in which speakers talkabout important issues; radio and TV appearancesby activists and government leaders; and marches.During the celebrations of the restoration ofindependence in 2002, women’s groups cametogether to organize a fair, portraying their workand raising the profile of women’s issues amongthe community at large. In 2001-2002, there wasa campaign to include women’s rights in theConstitution, then being drafted. There have alsobeen campaigns and advocacy around high-profilecases of GBV, when well-known members of thecommunity were accused of serious assaults againsttheir wives.

5.3 Strategy for Communication

In addition to diversity of change agents,targets, and dissemination formats, a number ofinnovative strategies for communication have beenfound in the study countries.

Enlisting Community Support

We see in Mongolia that, while transmittingthe message to male perpetrators that violentacts are a crime, the strategy seeks to placeresponsibility within the community. This isachieved through the involvement of differentstakeholders, in playing a supportive service role,to address the underlying problem - the change ofbehaviour. To this end, the police are enlisted as aservice agency to support and promote a secureand peaceful public life. A counselling role, ratherthan simply an enforcement organization, is taken.

Viet Nam’s community-based projects havebeen used as a mechanism for addressing GBVand domestic violence within the communitiesthey work. Several organizations are using atwo-pronged strategy, which seeks to returnresponsibility for member’s behaviour back to thecommunity through existing community networksand institutionalize preventive measures forsustainability of behaviour change. Some of theprojects and organizations utilizing this methodinclude:. Centre for Reproductive and Family

Health (RaFH), Prevention of DomesticViolence Against Women, Ninh BinhProvince. Viet Nam Committee for Population,Family and Children, ‘SustainableDevelopment of Family and Prevention ofDomestic Violence’, Bin Phuoc. Counselling Centre for Psychology,Education, Love, Marriage and Family(LMF), Ho Chi Minh City. UNFPA/SDC supported project,‘Mainstreaming Gender Equality in

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the Family in UNFPA Population andReproductive Health programme’, ThaiBinh

The community-based models employedsimilar core components for communityprevention and control of GBV. Each projectsought to recruit local leaders, in gaining supportof the project, by raising their awareness. Localauthorities were trained in gender equality anddomestic violence in the RaFH and UNFPA/SDCprojects. Knock-on effects of this strategyresulted in the creation of quotas for women inlocal government positions and the provision ofland to single women over age 35, a policy thatwas previously only the entitlement of men.Another key component has been the developmentof a multi-sectoral board or Team to manage andimplement the GBV or domestic violence projects.Membership has generally included the Heador Vice-Head of the People’s Committee andrepresentatives from mass organizations, police,the health sector, as well as village heads. Thecoordination and commitment of the differentsectors has had the advantage of regularcommunication about GBV and Domestic Violencecases to allow more adequate and timelyassistance in addressing the needs of victims andperpetrators. This systematic effort has had theeffect of raising the issue to a higher level ofpriority across several potential change agents asGBV and domestic violence became viewed as anissue for the entire community to address. Raisingthe profile through the inclusion of institutionalsupport and expertise signaled the importance ofthese issues to the community and the broaderresponsibility of service agencies in their support.

The integration of GBV and DomesticViolence into the agenda of all mass organizationsand other socio-economic development activitiesin the community has been another strategyemployed by the community-based projects. Forexample, the RaFH and UNFPA/SDC projectsintegrated Domestic Violence discussion into the

27 Viet Nam Commission for Population, Family and Childrenand UNFPA 2006

regular meetings and talks of mass organizationssuch as the Women’s Union, Farmers Union, andYouth Union. The VCPFC (Viet Nam Committeefor Population, Family and Children) projectsintegrated Domestic Violence information intofarmers training (e.g. extension training, integratedpest management, and other production trainings).By widening the net of potential target audiencesthrough multiple channels, this has created greaterawareness among the entire community withrepeated messages.

Engaging Leaders and Multi-SectorStakeholders

Timor Leste efforts have been focused onproviding local leaders and representatives fromvarious sectors with a role to play in addressingand preventing GBV. For example, police officers,human rights officers, church representatives,health-care workers and Chefes de Suco may beinvited either to attend an event or to make apresentation.

In China there is the contentious issue of sexratio imbalance (SRI) at birth, which is clearly aform of GBV as it mainly results from sexselective abortions. It is manifested in the ratioapproaching 120 baby boys born for every 100girls that far exceeds the natural ratio thatuniversally ranges between 102 to 106 maleinfants born to every 100 female infants27. UNFPACountry Office in China has succeeded (throughits “detoxification” programme as shown in Box9) in bringing this sensitive issue in the publicdiscourse and at the policy table by employing anumber of culturally-sensitive, politically correctand scientifically sound strategies among whichis involvement of key figures in government, topdemographic institutions, international agencies,and women’s NGOs in the dialogue on SRI.

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highlighting change outcomes identified in thestudy countries, this section describes somepossible limitations (e.g. literacy levels, fundingpriorities, human resource capabilities, andpolitical climate) in achieving their goals. Theseoutcomes include the issuance of religiousdeclarations, institutional positioning of GBV,formation of community clubs, raising the level ofpolicy dialogue and formulation of laws.

. Identification of key potential allies and adversaries at central level and also targetingprovincial and county level leaders in its Gender Project. Though within China there is little challenge to the “one-child policy” which in part is acontributing factor to skewed SRI, UNFPA set about to demonstrate that it was not theonly cause by supporting international exchange with other countries experiencing thesame phenomenon despite the absence of a similar one child policy, hence providing aninternational perspective.. Avoiding using value-laden language like infanticide which is highly inflammatory anddoes not paint a true picture of the skewed IMR rates but instead using the term “neglect”. Using incremental approach by addressing the SRB issue first in demographic terms, thenin health terms and then in gender inequality terms rather than challenging head on socialnorms and issues of human rights which china is highly sensitive to. This amounted togetting on board key demographers and official within the National Population and FamilyPlanning Commission to demonstrate that the skewed figures were due to sex-selectiveabortions and projecting the long term catastrophic societal consequences such as socialunrest due to lack of marriage partners, trafficking, prostitutions and spread of HIV.. Demonstrating that criminalization of ultrasound was necessary but not a sufficientsolution to SRB and hence directing UNFPA programme to tackling gender inequalitiesand supporting research analysis on the root causes of son preference and the institutionalbarriers to gender equality.. Gradual involvement of stakeholders in “circle of trust” which included Chinese Academyof Social Sciences, Beijing University and All China Women’s Federation, a Governmentorganized NGO (GONGO) that reaches grassroots levels and is extremely well networkedand NPFPC taking the lead.. Support of robust research and information sharing fora involving national and internationalcommunity.. Continuous advocacy and dissemination of information resulting in publications, publicsupportive pronouncements on SRB by key figures in government and internationalagencies including UN Resident Co-coordinator, High Commissioner of Human Rights.

Box 9: UNFPA China Sex Ratio Imbalance (SRI) Programme

Source: Adapted from UNFPA China. October 2005.

5.4 Outcomes for SustainableChange

As important as it is to develop non-threatening messages, attractive disseminationformats, and effective strategies for transmission,real behaviour change is only possible when it issupported by the delivery of reliable inputs tosustain the desired change. In addition to

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Limitations

In Timor Leste, sensitization educationregarding GBV has been conducted from thenational to the local level by a wide range of agents(Government, UN agencies and organizations,and international and national NGOs) who includeawareness raising within their activities. However,little attention has been given to sustainablechange outcomes as evidenced by very littlediscussion regarding what “education” reallymeans, what methods are most suitable forparticular audiences and what the impact ofthis education has actually been. The biggestchallenge limiting public education on GBV inTimor Leste is the level of literacy, particularlyin rural areas. In addition, although IEC isrecognized as an important activity, donors havepreferred funding services for victims orlonger-term interventions with communities inorder to change attitudes and build systems andstructures to respond to and prevent GBV.

As well as the recipient audience beinglimited by literacy levels, human resource levelsof national staff that would be responsible fordelivering IEC are also limited. Timorese staffhas been trained in educational systems whichemphasize learning through memorization andwhich do not foster more creative educationalmethods, often making it more difficult for themto think of innovative ways to work towardsbuilding awareness of GBV. Staff who are literatemay struggle to conceive of ways to communicateeffectively with people who cannot read. Inattempting to address low literacy levels,organizations have tried to use pictures, incombination with the written word. However,human resource skill levels again place restrictionsas there are a limited number of artists anddesigners who can develop pictures and theymay not be familiar with how best to use popularapproaches to education.

A more formidable obstacle presents itself

in Myanmar, where the political climate restrictsdiscourse on GBV issues and this is reflected inthe lack of IEC. As there is not state-sanctionedadmission of a problem, GBV is not addressed inschool curricula and state training for teachers,health providers, or judiciary policy. To a limitedextent, the state agency MWAF (Myanmar WomenAffairs Federation) has conducted research onVAW but the detailed findings have not beenmade public. MWAF has conducted someawareness campaigns; established counsellingcentres, and organized discussions at communities,schools and workplaces regarding the lawsprotecting women against violence. This isperceived as window dressing as practicalenforcement of laws is limited with few casesbeing brought to the MWAF and state-sponsoredcounselling centres being viewed with suspicion.Further, the climate of fear of politicalimplication effectively muzzles any advocacyrole for independent service providers andhumanitarian assistance agencies. GBV issues areaddressed only when integrated into projectservices and activities. MSF- Holland, for example,provides a clinical response (this includes treatmentwithin 72- hours with a standard medical responsepackage) for rape survivors. Due to the sensitivityof the subject, the clinic’s services cannot be openlyadvertised. Ensuring reliable and sustainablesupport for victims is difficult for change agentsto harmonize activities and to establish IEC/BCCtraining programmes. Rather, governmentmachineries and resources have been devoted tothe issue of trafficking, which is more politicallyexpedient, given government focus on cross-border resistance groups threatening the statusquo of the military regime.

Reliable Inputs

The issuance of behaviour warnings towardsreligious devotees can act as a sustainabledeterrent as long as the decree is in force. In theisland of Mindanao in the Philippines, Muslimreligious leaders issued a ‘fatwah’ or decree,

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declaring support for reproductive health andfamily planning. Partly responsible for this decreeis the project Reproductive Health Advocacyfor Muslim Leaders initiated by the Commissionon Population in partnership with UNFPA. Thisseries of IEC activities, including module develop-ment, training and facilitators’ guide on reproduc-tive health in the context of Islam, included asection on the prevention of violence againstwomen and children.

As discussed earlier, projects in Viet Namhave utilized the institutionalization of multi-sector support and expertise within community-based projects as a sustainable strategy to raisethe priority of GBV through clubs namelyHusband and Father Clubs, Wife and Mother Clubs,Clubs for Family Happiness and Clubs for theSustainable Development of the Family. TheseClubs, though routinely geared to focus on topicssuch as agriculture and poverty alleviation,integrate discussions and awareness-raising onGBV issues. They thus variously discuss issues ofindividuals, couples, victims or survivors of GBVas well those experiencing family conflict orexhibiting ‘high risk’ behaviours manifested indrinking or gambling problems, strong patriarchallifestyles, couples with economic difficulties,unemployment, low education, or adultery. Thisprovides a safe and non-threatening environmentfor GBV affected members, though project staffdismay the fact that majority of participants tendto be women and consequently there is concernto increase male participation.

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In Indonesia, a network of NGOs concernedwith discrimination against women, JANGKAPKTP, was originally established to push for theenactment of the ADV Law and for supportingthe prevention of GBV and the provision ofservices for GBV victims. After the ADV Lawpassed in 2004, the network has been advocatingfor the revision of several bills including theanti pornography bill, the witness protectionbill and the migrant workers’ bill. Indonesia’sNational Family Planning Coordinating Boardand Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians forPopulation and Development are initiating anadvocacy project, supported by UNFPA, whichaims at strengthening the dialogue and a policyenvironment conducive for addressing GBV. Thisis achieved by conducting high level seminars andworkshops at provincial level for policy makers,community leaders, journalists and decisionmakers on GBV.

In Timor Leste, an innovative technologycalled “Megavoice” was recently introduced by aninternational volunteer. A small device about thesize of a credit card is enabled with a standardrecorded message. These devices can be recordedwith whatever message is desired and thendistributed to communities and individuals.Instead of having to read information, people canhear it. The devices are relatively inexpensiveand have long-life batteries. It is hoped that thisnew technology may enable those working on GBVto overcome many of the challenges of publiceducation.

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This chapter presents the experiences ofstudy countries with respect to provision andefficacy of medical and psychosocial services forGBV victims. At the same time, we look at theother side of the coin, namely the service provi-sion. Proper infrastructure, tools and the serviceproviders’ ability to recognize cases of violence orpotential victims are key factors in providingassistance. It is often the case that due to thenature of the crime, victims (as well as perpetra-tors) may not self-identify for fear of shame andrecrimination. In this regard, some countries havedeveloped protocols as necessary tools for recog-nizing and recording incidence of abuse so thatappropriate treatment of the victim can be assured.In addition, such documentation serves thepurposes of monitoring and legal or other follow-up and referrals.

6.1 Medical Centres

The health sector is a key entry point inidentifying and treating victims of GBV as wellensuring that women receive appropriate referralservices to other sectors in order to improveor resolve their situation. There are negativehealth repercussions of violence many of whichmay not be recognized by health providers asemanating from violence. An important weaknessin the health sector is the level of knowledge ofGBV and expertise in counselling victims. Trainingof health providers will be needed to improve their“gatekeeper” role.

In the “Gia Lam Women’s Centre forCounselling and Health Care” located in Duc

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Photo credit : UNFPA MongoliaPregnant women in urban life

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Giang Hospital in Viet Nam, a strong model existswhich integrates health services with referralsto and from the community. Another exampleof integration of support to GBV victims intomedical services is the UNFPA supported “RHat Emergency Situation” project in Indonesia,which has a prevention of VAW as a component.The project was implemented, in collaborationwith BKKBN and MOH, from 2001-2005. Whilethe project integrated the Minimum InitialService Package of RH28 into the emergencymedical services during conflict situations, italso provided community-based counsellorsbased at the IDP (Internally Displaced People)camps to counsel GBV victims and conductoutreach and IEC activities. A referral system,involving various stakeholders, for VAW cases inthe context of emergency situations (especially

Types of Services No of No of Hospital Law enforcement institutions

NGOs Based WCC (religious court,

legal court & Police)

Counselling room 33 6 50 RPK, 4 religious courts

Medical examination room 3 6 50 RPK

Hotline services 19 3 50 RPK, 1 religious court

Counsellor team 38 5 4 legal courts, 2 religious courts(psychological support)

Medical Team 6 6

Legal aid team 27 1 11 religious courts

Volunteer 1

Shelter 18 1 1 legal court,

Trained personnel (gender 1 13 legal courtssensitive personel)

arising from conflict) was another outcome of theproject. In Table 1, the National Commissionfor the Elimination of Violence Against Women,“Komnas Perempuan” provides a summary ofavailable GBV services in 2005 from data collectedby 59 NGOs, 6 Hospital based WCCs, and 50Police Stations RPKs in 20 provinces.

While hospitals mainly provide generalmedical services and psychological support forvictims, some additionally conduct IEC, establishWCCs with a shelter facility, and others evenhave a legal aid team. The leading hospitals withestablished crisis centres in GBV integratedservices are the Citpo Mangunkusumo hospital,Sukanto Police hospital and the Navy hospital inJakarta, and the Panti Rapih hospital inYogyakarta.

28 The minimal package of RH consists of clean deliveryservices, prevention and management of VAW especiallysexual violence, provision of contraceptives and preventionof STIs and HIV/AIDS infection. This project, co-fundedby New Zealand Trust fund and HSTF, was implemented inthe emergency conflict areas in six provinces including Aceh.

Table 1: Summary of Available GBV Services in 2005 in Indonesia

Source: Komnas Perempuan, 2006

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Another model is Philippines’ Project HAVEN(Hospital Assisted Crisis Intervention ) whichstarted as a UNFPA-supported (1997-1999)pilot project for a gender-sensitive and holisticone-stop hospital-based crisis intervention centrefor women-survivors of violence as mentionedearlier in Box 2. The project, now referred toas Women’s and Children’s Crisis Care andProtection Unit (WCCCPU) offered:. Direct medical services to victims of

VAWC — screening, physical examination,diagnosis, treatment and referral to WCCCPU. Psycho-social services including feministcounselling (hotline and face-to-face). Information and available resources;medical and health assistance; stressmanagement services; legal assistance andreferral; temporary shelter; group counselling;referral to gender-sensitive institutions;respect for survivors’ needs and concerns,and; awareness-raising activities. Recording of findings and recommendationsin the VAW Registry Form. Issuance of medical certificate forphysical injuries. Referral to other institutions for servicesnot available in EAMC such as legal andmedico-legal services, among others

In 1997, the Department of Health issuedan Administrative Order mandating all governmenthospitals to establish Women and ChildrenProtection Units (WCPUs), thus institutionalizingthe Project HAVEN concept and leading to theestablishment of other WCPUs such as the UP-Philippine General Hospital Women’s Desk whichis located at the emergency room complex andconducts medical management in coordinationwith the various departments of the hospital aswell as offering referrals to other agencies for thevictims of GBV29.

6.2 Faith-Based Organizations

Integration of services for victims intothe activities of faith-based organizations canprovide a strategic opportunity to eliminate GBV,often arising from the misinterpretation andmisunderstanding of religious teachings. InIndonesian where the majority of the populationis Muslim, the involvement of an Islamic boardingschool (pesantren), which provides the foundationof moral education for communities, is a highlypotent strategy.

A UNFPA-funded pilot project, whichseeks to contribute to the elimination and themanagement of the consequences of VAW, involvescollaboration between the government (MOWE)and faith-based NGO (Puan Hamal Hayati) intwo districts of West Java, Tasikmalaya andIndramayu. Unlike the majority of WCC’s, whichare hospital-based or NGO-based, the alternativemodel uses an Islamic boarding school-basedwomen crisis centre. In addition to the usualcurative and protection services, the pesantrenprovides spiritual counselling and guidance toboth the victims and perpetrators. As a boardingschool, it offers an opportunity for continuededucation for school-aged victims (who are oftennot able to continue their education elsewhere)and an alternative to the victims’ re-integrationprocess. The venue provides more privacy andprotection to the victim, as services take placewithin the relatively closed community of thepesantren. This base also presents a uniqueopportunity for IEC and BCC delivery asinformation is provided on GBV from Islamicperspectives, conducting reinterpretation of themisunderstood Islamic teachings in the area ofgender, something that cannot be credibly done byother types of WCC.

Other faith-based organizations in Indonesiasuch as Fatayat NU, Nasyiatul Aisyiah and Sistersof the Good Shepherd seminary have begun toprovide counselling and safe houses for GV

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29 See NCRFW website www. ncrfw.gov.ph which lists all thegovernment hospital-based GBV services, legal assistance,homes and their telephones and locations available in allregions of the Philippines.

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victims. Fatayat NU has established 26 LKP2 atprovincial and district level to provide counsellingservices, referral, mediation and support groupsfor victims. Similarly, Nasyiatul Aisyiah currentlyprovides consultation, counselling and referralsupport and is preparing to expand services toinclude psychosocial support, legal support andlimited medical support. In some of the branchesof the Sister of Good Shepherd seminary, inaddition to providing a safe house, consultation,counselling, spiritual guidance, and mediationbetween disputing parties are offered.

There are also some faith-based initiativesin Myanmar which offer awareness-raising onVAW issues and legal education relating to VAW;training provision on procedures to follow if onebecomes a victim of violence; and free legaladvice and counselling to victims where lawyersare available and above all capacity building oflocal communities to address violence.

6.3 Shelters

Many victims feel that they are unable toleave their abuser because they will not be able toprovide for themselves and their children. This isparticularly true for less educated women withfewer prospects for earning an independentincome. The availability of shelters in situations ofextreme violence or repeat victims of gender-basedviolence, provides a safe house where women (andoften their children) can be offered support services,ranging from counselling to transformationactivities (e.g. vocational training). It is recognizedthat efforts will need to be made to strengthenconnections between services providingpsychosocial support to victims of GBV andservices working on livelihood issues.

The UNFPA/SDC project in Viet Namprovides a community based “trusted address”,or safe place, where women can go in extremecases of violence to ensure their safety. Safehavens are provided in the houses of members of

community based counselling teams and otherinfluential members of the community. With mostcases, the woman stays there for a short periodof time and during that time the CounsellingTeam meets with the husband and makes anassessment of how to handle the situation. Thepilot operates in 14 residential areas with 42credible addresses set up. The method is reportedto be working as a deterrent in decreasing thefrequency of violence, with public awareness thatthe Counselling Team and Project SteeringCommittee offer support and prohibit entranceto the “trusted address” by the perpetrator.Vietnamese cultural values associated with “losingface” and not airing one’s problems in public,appear to complement the model as the perpetratorwill be reluctant to publicly harass or enter the“trusted address”. Hence, bringing the violence outinto the open in a “safe” place, under the authorityof respected leaders in the community is a usefulstrategy that works in favour of the victim. Thetrusted address model also appears to offer analternative solution where there is lack of funds todevelop shelters at community level and womenare reluctant to leave their communities to seeksafety in shelters further away.

It remains to be seen what solutions can beoffered for serious cases of unresolved violence,when a woman cannot stay at the trusted advice fora longer period of time. Also, it is not knownwhether a woman suffers more violence as“punishment” when she returns home. In responseto this need, the Central Women’s Union openedthe first shelter for victims of GBV in Viet Namin early 2007. The centre provides refuge tovictims of Domestic Violence living in Hanoiand surrounding areas who are in need ofpsychological, social and economic assistance.Victims of human trafficking and their childrenwill be catered to at a nearby site, and can receivereintegration services such as counselling,medical care, and vocational training. There arealso a few additional shelters in Viet Nam forvictims of trafficking.

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Mongolia’s National Centre Against Violence(NCAV) runs four temporary shelters for womenand their children and provides psychological andlegal counselling for victims. The shelter acts as asupport group for women who have experiencedsimilar problems. Women who need long-termassistance may be accommodated in the NCAV’stransition house in Ulaanbaatar. The Centre reportsthat it has assisted 6310 women and providedshelter for 827 women and 907 children since itsestablishment in 1995. A study of criminal andadministrative cases of Domestic Violence showsthat approximately 4000 cases of DomesticViolence are registered to the police every year.30

Further, the numbers of requests to NCAV tolive in the shelter has been increasing, with moreand more women coming from rural areas toUlaanbaatar for shelter services.31 NCAV hasbegun to establish shelters in rural areas, openingthree shelter homes in Dundgobi, Tuv and Selengeaimags.

In the Philippines, the DSWD (Departmentof Social Welfare and Development) hasestablished the Rehabilitation Project for Womenin Especially Difficult Circumstances, providingtemporary care and rehabilitation to womenvictims of battery, sexual abuse, involuntaryor forced prostitution, illegal recruitment, andsurvivors of armed conflict and detention. Theyhave thirteen homes, called “The Haven”, locatedall over the country that provides residential careas well as psychological services; referrals forlegal, psychiatric and other services; and trainingfor livelihood skills. Crisis intervention units arealso established in 15 regions with a 24-hourhotline operation, counselling services, rescueoperations, referral and other services. Specialfacilities for girl-child survivors of violence includetwelve Reception and Study Centres for Childrenand four Lingap (care) Centres nationwide.

The Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre(CWCC) is an NGO founded in early 1997 butnow with offices in Phnom Penh, Banteay

Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces. It operates“confidential crisis shelters” that not only provideshelter and direct services including counselling,health care, school opportunity for children ofclients but also referral services for repatriation,reintegration and job placement as well ascommunity training programme that conductscourses for villagers, local authorities, policeofficers and volunteers of GBV. In its 2005 report,CWCC documented 1733 clients of GBV who itassisted with direct and legal services at the threeregional drop-in centres32.

6.4 One-Stop Crisis Centres

One-Stop Crisis Centres (OSCC) representresidential-based responses to victims of GBVeither within or outside the hospital’s departmentsprovided by relevant government and/or NGOservice providers. OSCC aim to prevent re-victimization of arriving women with physicalor sexual assaults by providing the victims withconfidentiality and gender-sensitive services. Sucha comprehensive service delivery model exist inmany of the study countries but vary greatly withinand between countries with respect to intakecapacity, quality and range of services.

Indonesia has established OSCCs in thetop referral hospital in the capital Jakarta,provincial hospitals and district hospitals wheremedical, psychological and legal services areprovided as shown in Box 10. This integrated modelthrives on collaboration within the hospital anda network linking clients to legal and other socialservices systems. This poses a challenge tohospital staff that normally do not function inthe same manner when dealing with other clientsseeking treatment at the hospital. Similarly,the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment unitshave established crisis centres in some provinces

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30 Mongolian Women Lawyer’s Association. 2003.31 UN Human Right and Gender Team Group, 200432 Cambodia Women’s Crisis Centre. 2005

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Using the emergency ward as the entry point for the victims, cases are referred to specialunit, where victims are treated. Upon need for hospitalization, victims are placed in special anony-mous ward, where when necessary special security is attached. Standard procedure issued byMinistry of Health is applied and the staff is trained. A trained counsellor conducts necessarycounselling. Temporary protection is provided through shelter that is attached to the hospital oroutside the hospital. Legal services are provided by police officer attached to the IntegratedService. Social affairs offices provide social rehabilitation. When a victim has been dischargedfrom hospital and need social rehabilitation, she is referred to organizations providing training onincome generating activity to enable her stand on her own.

The term integrated services does not merely apply to one-stop-crisis centre, but also servicesin a network, where needs of the victims are fulfilled even though it is not done under one roof. Inplaces where shelter is not integrated in one facility, referral within a network is applied.Assistance to the victims who need legal process or psychological recovery is provided, includingspiritual assistance. Social workers, both from the government and NGOs. are made available forthe victims.

Other services established are in the form of Integrated Services for Women Empowermentand Children or P2TP2 (Pusat Pelayanan Terpadu Pemberdayaan Perempuan dan Anak.). This isa community-based integrated service providing information, referral, consultation/counselling andtraining to the community, in particular to women. At present there are 17 integrated servicesfor women and children at the provincial level, including 23 regencies at Aceh province and 2integrated services at two regencies in North Sumatera.

Budget to support the operation of the integrated service is provided by the government andalso by NGOs and community organizations whenever available. Funds are derived from thegovernment budget for medical service and social service as well as from the social securitybudget.

Box 10: Indonesia Integrated Services In One-Stop Crisis Centre

Source: Indonesia 28-30 November 2006

Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia.

Indonesia’s Department of Social Affairshas established 10 provincial trauma centres (witha further 16 planned to cover all 36 provinces),in operation with funding from Ministry of SocialAffairs. Staffed by a social worker, psychologist,religious counsellor and a medical doctor, thetrauma centre provides mainly psychosocial andmedical services, including counselling andshelter. They also work closely with the police inproviding support during the processing of the case.

(e.g. Aceh, Jakarta, Solo, West Sumatera andYogyakarta) to provide services for GBV victimsas well as conducting women’s empowermentactivities. Some centres offer more comprehensivesupport than others such as Yogyakarta provincethat provide medical services, psychologicalsupport, shelter, hotline services and referralsfor cases that need further attention. It is alsoencouraging to note that plans are under wayto establish a Crisis Centre by mid-2007 in theIndonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in orderto respond to cases of violations that happen to

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In Malaysia, following the NationalCampaign on VAW, spearheaded by the JointAction Group of mainly women NGOs in 1985,one of the interventions arising was theestablishment of hospital-based OSCC forsurvivors. The first such integrated medical, legal,and welfare services was set up in 1986 at thethen University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur (nowknown as University Malaya Medical Centre)called Intervention of Sexual Assault andMolestation, still in operation today. This wasfollowed by the OSCC at Kuala Lumpur GeneralHospital in 1994 to address an emerging increasein women seeking medical treatment as a resultof domestic violence. The OSCC concept ofintegrated services for violence survivors hassince been institutionalized in governmenthospitals throughout the country, comprisingninety-five per cent (108 out of 114) of urbangovernment hospitals nationwide.33 These servicesare typically located at the Accident & EmergencyDepartment. The Paediatrics Institute in KualaLumpur has also established OSCC for children.

The OSCC in Malaysia applies a patient-focus principle regarding identification anddiagnosis; therapeutic and medical care; para-counselling and emotional support; multi-level crisisintervention; legal and court activities; provisionof temporary shelter; and medical reporting. TheOSCC works as a support network based on closecollaboration between government (e.g. Ministryof Health, Royal Malaysian Police, Social Welfaredepartment) and NGOs. Detailed standard operatingprocedures, known as Crisis Intervention levelsor Critical Pathways, have been developed toguide the roles and responsibilities of each agencyinvolved.34 The Ministry of Health train staff ofthe agencies on the OSCC management guidelinesand Critical Pathways. This is complemented bygender-sensitization training for medical providersand social workers conducted by women NGOs suchas AWAM, WAO, and WCC. The National Councilof Women’s Organizations has recruited andtrained volunteer counsellors to assist the OSCC

and is developing a Counselling Manual for OSCCvolunteers.35 Upon arrival at the OSCC, a staffmember followed by a doctor’s examination takesthe survivor’s history. If immediate treatment ofinjuries is needed, the survivor is referred to themedical officer on call. Within 24-hours, s/he seesthe counsellor on duty. The designated counsellorincludes medical social workers and volunteersfrom women NGOs, who provide explanation andguidance on the services offered at the hospitaland other agencies. Both police and medicalreports are also filed. The OSCC holds monthlymeetings to monitor the cases of the survivors.

Another One-Stop Crisis Centre located inGeneral Hospital Kuala Lumpur was establishedin 1993 and serves as a medical and emotionaltrauma centre for survivors of violence. While theyreceive an average of 200 cases a month, withthe majority being battered women, they also dealwith rape, sodomy, and child abuse cases. The firstpoint of contact is the Emergency Counter. Theprotocol requires that the survivor self-identifyto the Emergency Counter in order to access thefacilities especially positioned for victims ofviolence. If the survivor claims s/he has beenabused, then a staff member will escort him/herto a special room, which is “hidden” to ensureprivacy (both in the physical sense and also toprovide emotional security). Any life-threateninginjuries will be attended to immediately anddepending upon the state of the survivor, s/he maybe sent to the psychiatric/medical officer forspecialized treatment. However, if the victim doesnot self-identify then s/he will have to take anumber and wait his/her turn and later besubjected to the same routine as any other patientvisiting an Emergency room. Once a survivoraccesses the specialized facilities, his/her historyand report are taken down, colour coded and

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33 Josiah I, 1997; Hii M, 2001; Thambiah S, Yong C &Wong YL, 2006)

34 http://www.mvip.gov.my. Date Accessed: 16/10/2006;Hii M, 2001

35 UNFPA Malaysia. 2006

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classified by type of abuse or violence. They areforms for detailed recording of domestic violence,rape and sodomy. By law, a physician is requiredto file a police report if s/he suspects child abuse.But in the case of domestic violence, the physiciancan only advise the survivor to make a report.

In Thailand, with the encouragement fromthe National Commission of Women’s Affairs,the Ministry of Prime Minister’s Affairs hasformulated a policy for public hospitals at theprovincial level to establish OSCCs. RayongHospital and a few hospitals in Bangkok haveestablished centres. Outside Bangkok, with supportfrom international donors and NGOs such asFriends of Women’s Foundation, the first OSCCwas established as a model for other hospitals inservice provision to victims of violence in Khonkaen.The hospital seeks to deliver a comprehensiveservice through provision of trained multi-disciplinary staff (including physicians, nurses,psychologists, and social welfare personnel);establishment of a network with both local andBangkok NGOs and related government staff (e.g.police, state attorneys); and guidelines, protocolsand manuals for service provider staff. A centrecomprises a special room in the Emergency or

hospital Social Welfare Units, to provide 24-hourservices. A specific hospital record form hasadapted similar forms on GBV from Australia,Malaysia, Philippines and USA. Since womenvictims of violence usually receive insufficientand inadequate hospital services and ineffectivereferrals, protocols for service delivery have beendeveloped for outpatient and inpatient services.Consequently some public hospitals in 20 provinceshave established OSCCs. Along with data providedby the standard hospital record form on GBVdeveloped for use by OSCCs, routine records onInjury Surveillance of the Ministry of PublicHealth have provided patterns and characteristicsof women victims of violence who come to useservices. Data from 24 provincial hospitals in 2002,showed that while the proportion of femalepatients receiving physical and sexual assaultswere not high (14.2 per cent) compared to all otherinjury cases, the mortality rate of 5.2 per cent wassignificant enough to cause concern by the healthcare sector. Most victims were of reproductiveage. Table 2 shows the types of support providedto GBV victims in Thailand OSCC; it is instructivefor any institution preparing to offer services tovictims of violence.

Types of support Number / per cent

- Health care cost 376 (38.3)

- Emergency contraceptive method 251 (25.6)

- Antibiotic drugs 123 (12.5)

- Prophylaxis for HIV prevention 67 ( 6.8)

- Travelling cost 70 ( 7.1)

- Material support 50 ( 5.1)

- Support in terms of cash 44 ( 4.4)

Total 981

Table 2: Types of Support Provided to Clients of One-Stop Crisis CentresReported in 15 Provincial Hospitals in Thailand, October 2002 - April 200336

Source: Department of Support to Health Services, Ministry of Public Health

36 The 15 provincial hospitals included: Utradit, Nakhonratchasima, Samutsongkram, Khonkaen, Leui, Lampang, Roiet, Chonburi,Ratchburi, Chumporn, Nakhonsawan, Ubonratthani, Pitsannlok, Pathumthani, Yala

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6.5 Victim Counselling

Once a GBV victim has been identified andreceived initial medical treatment, if necessary,counselling is the primary service needed to guidesurvivors through further courses of action whichmay be needed (e.g. forensic examination, referralto other services such as legal advice andshelters).

Counselling Venues

Thailand’s Hotline Counselling Centre inBangkok, established in 1984, provides a service(free for Telephone Organization of Thailand andGSM phone system users) for clients wherecommunication access may be difficult (e.g.reside in distant areas, inconvenient access toe-mail accounts). The office also provides face-to-face counselling, group counselling and/or therapyfor different groups (e.g. women, housewives,women with homosexual husbands, lesbian andgay groups, teenagers, parent groups, self-development groups). The Foundation has anothercentre in Chang Mai, which also provides a shelterfor women and children under distress. In additionto the mobile hotline, a Hotline InternationalTraining Course is provided for those interestedin organizing services using their techniques;various publications are available to share theirexperiences and solutions to psychosocial problems;and a free AIDS Hotline service has beenestablished. In the last four years, the Foundationhas provided counselling and training courses forpolice and Immigration Officers in 10 borderprovinces as well as police in Bangkok.

Viet Nam’s Family Planning Unit at Tu DuHospital provides pre-abortion counselling thatincludes screening for GBV. The counsellingconsists of ten steps which seek to address: whya woman has decided to terminate the pregnancy;alternatives to terminating the pregnancy; anexplanation of medical versus surgical abortion;self-care after the procedure; possible side

effects and consequences; and choosing anappropriate method and screening for GBV. Whilethe counsellors have not received extensive trainingon GBV, they recognize the need to provide supportfor victims and referral information for services.Though the project ended in 2005, this modelcontinues to be actively implemented andnow serves as a national model for many otherhealth care providers throughout the country.Counsellors identified limited time as a mainconstraint in more effectively identifying GBVcases. For whereas a standard counselling sessiontypically takes 10 minutes, victims of GBV moreoften require 30 minutes. When performing 80abortions per day at the hospital, client load isconsiderable for counsellors. It was reported thatdue to the nature of GBV counselling sessions,a lot of emotional support is required. If a womanis quite upset, the counsellor may place her in aseparate room while she attends to another client,before returning to continue the conversation.Adequate provision of separate, private space canalso be a further constraint. The counsellorscurrently estimate 10 GBV cases identifiedper month, although they estimate that thenumber could be higher if they had more effectiveinvestigative skills and time.

Another venue for provision of GBVcounselling in Viet Nam is Community-BasedReconciliation Committees, comprised ofmembers from local authorities and massorganizations such as the Women’s Union andFarmer’s Union. In practice, they usually onlybecome involved in serious cases of violence,as families tend to hide the occurrences, out ofshame and fear. Having not been trained incounselling skills or legal knowledge, they havebeen reported to recommend to women to copewith the problem by avoiding angering theirhusbands and placing the well-being of their familyover themselves.37 Furthermore, recognizing the

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37 Vu Mang Loi, Vu Tuan Huy, Nguyen Hu Minh, JenniferClement. 1999.

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opportunity afforded by positioning GBV supportwithin existing grassroots community institutionsin Viet Nam, several projects have been developedto build Reconciliation Committees’ capacity incounselling and legal literacy in order to improveeffectiveness. In response to the recognizedweakness of the Reconciliation Committees’ lackof legal power to enforce laws to stop men usingviolence, Prevention of Domestic Violence AgainstWomen (PDVAW) Boards at the commune levelhave developed. Membership includes Head of thePeople’s Committee as the head of the Board, thepolice, health workers, and mass organizationrepresentatives (Women’s Union, Farmer’s Union,Youth Union). Correspondingly, “InterventionTeams” at the village level, are responsible forthe majority of the direct counselling. The teamconsists of Village chiefs and representativesof hamlets, the Women’s Union, and other massorganizations. As the head of the village has a dualfunction as the local police representative, thePDVAW Board and Intervention Teams areprovided with greater authority within thecommunity to intervene in cases and apply legalmeasures, if necessary.

One community-based GBV project, Centrefor Reproductive and Family health (RaFH), hasdeveloped twenty counselling rooms in the projectcommunes. PDVAW Board members staff thecounselling rooms in rotation. These counsellingrooms are located in rural areas. In addition tocounselling on domestic violence, clients canreceive support on gender equality, conflictswithin families and with relatives, divorces andland partitioning in the family. IEC materials arealso available in the rooms. Local visibility may behindering attendance at the counselling rooms asit has been reported that RaFH staff at communelevel have a hard time to motivate clients toattend the counselling rooms. This may be due tothe fact that Intervention Teams provide supportat the village level so many people do not wantto travel the distance to the commune level ordiscuss their issues with strangers.

Viet Nam’s Counselling Centre for Psychology,Love, Marriage and Family (LMF) in Ho Chi MinhCity provides services, with counsellors andprofessionals, over a range of topics: domesticviolence, legal advice, psychology, biology/puberty,SRH, HIV/AIDS, and family relationships. LMFhas 10 years of experience, providing 24-hourservices, both face-to-face and hotline counselling.With project funding from Netherlands NOVIB,they have worked on raising awareness ofDomestic Violence issues since 1998 through thePeople’s Committee and other mass organizationsand police. Their activities include broadcastingdocumentaries on national TV, distributing IECmaterials in communities to raise awareness andcreate demand for counselling services.

Another counselling centre in Viet Nam, theGia Lam Women’s Centre for Counselling andHealth Care provides counselling services to GBVvictims, acting as a complement to the GBVscreening services provided at Dug GiangHospital in Hanoi. Under supervision by the HanoiHealth Department, it works in close contactwith the hospital as well as receiving referrals frommass organizations, the police, court, and walk inclients. It has served more than 2400 clients since2002. Despite the successes of the centre,counselling staff continue to encounter somebarriers to their work.. Traditional norms prevent many women

from realizing they suffer from GBV, dueto limited understanding of GBV as onlyphysical violence, excluding sexual andpsychological violence.. GBV victims outside of the projectimplementation area are difficult to reachwhen local authorities have limitedunderstanding and capacity to deal withviolence or make referrals.. Repeat clients need higher levels ofsupport (e.g. safe place for victims,assisting children of victims with schooltuition), requiring stronger coordinationwith mass organizations.

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In the Philippines, the Capiz ReproductiveHealth Initiative Project also provides community-based counselling and referral services for theprevention and management of VAW throughits centre, popularly known as “The Pink Room”,with 24-hour medical, counselling and policeprotection services to victims and survivors ofviolence. The Pink Room has been acknowledgedby UNFPA as a centre for learning best practices.In general, counselling centres seem to be morewidely established in the Philippines than in othercountries as demonstrated by the list of availableservices both in Manila metropolitan and theregions.38

The Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation(MWAF) has Counselling Centres at the townshiplevel established in states and divisions aroundthe country. As a state organization, the centresare attached to the local authority. In addition,local MWAF representatives have organizedawareness-raising discussions with communitymembers at school and in workplaces on thelaws protecting women against violence. Despitethese efforts, few women seek assistance fromtheir local MWAF representatives and theCounselling Centres. This is due to the population’sgeneral reticence about the state and its localrepresentatives. It does not help matters thatofficial procedure dictates that any act of VAWmust be first reported to the local police beforethe victim can be treated.

Screening and Referral

As not all victims present physical evidenceof abuse (e.g. psychological abuse) requiringmedical treatment, health providers requiresensitive skills in both enquiry and examination ofpotential GBV victims who may arrive in healthfacilities. Indeed, victims may be reluctant tocooperate if they feel their privacy is not respectedand the examination itself results in furtherhumiliation and trauma. Hospital-based screening-services play an important role in identifying

clients in need of GBV support services. Thefollowing examples provide experiences ofscreening services located in different departmentswithin hospitals (e.g. Family Planning Units,Women’s Centre, Primary Health Care System).

In Viet Nam, a few small- scale projects havedeveloped in the health sector, which includescreening clients for GBV. The Family Planning Unitat Tu Du Hospital provides GBV screening in itsabortion counselling services. It is not routinelyincorporated into other sexual and reproductivehealth services such as annual gynecologicalexams or treatment for RH illnesses. Further, noscreening is available in any other units of thehospital. However, if a woman has obvious signsof GBV such as unexplained bruises or cuts, thenthe service provider will raise GBV with her.Unfortunately, the screening and identification ofvictims of GBV is not supported by a managementinformation system in order to record the numberof cases, types of violence experienced, referralsand any follow up provided. The hospital employsforensic doctors and has an Assessment Board thatcan collect samples and tests in cases of rape. If aclient comes to the hospital after a rape, they donot notify the police unless the victim asks for thisdue to the cultural sensitivity associated with rapein Viet Nam. Having identified and provided initialcounselling to GBV victims, the Family PlanningUnit does not adequately coordinate with othersupport services. When it comes to referrals, theUnit has clear procedures for referring victims tocounselling centres in Ho Chi Minh City but doesnot provide referral information for other servicessuch as economic or legal support.

Another example in Viet Nam links screeningof clients and referral services. Duc Giang Hospitalprovides comprehensive screening of clients andcounselling through the Gia Lam Women’s Centre

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38 See counselling and referral services listed on this websitehttp://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/helpline/helplineonvaw.htm#Counseling and Referral Services.

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for Counselling and Health Care, based at thehospital. Two additional health centres, Ngoc Thuyand Long Bien, fall under the project. Theseactivities are under the project “Improving HealthCare Response to GBV” which began in 2002,supported by the Hanoi Health Department,Population Council, and Centre for AppliedStudies in Gender and Adolescence, and the FordFoundation. All health staff of the hospital andthe two health centres were given training on:knowledge on GBV and relevant laws; skillsin counselling, screening, evaluating anddocumenting cases; and providing emotionalsupport and referrals to counselling centres andother support services. This was followed by anadvanced training course in the second year.

The project is the first in the health sectorto systematically carry out GBV screening,treatment and referrals to other sectors in Viet Nam.Procedures have been developed to screen anddocument cases, including a form which documentsthe number of cases, types of violence experienced,treatment provided and referrals made to thecounselling centre in house and to other social andlegal services. The hospital and counselling centrework together with local authorities, massorganizations, police and the court of justice inorder to more effectively deal with GBV cases in amulti-sector approach. While positive changes inattitudes, awareness and collaboration of healthproviders, cadres and authorities have beennoted in an external evaluation in 200539, somedifficulties still are encountered in their work. Itremains a challenge to identify victims andprovide appropriate services since many clients arestill reluctant to report violence. Further, not allhealth staff is motivated to screen all clients sincethere is neither a formal requirement from MOHor Hanoi Health Department nor material benefitto doctors. Screening depends solely on their senseof responsibility, which may be compromisedby the 5 minutes allocated for each clientexamination.

In Timor Leste, victims most often come tothe attention of service providers through thepolice as fewer victims go directly to services. Thepolice in Dili usually contact PRADET (NGO) orFOKUPERS, requesting provision of counsellingsupport and accompaniment to the victim whileshe goes through the police and/or medicalprocesses. Outside of Dili, there are fewer referralservices for the police to call upon. Counsellorswork with the victim to determine what she willdo after filing a police report, including assistingher for accommodation at the Safe Houseoperated by FOKUPERS. The counselling responseemphasizes non-judgmental listening, encouragingthe victim to tell her story, indicating that the abuseis not her fault, and respecting her choices. Mostvictims require information about their rights andwhat they can expect during legal and medicalprocesses related to the assault. An area ofconcern is confidentiality in interactions with thevictim, as this is a new concept in a traditionalcommunity like Timor-Leste. Sometimes this isexacerbated by the cramped office space in whichNGOs operate. However, all organizations attemptto keep case files secure in their coordinationefforts on behalf of the victim. Service providersattempt to provide follow-up counselling, afterinitial contact with police and health workers, atthe victim’s home. This has proved difficult tolocate some victims as they move, withoutinforming counsellors, often as a result of shameand community pressure. PRADET has recentlybegun to offer follow-up support groups forvictims. Education and creative activities are used,over a four to five week period, to help victimsovercome the shame and isolation they feel asresult of their abuse. The support groups are orga-nized according to their experience of violence (e.g.adolescent victims of sexual assault, survivors ofdomestic violence). Similarly, FOKUPERS offerssupport groups and creative activities for residentsat its Safe House.

39 Le Thi Phuong Mai. March 2005.

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Domestic Violence screening was initiatedin the Malaysian primary health care system inOctober 2004 to develop and pilot a procedurefor identification of victims. The pilot wasconducted within reproductive health services,under the UNFPA-funded “IntegratedComprehensive Reproductive Health Serviceswithin the Primary Health Care System” project.Three main agencies were involved (Ministry ofHealth through its Family Health and DevelopmentDivision; the National Population and FamilyDevelopment Board; and the Federation of FamilyPlanning Associations) and were piloted in threeclinics in the state of Kelantan Bandar Pasir MasHealth Centre, NPFDB Kota Bharu Clinic, andthe Kelantan Family Planning Association’sKota Bhary Family Planning Clinic. The mainactivities include development of a manual for earlydetection of domestic violence within the PrimaryHealth Care system, followed by training supporton the manual for health care workers, and publiceducation on domestic violence for communityleaders and other stakeholders. The aim of theinitiative is to incorporate domestic violencescreening into the history-taking protocols forwomen using specific criteria. The expectedoutcomes of the pilot are an effective screeningmethod, an increase in awareness of domesticviolence amongst health care providers andthe community, and increased communicationbetween stakeholders in the management ofsurvivors.

Some organizations are extending GBVassistance to a small number of refugees fromMyanmar, living across the border in Thailand.While most of the initiatives are targeted atthe long-term residents of refugee camps, someorganizations work with migrant workersfrom Myanmar, in order to ensure knowledgetransfer when they return to their communities.Activities include awareness-raising programmes,counselling, and provision of safe house run inthe camps. One organization provides counsellingtraining, which they plan to extend from the camps

to include participants in Myanmar in 2007, andis preparing a film on GBV in the local languagefor distribution inside Myanmar as well as thecamps. Several organizations bring participantsfrom inside Myanmar to participate in trainingsin Thailand and then return to their communitiesfollowing the training. The training includes GBVawareness, detection, counselling, and sexualharassment awareness. One human rightsorganization conducts a ToT workshop on humanrights, including GBV, which involves participantsfrom inside Myanmar.

6.6 Support to Provision of Services

As previously stated victims are oftenreluctant to self-identify when seeking treatmentdue to the nature of gender-based violent crimes.Oftentimes, survivors themselves may perceive GBVto be only physical violence (excluding sexualand psychological forms) due to cultural norms.This puts the burden on service providers toidentify if a crime has been committed in orderto provide an effective course of treatment(including referrals if necessary), particularly ifthe abuse does not leave physical evidence. But,health staff may lack the capacity, facilities andeven motivation to screen for GBV. Culturalattitudes often limit their understanding of thenature of GBV and patient contact time is itself alimited resource. Health treatment examinationand forensic examination require protocols,including roles and responsibility of collectingevidence. Securing private and secure spacewithin hospitals or in proximity to health careprofessionals for counselling, forensic examination,and GBV screening can be problematic. Finally,linkages between healthcare providers and a rangeof service providers (e.g. police, social welfare,community institutions) demand coordinationmechanisms and policies. If such a referral systemis not in place, healthcare providers may not see itas their responsibility, thus limiting their assistanceto physical treatment rather than prevention ortransformative activities.

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Referral System

A referral system, involving networkingand collaboration with several health providers,is the basis of an established support system. InIndonesian cities such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta,Jambi, Surabaya, Mataram, Balikpapan andBalikpapan, many service provision actors networkwith one another to create such a support system.One Stop Service Centres and Crisis Centres,such as those established by Panti RapihHospital, Cipto Hospital and Sukanto Hospitalare known institutions, which provide the requiredservices.

Rifka Annisa Federation is reputed to bea centre of excellence for GBV interventions,providing a range of services in Jogyakarta areaand being well-connected to other governmentand NGO institutions. In addition to offeringlimited medical treatment and hospital referralsfor official ‘visum et repertum’ for victims, thecentre has a WCC that provides services such asshelter, counselling, hotline, referral support, legalaid, and economic empowerment. The centreemploys doctors, psychologists, counsellors, andlawyers to provide the required professionalsupport. The Federation also has a researchdivision, training division providing GBV training,and a corporation to market goods produced bywomen involved in their economic empowermentactivities. Similarly, Savy Amira in Surabaya,although not as big as Rifka Annisa, providesvarious services for GBV victims (e.g. shelter,counselling, hotline, medical services and referral)and conduct IEC for GBV prevention. RumahPerempuan WCC and Pikul Foundation are twoother NGOs providing services to GBV victims inthe area of Nusa Tenggara Timur and NorthMaluku, respectively. Services are limited toshelter provision, counselling, mediation andaccompanying victims in the processing of theircase.

Post Treatment Linkages

In Hanoi Health Department pilot projectat Duc Giang Hospital, post treatment linkagesare not completely smooth, as the hospital doesnot work directly with local communes. Rather, thehospital refers victims to the counselling centrewhere they work with the commune to addressthe situation. Very few hospital staff follow upclients after discharge. The hospital works, insome cases, with the police when a victim requiresa certification of damaged health for legalproceedings. Health sector leaders’ work withlocal government predominantly throughmeetings of the People’s Council which occur twicea year, but to date GBV has not become a topic fordiscussion in the meetings. Duc Giang Hospitalhealth staff offered the following recommendationsto support their integrated model:. The Hanoi Health Department (and MOH)

should develop a regulation requiringhealth staff to conduct screening with astandard questionnaire.. Develop a mechanism to ensure that allhospital staff understand gender equalityand GBV and are involved in screeningand referrals.. Motivate doctors to provide more consistent screening, treatment and referral bylinking performance with promotion.. Integrate GBV information into thehospital MIS system to monitor GBVprevalence.. Improve counselling centre activities byworking with perpetrators.. Develop a mechanism for local leaders andorganizations to exchange information ona regular basis.

Likewise, the staff at Tu Du Hospitaladvocated for the following intra- and inter-sectoractions:. Increasing the number of counsellors,

trained on GBV, to screen and detect cases

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. Private screening and consulting rooms inhealth centres and hospitals.. Clients’ awareness through disseminationof IEC in the waiting rooms.. Increased cooperation within the hospitaland health sector for prevention andtreatment of victims, requiring all units/departments to screen for GBV.. Developing collaboration among allsectors (education in schools, massorganizations, health and legal sectors) toeffectively address GBV and enforceexisting policies on GBV.. Development of MIS system.

The experiences and recommendationsarising from Duc Giang and Tu Du Hospitals showthat while much has been achieved, there is morework to be done in the health sector. In addition tothe project evaluation of “Improving Health CareResponse to GBV”, the Centre for Reproductiveand Family Health40 has conducted more researchon health service providers to GBV victims.

Screening, Examination and CommunicationProtocols

While GBV screening methods must besensitive in order to elicit victim cooperation,forensic examination protocols must be careful notto further victimize clients. PRADET TimorLorosa’e, operates the Fatin Hakmatek (meaning“Safe Place”) programme and has developeda forensic examination protocol specifically foruse in Timor Leste. The protocol is comprehensiveand can be used not only to document injuriesarising from sexual assault but also fromdomestic violence and child abuse. This is aninnovation because forensic protocols in othercountries usually separate these issues, althougha victim may experience two or even all three kindsof abuse. Further, the NGO’s proposed protocol ismore appropriate to the Timorese context as it doesnot involve complicated testing which is expensiveand unavailable (e.g. DNA testing). PRADET

believes that the forensic protocol is primarily ahealth document and, given the lack of doctors(especially in rural areas), would be useful if nursesand/or midwives had an expanded mandate toperform forensic examination.

PRADET is also working with other actorsto simplify the referral process posed in providingproper examination and treatment of victims. Forexample, permission processes between the policeand hospital, authorizing a forensic examinationto take place, can delay a victim receiving medicalattention and collection of evidence. Victims shouldhave the right to treatment and examination,before they have decided to involve the police intheir case. Securing appropriate, private and safespaces for services such as Fatin Hakmatek hasalso been an ongoing challenge, as protocolsrequire proximity to health-care professionalswhere there is high demand for hospital space.

In contrast, basic screening protocols are notwell developed. PRADET makes daily visits tothe emergency room at Dili National Hospital tobuild relations with medical staff and to enquirewhether there are any victims of domestic violencerequiring support. As the Fatin Hakmatekprogramme has developed, it has received morereferrals. However, ongoing efforts to improve themedical response to victims (e.g. ensuring thatvictims receive information about testing for STIs,including HIV/AIDS, and providing clinic hoursfor follow-up medical care for victims) need to besustained until an integrated system is developed.With UNFPA continuing funding for counsellingand follow-up services, considerable progresshas been made in developing a forensic medicalprotocol for victims of GBV and for the Ministryof Justice to begin a counselling programme forprisoners convicted of GBV crimes. 41

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40 Centre for Reproductive and Family Health (RaFH).September 2000.

41 Briefing by UNFPA Timor-Leste Country Representativeat Asia and Pacific Regional Planning Meeting, Bangkok,13-17 November 2006

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In the absence of clear guidelines andprotocols in Cambodia, health NGOs do notsystematically provide clinical services related toGBV. Rather, assistance to GBV survivors is patchyand inconsistent. Emergency contraceptives areavailable with a few NGOs working in the healthsector. Counselling to survivors depends on theunderstanding and knowledge of different healthcare providers. STI and HIV testing can beperformed at referral hospitals and voluntaryconfidential counselling and testing centres. PostExposure Treatment is currently only availableto a few multi and bilateral institutions andtherefore is not readily accessible to the generalpopulation, including GBV survivors.

In China, there is no standardized requirementfor reporting of GBV on medical records fromhospitals, clinics, or crisis centres. Although onehospital is piloting its’ own screening questionnaire,

. Hospital(s) under the Ministry of Public Health 1 hospital

. Hospitals under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration 8 hospitals

. Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women 2 shelter homes

. Office of the Royal Thai Police 510 police stations

identification of GBV victims is patchy as notevery doctor asks screening questions to determineif a female patient has been abused.

Thailand is developing a National On-LineVAW Information and Coordinating Centre(http://www.violence.in.th) with participation ofgovernment and NGOs as shown in Table 3. As ofNovember 2006, there were 2,171 reported casesof GBV recorded in the system. At the same time,a gender responsive systematic documentationsystem on VAW and children was set up by Genderand Development Research Institute (GDRI) withthe support from Philip Morris (Thailand)Limited. The compiled data will be utilized forfurther research and study on violence, awarenessraising as well as public policy formulation.Presentation of data and information on violenceagainst women can be viewed on the GDRI websitewww.gdrif.org.

Table 3: Thailand Entities Participating in National On-Line Informationand Coordinating Centre

Source: Thailand 28-30 November 2006.

In Indonesia, a training module for healthservice providers in counselling GBV victims atcommunity health centres (PUSKESMAS) hasbeen developed by the MOH. The module waspiloted, using UNFPA support, during the tsunamiresponse programme and is currently beingfinalized. There are at least 11 PUSKEMAS inAceh with established service centres for GBVvictims. The health providers and staff are trainedto use proper communication techniques so thatthey can identify GBV cases when a victim comesfor medical treatment (e.g. through observationof the type of bruises/injuries, number/frequencyof visits, observation of patients behaviour) as well

as provide counselling. Sensitization of GBVto health workers has also demonstrated theimportance of networking with other serviceproviders in GBV management, enabling them tomake appropriate referrals to victims.

Last but not least is the challenge ofensuring performance standards across a plethoraof government institutions and civil societyorganizations involved in the delivery of GBVinterventions. In this regard, Department ofSocial Welfare and Women Development in thePhilippines has not only developed standardizedintake and counselling forms, but also an

assessment tool to be applied to all facilitiesinvolved in the provision of GBV services in thecountry (Annex 4). The tool asses the facilitiesagainst a number of indicators: vision andobjectives in terms of the international frameworkson VAW and gender as well as Philippine laws

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on VAW; resources; nature of IEC; monitoring,evaluation and documentation; the number andqualification of personnel; and the physicalfacilities as well as the nature of interactionwith the victims.

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This chapter seeks to analyze how the policeand judiciary respond to the prevailing laws andpolicies. For, while legislation may describe whatbehaviours and actions constitute a crime, it is upto the police and judiciary to provide effectiveservices to identify criminal behaviours; pursueinvestigation of reported crime (as opposed tooffering mediation between victims and theiroffenders); establish and implement appropriateprotocols and mechanisms for staff to performtheir duties (e.g. standard reporting formats,ensure privacy and respect of victim in thecollection of evidence); actively collaboratewith other service providers offering shelters,counselling and health support to GBV victims andtheir children; and provide sound deterrentsthrough increased apprehension, prosecution andconviction of perpetrators of GBV crimes.

7.1 Special GBV Police Units

To address the mixed feelings of guilt, shameand anger often experienced by victims of GBVwho seek to report crime, special units withinpolice stations have been established in somecountries to meet this need. Given some victim’sreluctance to report such crimes, guidance ofoften traumatized survivors through policeprocedures can give an important signal to othersto come forward and utilize police services.

Indonesia has 237 special service units(RPK)42 located in police stations in 26 provinces,

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Photo credit : UNFPA IndonesiaUNFPA-supported Puspita women’s crisis center forsurvivors of GBV located in a pesantren (Islamic boardingschool) complex.

42 “Ruang Pelayanan Khusus”- a special service room at thedistrict level police station to handle cases involving womenand children.

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with the first one established in 1999 in POLDAMetro Jaya Jakarta. The unit, staffed with trainedpolice women and police investigators to assistcases during court procedures, is intended toprovide easier access for women victims ofviolence. There are 460 police women who areserving in the RPK unit. In addition to the specialservices unit, the police force has established 2243

operational hospital-based crisis centres,Bhayangkara, as a unit within the PoliceHospitals. But, the inclusion of Women andChildren Desks into National Police organizationalstructure is awaiting formal approval by thegovernment. The training programme for PoliceOfficers, particularly Police Women is part of theimplementation of the Joint Decree on IntegratedServices for the Victims of VAW.

Similarly, Thailand’s Centre for Children,Juveniles and Women is a special unit establishedunder the National Police office, responsible forinvestigation, control, support and protection ofchildren, adolescents and women. However, so farthere is no such unit at provincial or district levels.While efforts have been made to provide trainingto police at provincial and district level, highturn-over reportedly makes it difficult to developstandard forms or protocols. A review of yearlypolice reports indicates a lack of understandingof GBV crime as most cases had been classifiedunder the physical harm and rape categories. Asa result of insensitivity and/or lack of awarenesson gender issues, most reports had not beenclassified by age, sex or any other socio-economiccategories. Regrettably, omission of such detailslimits understanding of what types of crime thepolice are dealing with, as well as developmentof profiles of vulnerable victims and possibleperpetrators in the population and measuresto provide public education and deterrents forwould-be perpetrators.

In Malaysia, as a result of lobbying by andcollaboration with women NGOs in the late 1980’s,the Canadian Mounted Police conducted a

training programme on methods to deal with rapefor the Royal Malaysian Police. This was followedby the creation of a national police rape squadin order to provide support for rape survivors. APolice Rape Squad now exists in the majorityof states in Malaysia, providing an environmentconducive for rape survivors (women and children)to make police reports and provide evidenceto assist in police investigations. The squadsare staffed mainly by women police officers.Procedures on how to handle rape cases have beendeveloped and disseminated to all state policedepartments. While a component of the newprocedures requires a special room to be set asidefor rape survivors, lack of room and space hasprevented some police stations from meeting thisstandard.

In Timor-Leste during the United NationsAdministration, a special unit of the nationalpolice force was established, to assist victims ofsexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.The Vulnerable Persons’ Unit was set up at boththe national and district level in early 2001, withan office in every district’s police headquarters.Efforts were made to ensure that most offices hadat least one female officer on staff to facilitateinterview of female victims. Officers received 17days of additional training to fulfil their specialrole.44 However, despite the existence of a specialunit, many cases of GBV are taken to the policeas a last resort, when traditional processeshave not provided the justice the victim and herfamily desired. It is not uncommon for legal aidorganizations such as PRADET to receive victimsseveral months after the assault has taken place.In contrast, people are more likely to take casesof sexual abuse of children to the police (than casesof sexual assault of adults or domestic violence)as there is little doubt that sexual assault of

43 The 22 units were currently active as of May 2005. Anadditional 14 were still not operational, waiting forbuilding completion and staffing.

44 Cited in IRC, Traditional Justice and Gender BasedViolence.

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children is against community norms and thevictim will not be blamed, as can happen duringthe hearing of GBV cases in traditional justiceprocesses.

While there is not a special police unit toaddress cases of GBV in Viet Nam, police andlocal authorities have a presence on PDVAW(Prevention of Domestic Violence AgainstWomen) Boards and Counselling Teams, providingintervention in resolving cases of violence atcommunity level. In many cases, police and localauthorities are sensitized with some receivingtraining in GBV and Domestic Violencecounselling. In the RaFH project, the head ofpolice was a member of the PDVAW Boardwith male perpetrators in unresolved cases ofviolence, first explaining local and nationalpolicies and laws regarding domestic violence theyhave broken and having them sign a “commitmentnote”, and later using penalties of broadcastingthe perpetrators name over the communityloudspeakers and fines if they did not desist fromdomestic violence. In the strongest cases, men couldbe taken to criminal court for prosecution.

In the Philippines, GBV is addressed bythe police authority through the Women’s Desksthat have been established in police stations allthroughout the country. Female officers are theones tasked to handle the desks, and they areexpected to have had gender sensitivity trainingsto equip them with the necessary consciousnessin women’s issues including GBV. To date, therehas been no evaluation of these units, althoughcontinuous training is being undertaken incollaboration with other government agencies,primarily the Department of Social Work andDevelopment. There have been anecdotal reportsas well as some other forms of data where femalepolice officers themselves are victims of GBV.The Anti/VA/C Law also provides for barangay(village) protection order for victims of violence.Through this provision and other provisions in thelaw, there is an expectation that village officials,

which is often the first government unit womenand children victims of GBV go to, be capacitatedto address GBV cases.

7.2 Police and Legal AssistanceProtocols

Legal protocols establish necessary mecha-nisms to ensure that justice actors provide accu-rate reporting, sensitive collection of both verbaltestimony and physical evidence from victims andwitnesses, actively pursue investigations in a timelyfashion, interpret and apply laws faithfully andaccurately, and provide penalties which reflect theseriousness of the crime. The following examplesdemonstrate a mixed record of establishments anduse of legal protocols in the study countries.

Formal Justice Processes

Philippines’ National Bureau of Investiga-tion’s VAWD (Violence Against Women and theirChildren Division) investigates cases and providesprotective services, counselling, medical-legalexamination and assistance, and proper custodyto child victims of sexual abuse. VAWD hasdeveloped a number of protocols to assist indocumentation such as intake referrals andtracking forms. With reference to the police, thefirst women’s desk in the police system in Asiawas set up in the Philippines in 1993. In late 2001,the Philippine National Police set up 1,612 Womenand Children’s Desks (WCD) nationwide, staffedby 2,138 female and 405 male personnel. TheWCDs receive GBV complaints by victim-survivors. Where necessary, issuance of protectionorders for victims and their families are providedat the barangay. Despite these protocols, manylocal officials, particularly at the barangaylevel, have reported that family mediation is stilla widespread practice even with the law’sprohibition.

In Thailand, despite the key role police playin dealing with women victims of violence, there is

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no specific record form for GBV cases. A tally ofwomen victims of violence is made in the dailyrecord book at each police station. It only showsrelationship of abuser to the victim by type ofviolence and is thus of limited use as descriptivedetails which could be used, for example, toexamine patterns of violence, profiles of victimsand offenders is missing. This reporting format onlyprovides evidence for women who have documentedrepeated assaults, when they want to prosecute.

Notwithstanding the significant work oncriminalizing gender-based violence in Timor-Leste,problems with the infrastructure and facilitieswithin the court system continue to make itdifficult to fully implement the criminalizationstrategy. No special prosecutors, judges or courtsfor gender-based violence cases are employed.When cases do reach the courts, transcripts ofhearings is seldom sufficiently detailed, sometimesresulting in the victim having to repeat her storyor evidence not being properly considered bythe court. Court actors do not yet have preciseterminology or a common understanding of howto describe injuries resulting from an assault. Inparticular, terminology regarding injuries in sexualassaults is often not fully understood. If thoseprosecuting and defending such a case are not ableto effectively communicate the nature of GBVcrime to those passing decisions on criminalactivity, then the likelihood of a fair outcomediminishes. Similarly, confusion persists regardingdefinitions of crimes and what law to apply asa result of the interplay of Indonesian andinternational law. For example, judges are notclear about whether anal rape is, in fact, rape(not criminalized under Indonesian law, butcriminalized under international law). Judges areleft with the difficult task of interpretinginternational law in their day-to-day work. Thisconfusion amongst court actors may be a factorin the low level of women-related scheduled courtcases and prosecution rates. When the JudicialSystem Monitoring Programme (JSMP) followedwomen-related cases in the Dili District Court for

two months in 2003, none of the cases before thecourt came to a decision. In only 16 per cent ofthe cases did hearings proceed at all, and in thehearings that did proceed, little progress was madein deciding the case.45 At that time, the averagelength of time that women-related cases werebefore the court was 274 days.46

The number of cases declined significantlyonce the cases reached court. In 2003, a total of361 cases of sexual assault and domestic violencewere reported to the Vulnerable Persons Unit. FromApril 2004 to February 2005, JSMP found thatdecisions had been handed down in only 8 of thesecases.47 Further, JSMP reported that patterns ofsentencing were mixed and tended to emphasizeshort sentences with inadequate considerationof aggravating factors (such as the age of thevictim, the use of weapons in an attack and therelationship of the perpetrator to the victim), whichcould have resulted in heavier sentences.48 JSMPalso reported on incidents of judges’ failing to usemedical evidence appropriately and failing toapply standards of international law whenappropriate (such as when to define an assault asrape). JSMP also reported that because of theburden on prosecutors at Dili District Court, theywere unable to interact sufficiently with victimsand some had insufficient time to prepare a caseadequately, so as to ensure that a perpetrator ofGBV is charged with all of the relevant articlesof criminal law and with the strongest articles.Prosecutors were also known to have sent casesout of the formal justice system to traditional jus-tice processes.49

From the perspective of the clientconsidering utilizing formal justice processes, it

45 Judicial System Monitoring Programme. April 2004.46 Ibid.47 Judicial System Monitoring Programme. February 2005.

Also available at www.jsmp.minihub.org.48 Judicial System Monitoring Programme. April 2005. Also

available at www.jsmp.minihumb.org49 Ibid.

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is easy to see how confidence could be lost inthe outcomes of this process. For justice actorsworking within the formal system, while no doubtconfusion over interpretation of Timorese andinternational laws persists, the fluid nature ofthe working environment permits some actors tooperate with their gender biases unchecked.Given that traditional justice processes are thede facto justice system in operation in Timor Lestewith respect to GBV cases; expected protocols suchas the composition of justice actors, reportingand investigative procedures, “court hearing”mechanisms, conviction rates and penaltiesarising give us an idea of the type of justicedelivered. The following analyzes these componentswith respect to the traditional justice system.

Traditional Justice Processes

Although there is no one standard type of“traditional justice” in Timor-Leste, the generalapproach is the same. The victim’s family ofteninitiates the process. The investigation consistsof bringing together members of the victim’sfamily and/or members of the family given thecultural power to solve the cases, such as elders.In a hearing, the victim (or more often a memberof her family) and the accused present theirstories and are supported by their respectivefamilies. Witnesses can also speak. Theadministrators of the hearing make a decision andassign blame to one or both of the involvedparties. If the decision is against the accused, s/heor the family is directed to provide compensationto the victim and/or her family in the form of cash,animals or traditional items such as weavings.

In cases of domestic violence, fines can rangefrom just making the peace or receiving moraladvice from the elders, to exchange of moneyor exchange of significant animals such as waterbuffalo, or to public acts of punishment. For casesof sexual violence, fines range from the paymentof one water buffalo for less serious cases tomore serious cases (especially those resulting in

pregnancy), marriage of the victim to herperpetrator is regarded as the best solution tolessen the shame faced by the woman and herfamily. Traditional processes have no power toenforce the rulings. There is also no notion of arestraining order, or means to protect a victim fromfurther abuse or harassment. Problems thatcannot be resolved at the family level are directedto an appeals process, in which the case is takento progressively higher levels (neighborhood,village, sub district) until the victim or herfamily receive acceptable resolution. The police areoften considered the last stage after all traditionalprocesses have been exhausted. Researchconducted on customary dispute resolution inevery sub district of the country found that thepolice were involved in only 13 per cent of cases.50

As a community-based system of arbitration,the administrators of the hearings seek to findsolutions, which are not necessarily based on thevalidation of the individual, but rather the statusand well-being of the family or even largercommunity. The ruling of marriage of the twoparties in dispute, from a sexual assault resultingin pregnancy, is an example of this approach.Assigning blame and apportioning a value totrespasses against a woman (in the form of fines)for different actions is culturally imbedded. Muchattention may be given to events leading up to theassault which may result in apportionment ofblame against a woman due to traditional beliefsabout women’s role - for example, a marriedwoman may be blamed for not knowing howto handle her husband and prevent his violence.Therefore, cultural (as opposed to legislated)“boundaries” are defined in which a “crime” hasoccurred. GBV is not defined as a crime in its’own right, but rather conditionally dependingupon the context in which it occurred. The notionof “punishment” which can provide a deterrent forthe perpetrator (and signal to other community

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50 Peace and Democracy Foundation, in cooperation withMediation partners. November 2004.

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members) is not necessarily the underlyingstrategy. Rather, the judgment may emphasizethe need for a perpetrator to take responsibilityfor his actions so the families can reconcile theirdifferences and live in harmony again.

Community and traditional leaders believethat handling cases informally serves to preservethe community, especially at the local level wherethe power of government and formal justiceinstitutions may not reach.51 When judgmentsare able to hold offenders accountable, it is believedthat they can be used to educate the communityregarding behaviour (however gender-biased),which is acceptable to the community elders.

A further critique of the mechanisms withintraditional justice processes is the compositionof justice actors and the inability of the system toenforce decisions. Traditional justice processes tendto give little recognition to the rights of womenand, in particular, inadequate control and voice inthe process. While traditionally it is expected thatthe woman’s family speak on her behalf, in the caseof sexual offences it is seen as an offence againstthe entire family. In research conducted by the AsiaFoundation, less than 2 per cent of elders makingdecision in traditional processes were women.Traditional processes have no power to enforce theirrulings as they have neither the capacity for forcedincarceration of recalcitrant actors nor linkageswith police to take over “convicted” offenders toenforce decreed punishments. No establishedmechanisms or protocols governing how traditionaland formal justice processes should work togethercurrently exist. “The current status of justice inTimor-Leste is having disastrous effects on thosewomen whose problems are being lost amidst theconfusion and power struggles that are occurringbetween the local and formal systems”.52

7.3 Police Collection of Data

Upon examination of the limited data thatare collected across study countries, the picture

that emerges is that GBV incidence is high, yetit is not associated with correspondingly highinvestigation, court hearing, and sentencing andconviction rates. Further, given uncertain legalframeworks and definitions in some countries, it isdifficult to determine if the reporting of GBV isundervalued.

In Timor Leste, the National VulnerablePersons’ Unit of the police began collectingstatistics regarding cases of GBV in October2000. In 2003, for example, a total of 445 casesinvolving GBV were pursued by the police,meaning that they went beyond an initial report(attempted rape -25, domestic violence - 303,rape - 10, sexual assault - 18, sexual harass-ment - 9).53 While from the months of Januaryto August 2004, 370 GBV cases were handledby the police nationwide, representing 67 per centof the total cases reported to the police.54 TheGeneral Prosecutor’s Office reported that fromJuly 2003 to June 2004, 201 domestic violencecases were being handled and 155 rape cases. Thepercentage of sexual assault cases appearing inTimor Leste’s four district courts are as follows:55

Bacau, 28 per cent; Dili 23 per cent; Oecussi, 13per cent; and Susi 13 per cent. Based on twomonths of court monitoring of women-relatedcases in the Dili District Court, JSMP found thatwomen-related case were the majority (55 percent) of all criminal hearings scheduled, and that78 per cent of these cases involved serious sexualassaults.56 Further, despite the many domesticviolence complaints received by the police, not onedomestic violence case was scheduled for hearingduring the monitoring period.57 The signal received

51 International Rescue Committee, Aisling Swaine, ed.August 2003.

52 IRC. Traditional Justice and Gender Based Violence, p. 66.53 Statistics provided by National Vulnerable Persons’ Unit.54 Ibid.55 Judicial System Monitoring Programme. February 2005.

Also available at www.jsmp.minihub.org.56 Judicial System Monitoring Programme. April 2004. Also

available at www.jsmp.minihub.org.57 Ibid.

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to observers is that domestic violence, unlike seri-ous sexual assault, is not a valid crime worthy ofthe judicial process.

A cursory glance at data collected by policein the study countries shows that the cases aretypically recorded by types of violence (e.g. RoyalMalaysian Police data for 2000-2004) or typesof violence by relationship to the perpetrator (e.g.Thailand’s Information Centre of National PoliceOffice). These data often lack disaggregation byage, marital status, ethnicity and other importantsocial economic statuses not to mention theproportion of such cases that were charged,convicted, and sentenced. Moreover in manycountries, GBV cases may include only physicaland sexual assault and rape cases. Without anystandard forms to record data from victimreports, the collection of information varies bydefinitions of violence and sensitivity of policeinvolved in collecting the information from thevictim. Without reporting protocols, definitionson whether a “criminal act” has occurred or notmay vary, resulting in uneven documentationof incidence of particular crimes. Low reportedincidence rates can have an impact on thejudgments made by legal officers with regard tothe “seriousness” of certain types of crimes,justifying resource allocation and priorities incriminal investigation, deterrents provided, andlevels of prosecution.

7.4 Efficacy of Legal Services

Justice actors may not provide an effectiveservice to GBV survivors, owing to their lack ofunderstanding of the nature of gender-basedviolent crime; culturally-learned attitudes towardsvictims; confusion over definitions; applicationof competing justice systems (e.g. international,national, traditional systems); or limited technicalcapacity and resources under their command.Unfortunately, this situation often characterizesthe justice seekers themselves.

Uncertain Legal Frameworks

In Cambodia, law enforcement by police andjudges is perceived as slow and uneven towardGBV. The uncertain legal framework, in light ofdefinitions of rape and abuse, combined withlimited knowledge of GBV and gender-relatedconcepts results in poor quality of investigationand investigative procedures by police and lowconviction rates by legal officers. Patriarchalvalues held by judges and police also, in effect,obstruct them in the exercise of their authoritiesto combat GBV, thereby potentially leavinggender-based violence legislation ineffective.Survivors of GBV, in many cases, refrain fromseeking legal assistance and, instead, eitheraccept monetary compensation or marriage tothe rapist. In addition to the absence of a clearmessage that violence towards women will bepunished; and the victim’s lack of education andknowledge of their rights, fear of revenge andsocial expectations abate perpetrators of violenceto act with impunity.

In Mongolia, the general police deal withsexual violence crimes and victims are requiredto have medical examinations at the ForensicHospital if their case is to go to court. There areno special police or medical services for rapevictims. Further, given the criminal code definitionof rape - “sexual intercourse by force, threats, orby taking advantage of the helplessness of avictim” - courts are required to thoroughlyconsider previous and future relationships betweenthe victim and defendant in order to ascertainwhether a “rape” has actually occurred. The lackof sensitivity in police and medical investigation,combined with the close examination of the victim’srelationship to her perpetrator, can effectively actas a deterrent for a rape victim in seeking justice.Some aspects of the rape provisions and theirinterpretations by the Supreme Court have beencriticized as raising unfair barriers to theprosecution of the crime. Provisions, which

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can unfairly favour the defendant, include therequirement of evidence of resistance, theanalyses of past sexual history and the relianceon a defendant’s evidence of consent.58

In seeking to provide legal services tothe Timorese community, the police have uniquechallenges to face in establishing their credibility.The Timor-Leste force was completely rebuiltfollowing the crisis of 1999 and subsequentestablishment of the United Nations TransitionalAdministration in East Timor. In addition to thetask of identifying appropriate recruits, the policeforce inherited community misunderstandingsand mistrust regarding the role of the police,due to the involvement of the Indonesian policein human rights, harassment and corruptionthroughout the Indonesian occupation. The policeare a relatively unfamiliar institution in atraditional society accustomed to traditionaljustice processes.

Competing Justice Systems

Despite the fact that efforts to criminalizeGBV are located in Timorese law, Timorese peopletend to be most comfortable and accustomedto bringing legal issues to traditional justiceprocesses (adat). Research undertaken by theAsia Foundation in 2003 on people’s perceptionof justice issues in Timor-Leste confirmed that

while most people generally approve of formaljustice processes, most are not familiar with theprocess, especially if they are from districtsoutside of Dili. The formal legal system wasperceived to be less fair, less accountable, morecomplex and a greater financial risk. Only 52per cent stated that they would want a judge orofficials from the formal court system to come totheir area to help settle disputes.59 Further, theresearch showed that most people were less likelyto say that formal courts reflect the values of theircommunity.60 To an extent, people may feel lesscomfortable with the formal justice system becauseof negative experiences within the court systemduring the Indonesian occupation, when courtswere know to be corrupt and seldom respectedstandards of human rights.

In contrast, 81 per cent of surveyedrespondents felt that community leaders werethe people primarily responsible for law andorder in the community, with only 14 per centmaintaining that the police hold the mainresponsibility for preserving law and order.Ninety-four per cent of people were comfortablewith bringing a problem either to the Chefe deSuco or to the traditional adat process.

When people were asked why they decidedto resolve their dispute through traditional justice

The matter was too small to take to formal court 44%Traditional process saves face and avoids embarrassment 30%In accord with how my community always handles disputes 28%Traditional process requires less travel time than formal courts 22%To keep the peace/harmony 18%Traditional process is a low-cost method of resolving disputes 14%I had to go there 2%Other 2%

Table 4: Reasons Given for Resort to Traditional Justice in Timor Leste

Source: Asia Foundation April 2004

58 Arthi Patel and D. Amarsanaa, 2000.59 Asia Foundation April 2004.60 Ibid.

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processes, they responded as follows:Interestingly, of those who took their dispute

to the formal court system, 56 per cent didso because they thought they would get a fairdecision there and 34 per cent because theyconsidered the dispute a serious matter. Theresearch also found that 56 per cent of peoplefelt that if a man beats his wife seriously,traditional justice processes should address thematter. Only 42 per cent of people felt that thisshould be dealt with in the formal justice system.In cases of rape, however, 72 per cent of citizensfelt that the formal justice system is the mostappropriate way to resolve the case.61

Given that Timorese people seek to resolveissues within their community, of those who tooktheir dispute to the police, half said their disputewas settled. A trial occurred in only 11 per centof the cases. A full 30 per cent of people whotook their disputes to the police were dissatisfiedwith the outcome, including 17 per cent who were“very dissatisfied” with the outcome. Conversely,only 8 per cent of people reported beingdissatisfied with adat or traditional justiceprocesses. This dissatisfaction may arise from thefact that some cases are dropped either becausethere is insufficient evidence to proceed, becausethe victim wants charges withdrawn or becausejustice actors forward the case to mediation/traditional justice processes. Eighty-two per centof people felt that the formal justice systemprotects women’s rights, and the same proportionfelt that the adat process also protects women’srights.

Many of the obstacles to victims enteringthe formal justice system are not unique toTimor-Leste. Some of the obstacles include:. The victim may not wanting to report

crime due to shame and damage that hasalready taken place as a result of assault;. The victim may want to protect the goodname or reputation of her family or theabuser’s family;

. The victim may not fully understand theprocesses in the formal court system;. The victim may not want news of her storyto appear in the media;. The police may be too far away for thevictim to make a report;. The victim may not have confidence thatmaking a report to the police will make adifference;. The victim may not know that the abusethat she has experienced is a crime;62

. The victim may fear the long time it takesto settle cases in the formal justicesystem; and. It may be difficult to obtain appropriateevidence, especially if the victim delaysreporting to the police.

While clients may perceive some dissatisfactionwith the formal justice system, this may, in part,be due to limited understanding of GBV issues andtraining of police officers and the environment inwhich they conduct their work. New recruits un-dergo a relatively short training programme -three months in Police College and three monthsin field training.63 New police officers can then beconfronted with complicated cases in a confusinglegal environment. Further, they must conduct theirwork within a limited infrastructure (e.g. lack ofexternal telephone systems connecting them to thecommunity outside, inconsistent electricity supplypossibly endangering forensic evidence, lack offunctioning computers to establish and utilize acriminal database, limited transportation torespond to reports).

It is not difficult to see how these factorsmay affect use of proper procedures, thus

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61 Ibid.62 Written comments from Prosecutor at Dili District Court

(Dr. Vicente Fernandes Brito), May 2005. Provided toPRADET.

63 Government of Timor-Leste, UNMISET, UNDP andDevelopment Partner Countries for the Timor-Leste policeServices. Jan 2003.

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hampering efforts to enforce criminalizationof GBV cases. For example, the 72-hour limitfor the holding of a suspect is intended forinvestigation of a crime, but is often used by policeas a type of “cooling off” period, apparentlyto give the victim time to think about (andpresumably withdraw) her report of gender-basedviolence. Similarly, concerns have been expressedthat in some cases of gender-based violence,officers do not respond quickly enough or do notinvestigate cases thoroughly; giving the messagethat it is not a serious crime.64 For example,police officers admitted that although they knowdomestic violence is a crime they pursue casesonly if there is serious injury.65 In these cases,police attitudes may restrict observation anddelivery of the law.

7.5 Support to Law EnforcementAgents

Given the challenges of the law enforcementagencies in handling GBV, almost all the studycountries have set up programmes of trainingand sensitization. In Cambodia, the Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs and the Ministry of Interiorhave finalized a national training manual on GBV(trafficking and domestic violence). Training onthe principles of the GBV law and gender-basedviolence awareness have been conducted torelevant government officials from the Ministry ofJustice (as well as Ministry of Interior, Ministryof Education, Youth and Sports and Ministry ofWomen Affairs) at national level, and are nowongoing at sub-national level with support fromdonors. With support from UNICEF, furthertraining has been conducted for specific groups oflaw enforcement officers, police, judges, courtclerks, lawyers, local authorities (provincial linedepartments, commune chiefs, commune clerks,

and village chiefs and women and children focalpoints) and NGOs to increase their understanding,knowledge and principles behind gender-basedviolence law. Special attention has been givento application of the protection order, legalframework and working with men to eliminateviolence against women.

Additionally, the Cambodian Ministry ofInterior is being supported by AUSAID (AustralianAgency for International Development) to workwith the national police, Ministry of Justice andprison officials to raise gender awareness, andincorporate gender in both recruitment andinvestigative procedures. Thus, a gender-trainingcourse, which is compulsory for all newly recruitedpolice officers, has been introduced in partnershipwith Gender and Development in 13 provinces. Itcovers gender and sex, relationships, genderstrategy, GBV and HIV/AIDS. Another focus ofthe programme is strengthening the quality ofinvestigation of crimes against women anddemonstrating the efficacy of women policeofficers. The programme also covers prisonofficials and families. Similarly, in partnershipwith FHI (Family Health International) a 5-daycourse is offered to police officers featuringtraining and reflection on attitudes towardswomen, sexual behaviours, violence, alcohol,and HIV risk. Likewise, the InternationalOrganization for Migration (IOM) has workedwith a number government institutions includingMinistry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Justice,Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior,Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and YouthRehabilitation on Trafficking and SexualExploitation issues of women and children. Theprojects cover prevention, protection, resettlementand promotion of human rights and legal/policysupport of victims.

64 Centre for Applied Research and Policy Studies, DiliInstitute of Technology. Sept. 2004.

65 Ibid.

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Gender-based violence attracts a lot ofscrutiny, and is subjected to a range of debatesand dialogues locally, nationally and globally.Culture, gender and human rights perpectivesare fundamental in understanding and addressingGBV. Definitions of domestic violence, for example,in most of the study countries are understoodbroadly to include a range of actors, notexclusively defined by gender relations.

For example, in Timor-Leste, most peoplesupport a broad definition of domestic violence,covering relationships often characterized bydiffering power relations such as employer andmaid, husband and wife, father and mother,stepchildren, uncles and aunts, grandparents,dating relationships and even work colleagues.Similarly, in Viet Nam, domestic violence isunderstood to refer to all kinds of violence thatone family causes to another family memberregardless of sex of the victim. Correspondingly,the latest draft of the Domestic Violence Lawdefines Domestic Violence as “the willful act offamily member(s) which results in or is likely toresult in physical mental, sexual or economic harmto other member(s).66

Some advocacy groups in the Philippinesframe the discourse even wider by linkingviolence with discriminatory attitudes, behavioursand practices. The lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender(LGBT) community seek to define victims of

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violence more broadly than gender-based violencebut, rather, as an outcome of power-relatedviolence due to one’s sexual orientation. Violenceof all forms (physical, psychological, economic,sexual), they argue, arises not only withinheterosexual relations but also between hetero/homosexual and single-gender/trans-genderrelations. The LGBT community has filed andhas been lobbying for the passage of an Anti-discrimination Bill. Ang Ladlad, an LGBT group,has filed for status as a political party and intendsto run on an anti-discrimination platform in thecoming national elections.

However, the strategy of widening theplatform for all victims of violence can have theeffect of making gender-motivated violenceinvisible to policymakers and reducing theresponsibility for specific GBV legislation. Inaddition to definitions, cultural perceptions,economic and political environments, and mediacoverage and depiction of GBV can affect the levelof discourse. This chapter examines how some ofthese factors have framed national debates anddialogue in the study countries.

8.1 Cultural Perceptions

The discourse on GBV in Timor-Leste arisesfrom the concept of human rights, the coreadvocacy aspect in Timorese independence, ratherthan the women’s rights movement. Thosedeveloping new domestic violence legislationconsulted with communities on their beliefsand definitions concerning GBV. Examples ofcommunity definitions appear in Box 11. Thedefinitions focus on violations of the integrityand human rights of victims, resulting in variousforms of human degradation such as emotionalhumiliation, psychological coercion, and physicaldamage.

It is interesting to note that communitiesare cognizant of the various forms in which GBVpresents itself - physical and sexual as well as,

more surprisingly, economic and psychologicalviolence. However, when you consider communityperceptions ranking the seriousness of theseforms of violence and corresponding resolutionas shown in Box 12, different tolerance levelssuggest that some factors such as frequency ofabuse (e.g. less than 3 slaps), physical abuse whichdoes not leave evidence (e.g. hitting which doesnot involve injuries, hitting with small objects)and location of abuse (e.g. rape within conjugalrights of marriage) determine whether the act is“normative” or worthy of criminal punishment.The two Boxes juxtaposed seem to demonstratea discord in perceptions of human rights andgender-based violence as a violation of humanrights.

Suggestions of resolution, arising from theseconsultations, affirm that most people believethat the community has an important role to playin regulating domestic violence amongst itsmembers. When asked about the punishment thatsomeone who has committed domestic violenceshould receive, doing work for the good of thecommunity or public shaming rituals67, rather thanincarceration, was identified. Hence, resolution isjustice meted towards the community rather thanthe individual victim, reflecting the culturallyvalued priority of community cohesion.

Similarly, cultural attitudes, norms andbehaviours limit an understanding of GBV in VietNam. The term “violence” in Vietnamese (“baoluc”) is considered too strong for people to use itin reference to family members, unless the abusecauses serious health and other consequences. Asin Timor-Leste, many forms of violence perceivedas “less serious” such as verbal abuse, slapping, orcoerced or forced marital sex will often not beconsidered violence.68 The lack of precise language

67 Public shaming rituals include having to walk around thevillage with a sign or shouting phrases such as “I am guiltyof domestic violence, don’t do what I did”.

68 Vu Manh Loi, Vu Tuan Huy, Nguyen Hu Minh, JenniferClement 1999 and Phan Thi Thu Hien, 2004.

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of two new terms on “domestic violence” and“sexual harassment”) to express ideas and issuespreviously not in the public consciousness.

When we examine the persistence of certaincultural practices in China, despite legal

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to express issues can also limit public debate inChina. The revision process of the Marriage Lawand Law on the Protection of Women’s Rightsgave rise to national debates and policy dialogueon GBV in China. As a consequence of newdiscourse, language was created (in the form

Source: Ainaro Consultation Report 14 - 15 May 2003.

Box 11: Timor Leste: Community Definitions of Gender-Based Violence

Physical abuse . Raping of a foster child, a stepchild or a worker by a fosterfather, stepfather or an employer;. Violence which results in significant physical injury such asbruises, bleeding, breaking of bones;. Injuries cased by sharp objects;. Pulling of hair; and. Punching, hitting, pinching, throwing things, slapping.

Psychological abuse . The mother-in-law forcing the daughter-in-law to follow herdemands because she has already paid the bride price;. Husband or wife having an affair with another person;. Verbal abuse (including defamation, slander, shouting);. Degrading a person in public;. Verbal threats, including threats of divorce and injury;. Ridicule;. Stalking;. Polygamy/polyandry;. Forced marriage; and. Intimidation.

Economic abuse . A wife pressuring her husband about financial issues when thehusband is unemployed and has no stable income;. Partner spending money on gambling or extravagance withoutthe consent of the other partner;. Withholding of money;. Keeping a mistress; and. Forbidding a person to work.

Sexual violence . Sex outside of husband-wife relationship;. Sexual relations which cause a woman to become pregnant butthe male partner does not want to take responsibility;. Trading people (selling people for money);. Forced sexual intercourse in a husband-wife relationship; andIncest.

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regulations, one has to conclude that the lawseeks to regulate the effect rather than the originof gender-related cultural values. Two topicsgiving rise to national debate and policyexamination are regulation of marital rape andpunishment on sex selection. In both instances,Chinese law protects victims, but convictions

against perpetrators for violation are notdelivered in practice. While Chinese law does notexclude marital rape from rape, the court has notconvicted any marital rape case, except occurringwithin marriages undergoing divorce. The messagebeing, that unless the marriage is dissolving,forced marital relations are not a criminal act

Source: Ainaro Consultation Report 14 - 15 May 2003.

Box 12: Timor Leste: Assessment of Seriousness of Domestic Violence andSuggestions for Resolution

Level of

seriousness

Heavy:

Medium:

Light (may not becriminal):

Abuses included in this category

. Loss of life;. Killing using sharp objects;. Beating till unconsciousness;. Complete disability;. Sexual violence (may be seen as moreserious than other kinds of violence; awoman who has been raped loses thecommunityís respect and will find itdifficult to find a man to marry her);. A husband having two wives withoutthe consent of his legal partner; and. Medium domestic violence if it happensoften.

. Loss or breaking of part of a body;. Beating which results in injury,bleeding, swelling and sprain;. Use of abusive and demeaninglanguage;. Hitting which does not involve injuries;and. Psychological and economic abuse.

. Verbal abuse;. A husband beating his wife to educateher (may not be regarded as criminal);. Hitting with small objects;. Less than three slaps;. Rape within marriage (may not beregarded as criminal; some believe thata husband has the right to require sexof his wife).

Suggestions for resolution

Must be resolved by formal lawand the justice system (police andjudges) and treated as a crime,without mediation.

The victim should not be able towithdraw the report.

Should be solved through mediationusing a group of people who live inthe same village as the victim butwho are not her family.

If violence happens again, theoffender should sign an agreementnot to commit violence again. If ithappens a 3rd time, it becomes aserious case and should be handledin the formal justice system.

Should be solved first throughmediation within the family. Ifviolence happens more than once,it becomes a medium case.

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worthy of conviction.

Chinese law also prohibits non-medicalneeded sex determination and sex selectiveabortion. Public debate arose concerning whoand how to punish people who violate the law,particularly when the Criminal Law amendmentwas under review in 2005. Much discussion aroseon who to punish: those who practice illegal sexdetermination that results in illegal sex selectiveabortion or the medical person who performsthe service. As it was difficult to prove that thelatter’s service intentionally led to abortion, theStanding Committee of the National People’sCongress declined to criminalize the relatedprovision on non medical sex determination of thefetus, giving the rationale that no consensus wasreached. Hence, the debate skirted the issue ofwhy non-medical sex determination is in demandin China in the first place. The value underlyingthe debate is son preference for male infants,giving rise to the practice of sex determinationand selective abortion of female foetuses. It isinteresting to note that son preference appearsso culturally embedded as to not be included inthe discourse.

8.2 Political and EconomicEnvironments

Gender-based violence can be seen as apolitical and development problem. Examplesfrom modern history in ESEA (e.g. Indonesia,Timor Leste) and elsewhere (e.g. Sudan, andDemocratic Republic of the Congo) indicate thatGBV increases with conflict, relocation, andthe presence of rebel forces. These representadditional layers of vulnerability when we includepoverty, social conservatism, and existinginequality between male and female relations. Itbecomes difficult to hold governments accountablefor these outcomes where limited resources andpoor governance lead to these situations in the firstplace.

As in Myanmar, national debates anddialogue on GBV can be further limited bypolitical context. As a political and social issue,gender and empowerment are linked to thesensitive concepts of human rights and politicalfreedom, respectively. The state has reasons tobe guarded on this subject, apart from thepolitical agenda it raises. Any admission tointernal social problems would be perceived asdemonstrating weakness by the authorities. Theyare particularly sensitive to criticisms as therehave been accusations of state-sanctionedrape for political and military purposes. It isinstructive that research conducted by theMyanmar Women’s Affairs Federation identifiedthe main causes of GBV in Myanmar as: poverty,alcohol, disharmony between relatives, andadultery. A sense of powerlessness, arising frompoverty, when fueled by alcohol abuse can leadto a climate of increased violence.

Political agendas can increase GBVvulnerability in particular geographic areas andfor particular ethnic minorities. It has beenreported that in the Karen and Shan states,gender-based violence has increased due toongoing conflicts in those areas, giving rise tothe presence of the military and continuingpopulation relocations. Similarly, in the Waregion, the presence of rebel forces, which are notwell controlled, combined with drug use, hasresulted in increased vulnerability for thepopulation. In Northern Rakhine State, where themajority of the population is Muslim andstateless, their increased vulnerability is partly aresult of the difficult circumstances associatedwith a lack of mobility and income generationoptions. These low-resourced areas are layeredwith a socially conservative environment inaddition to the relatively higher level of inequalitybetween women and men. On the other hand, anumber of high profile reports have accused theState of the systematic use of rape in its internalconflicts. While it would be difficult to link

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government policy with these actions, evidence ofmilitary and local authorities committing rapeand other GBV offenses in communities inconflict areas is well documented. The potentialfor abuse exists, as the military is exempt fromprosecution under the Penal Code, permittingthem to commit GBV offenses with impunity.

Similarly in Indonesia, during the Soeharto regime, GBV was conducted by the state inthe name of national security and integrity,particularly in the conflict areas of Aceh, Papua,North Maluku and East Timor (when it was stillpart of Indonesia). These acts amounted to statesanctioned GBV as evidenced by the reluctanceof the state to recognize the incidence, tolerancefrom law enforcement officials, and cases thatremain unprosecuted. Despite democratizationthat is being pursued by the new regime, it isfeared that violence conducted by the state isincreasing in the form of laws and regulationsat local and national level, violating women’shuman rights. Ironically, one of the unintendedconsequences of decentralized system of localgovernment is the tendency for some districts toenact byelaws, which infringe on women’s rightsin the realm of personal behaviour. In Aceh andWest Java, for example, the perpetuation oftraditional gender roles that disadvantage womenare justified by a fairly orthodox interpretationof religious (Islamic) teachings includingreassertion and formalization of traditional,patriarchal values such as requirement of wearingthe headscarf in public. Failure to observe theserules has made women targets of GBV and otherrisks. Up to now there are at least 26 localregulations bill that have potential to violatewomen’s human rights in the name of modesty/morality.

Scapegoating ethnic, national or religiousgroups for political or economic disasters isanother potential source of GBV. When economicand political rivalries flare up in violence, womentend to be disproportionately affected. In Indonesia

and Malaysia for instance, riots that broke up in1998 following the South East Asia economicmeltdown, women of Chinese descent weretortured and raped as an act of ‘revenge’ againsttheir ethnic group which in Indonesia controlledover 60 per cent of the economy. Such grotesqueacts of violence and rape united women acrosssocio-economic backgrounds and brought theissue of GBV into the public discourse.

In the same vein, political sensitivitiesbetween nations can raise national interest indebate and dialogue over GBV particularly overthe issues of migrant workers, illegal migrantsand cross-border trafficking. Frequently however,political debate has arisen over the lack ofaccountability and efficacy of existing publicinstitutions and constitutional law with regard toGBV. For instance, recent media interest of femalechild abuse raised discussion on the efficacy ofThailand legal institutions and police proceduresin place for protection. It was found that currentinstitutions do not provide protection for abusedchildren and women, particularly during theprocess of investigation and case procedure. Lawdoes not enforce effective reporting proceduresand follow up. For example, there is no law topunish parents and or officers for neglect whenignoring cases of children or persons withinfamilies who are abused by persons within oroutside the family.

Likewise, despite the Philippine Constitution(Article 13: Social Justice and Human Rights,SEC.1) which states that: “The Congress shall givehighest priority to the enactment of measuresthat protect and enhance the right of all thepeople to human dignity, reduce social, economic,and political inequalities, and remove culturalinequities by equitably diffusing wealth andpolitical power for the common good” andsubsequent creation of the Commission on HumanRights (CHR), public debate over governmentcommitment and efficacy of the CHR has arisenin light of recent cases seeking redress. The CHR

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powers and functions, among others, include(SEC 18) the investigation of all forms of humanrights violations, within and outside the country;provision of appropriate legal measures includingpreventive measures and legal aid services forthe protection of human rights especially tothe underprivileged; establishment of acontinuing programme of research, education,and information to enhance respect for theprimacy of human rights; and the monitoringof Government’s compliance with internationaltreaty obligations on human rights. Despite thesefunctions, the CHR has an advisory rather thanimplementation role as it remains an investigativebody which can make recommendations togovernment agencies, based on its findings.Human Rights advocates and women’s groupshave brought cases before the CHR, but it lacksinfluence over the executive, legislative andjudicial systems.

8.3 Media Coverage

In most cases, the nature and extent ofmedia coverage on GBV issues tend to besensational and commercially motivated, thusdistorting public understanding. In Thailand,Women’s Health Foundation surveyed reportsconcerning women and child violence publishedin five newspapers during January to April 2003.Stories of news interest were 681 items relatedto sexuality, of which 44 per cent were sexualviolence. Storylines revealed that mass mediareporter attitudes on sexual discourse weremisleading. The stories distorted female and malesexuality by assigning blame to victims andjustifying perpetrator violence as a normalresponse. Story headings providing justificationor removing censure included “rape is sexualdisorder”, “sexual harassment is normal for man”,“free sex must be blamed”, “family violenceresulted from sexual problem”, “sex is privacy”,and “sexuality is medical issues”. Defining women’s status by her sexuality and thereby removingpersonal control was also exploited with headings

such as “woman status is framed by sexualphysiology”, “woman is the sexuality prey andviolence” and “sexual problem leads to womaninsensibility”.

Mass media reporters have a commercialduty to get news, which satisfies their readerswithout necessarily providing analysis ofunderlying issues or rationale. Readers,particularly the teenage audience, have beenfound to be interested in sexual violence storiesconcerning rape, followed by sexual abuse,domestic violence, abortion, and homosexual andlove affairs. Media reporting of sexual violencetends to perpetuate misunderstanding aboutGBV by either portraying female victims asinviting the violence or justifying less control bymale perpetrators over their actions. Storiesinvite personal blame on female victims byemphasizing her body shape, dressing, or careless-ness by moving in isolated areas. In contrast,media depictions of male perpetrators argue thatrape is a result of uncontrollable sexual desire.

Public debate over the moral responsibilityof the media is warranted when commercially-motivated detailing of violent sexual crime has theeffect of re-violating the victimís integrity andprivacy for “entertainment”. An example fromThailand demonstrates the issue: The mediathoroughly and repeatedly aired the story of a 14year-old female victim, showing pictures of herbrutalized body in every newspaper. The criticismbeing that although the perpetrator was arrested,the after effects of the mass media onslaughtcaused increased psychological harm to thevictim.

In China, media coverage of cases of dateviolence and violence against schoolgirls hasraised public discussion over GBV. The internetplayed a huge role in bringing to public attentionthe lethal case of date rape of a youngschoolteacher in Hunan province in 2003. Thecase provoked discussion over the labeling (and

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assigning as criminal) of behaviour previouslynot considered requiring regulation in the publicconsciousness. Womenís Rights advocates arguedthe position that date rape or date violence wasa case of violence against women rather than anaccident of intimacy. While there has beenincreased acceptance of this viewpoint fromthe media and general public, legislative supportremains muted. Correspondingly, several casesof violence against schoolgirls were exposed inthe media in 2003. Following this attention,China’s Ministry of Education, Ministry of PublicSecurity, and Ministry of Justice announced acrack down on sexual criminals among teachersin accordance with the law. Interestingly, finalresponsibility was aimed at the principal for suchcases, requiring that s/he immediately report tothe higher level Education Department andPublic Security Department. The focus isremoved from underlying gender-based issues toinstitutional control of member’s behaviour. Thus

gender violence is reduced to an administrativeand public security issue.

Media portrayal of sexuality, specificallypublic distribution of pornography, acts as aform of sexual education. The Media MonitorProject in the Philippines revealed that televisionprogrammes aired during 16:00 to 20:00 (hoursmost watched by children and adolescents)showed violence and use of inappropriatelanguage. Patterns of media seeking to stimulatesexual emotion were also found in other easilyaccessible forms such as DVDs and VCDs, rapestory on-line games, video clips, and webcam andsex phone services. Despite attempts by thegovernment and related agencies to controlcertain types of media distribution, the problemremains unsolved. With the advent of inexpensivepirated DVDs and games in combination withunscrupulous sales agents selling age-guidancematerial to children, public distribution in thecommercial market, in effect, remains unregulated.

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The review of interventions and programmeson GBV has revealed significant work beingcarried out by government and NGOs supportedby UNFPA, sister UN agencies, and other part-ners. It is significant to note that the interventionswe have seen in the study countries encompass allsix dimensions recommended in the Secretary-General’s in-depth study of what works in the fighton violence against women69.

9.1 Achievements

GBV on the Development Agenda

Addressing the GBV issue has beenfacilitated by its incorporation in the globaldevelopment and human rights frameworks asdiscussed in Chapter 1. The women’s NGOsworking in close collaboration with governmentgender machineries have given GBV visibility andcredibility as a priority issue on many fronts. Inthis regard, by bringing GBV issue in the publicarena, it is de-stigmatized as an “immoral” or“dirty linen” issue that should rightly be addressedas a rights issue and take centre stage on thenational development agenda. In support of thismomentum, the review has shown a concertedeffort by donors in rendering technical andfinancial support for policy advocacy andpreventive and service delivery initiatives as wellas capacity building to institutions and NGOs.

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Enactment of laws and creation of gendermachineries and other relevant institutionsentrusted with formulation, implementation andcoordination of gender programmes have createdan enabling environment for addressing GBV.We have seen that these institutionsí politicalclout and advisory status depend on whether theyare given Ministerial status (i.e. Mongolia andCambodia), placed in departments associatedwith lower priority welfare concerns or establisheda specific GBV support institution, such asIndonesia’s National Commission for Eliminationof Violence Against Women or PhilippinesNational Commission on Role of Filipino Womenwhich coordinates inter-agency committeesfocusing on strategic VAW mechanisms.

Multi-Pronged Approaches

Government and gender advocates haveapplied a variety of innovative approaches toaddressing GBV.

Most initiatives have centred on preventivemeasures by way of awareness-creation/sensitization on GBV to a variety of stakeholdersincluding lawmakers, youths, men and women,community leaders, medical and law enforcementagencies. Multi-media campaigns, workshops,school curricula and training courses haveconstituted channels for dissemination of changemessages and deconstruction of masculinitynorms which breed the culture of violence andimpunity. Popular culture including communityradio, traditional art, puppetry, posters, shoppingbags, T-shirts and folk theatre are some of theuseful mechanisms that have been used todisseminate IEC and behaviour change messageson GBV across age, sex and other socio-economiccategories. For the most part, awareness andsensitization have been geared to raisingawareness of GBV as a gender equality and humanrights violation issue and the need for victims toseek and receive necessary services, safety andprotection. All targets are trained to recognize

and understand the nature of GBV as a criminal,rather than a domestic management measure.

Ensuring culturally sensitive and gendersensitive approaches to addressing GBV havetaken many forms in the study countries. One ispartnering with men’s groups such as Malaysia’s(MAN.V), Cambodia Men’s Network and Timor-Leste’s Association of Men against Violence(Asosiacao Mane Kontra Violencia) to playvisible roles in enlightening fellow men on GBV.Second, religious leaders have also been effectivelyenlisted to make progressive interpretations ofreligious texts to debunk justification of GBV onmoral grounds in some countries includingMalaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Involvementof leaders at grassroots communities, youths andthe media constitute some of the rewardingcollaborations and strategies that are prevalent inthe region. In addition, national and internationalwomen or GBV commemorations days havealso been credibly used as campaign platforms toraise the profile of issues and enlist political andother high-level public pledges of support andcommitment.

Another approach to addressing GBV in thestudy countries is provision of services to GBVvictims/survivors ranging from shelters, referrals,medical treatment to psychosocial and legalcounselling. Some of these services are integratedin the relevant institutions such as health centres,police units or else they are community-based andoffer comprehensive care for the victims and theirchildren. Some countries have special police units,sometimes staffed by women, to handle GBV cases.In recognition of the need for and attempts toensure gender and culturally gender-sensitive GBVservices, an array of training manuals and kitsfor specific groups of law enforcement officers,police, court clerks and village chiefs and womenand children focal points have been designed.Similarly training for health service providers incommunicating with, identifying and counsellingGBV victims feature commonly.

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9.2 Challenges

Media, Cultural and Religious Contexts

The review has revealed the constructivedeployment of media and popular culture in thedissemination of IEC/BCC messages on GBVissues. But countries have also discussed howthey are equally confronted by the destructiveimages and messages on the internet, print andentertainment media especially concerningsensational and sometimes pornographicportrayal of the victims of GBV.

Another significant challenge countries arefacing in the efforts to end the culture of impunityagainst GBV, is the backlash of some cultural andreligious notions, particularly at the family level,which do not recognize certain acts as forms ofGBV. In this regard, the report has revealed twopronged factors that incapacitate the ordinaryvictim in accessing justice. On one hand there isthe gender insensitivity of the law enforcementagencies combined with bureaucratic obstacles,corruption and lack of capacity and resourcesto handle cases equitably and efficiently. On theother hand is the victim’s lack of resources andthe usual reticence and stigma attached to manyforms of GBV, a situation that often results inwithdrawal of the case from the police by thevictims themselves.

These complex factors culminate in atendency to refer GBV matters to traditional orfamily-based mediation processes and culturalmeans of resolving conflict such as compellingthe victim to marry his perpetrator or gettingsome sort of minimal compensation. Also, in somecircles, there is fear that the formal justice systemmay lead to breakdown of the family throughseparation and divorce. Altogether, thesecontroversies have given consideration todevising culturally appropriate strategies suchas restorative judicial approach which focuseson victims and offenders in mutually resolvingthe conflict or receiving restitution. The restorative

approach, though not advocated for in very severecases, purports to overcome the basic hindrancesand obstacles in the criminal law enforcementmechanism such as the victims’ fear andheightened sense of insecurity occasioned byprosecution of GBV crimes.70

Scale and Sustainability of Interventions

Many of the services we have reviewed arelocated in national and provincial capitals andhence, have limited access for people living inrural and geographically remote areas, includingmarginal groups such as ethnic minorities. Sadly,these are the very groups that are even moreexposed and less empowered to deal with the manyforms of harmful practices including GBV. As aresult, breadth of coverage and scale of operationare problems featured in all study countries.

With respect to the many initiatives onsensitization of the GBV issue, the one area thathas not received commensurate effort is thepopularization of the laws themselves. Theirapplication, dissemination in user-friendly packagesand monitoring of their implementation remaincritical challenges. At the same time, there is stilla problem of reforming related laws that are indisharmony with the newly enacted gender-sensitive and rights-based laws.

In the majority of the study countriesthe increasing number and types of GBV servicesthat are needed have raised concern aboutresources and sustainability as well as the needfor standardization, harmonization and qualitycontrol. Correspondingly, building capacity ofservice providers in the law enforcement, medicaland psychosocial sectors is another key issue thatcountries are grappling with. A related problemis that oftentimes, many initiatives such as crisiscentres or sensitization workshops are successfulbut operate on a small scale due to resources

9

Conclusion

70 The case for and experiences of restorative justice arepersuasively presented by Kittiayarak, Kittipong. 2004.

84

being limited to short-term project duration.Equally challenging is the issue of classificationand data collection of different forms of GBV aswell as the formation of databases. This limitscapacity to analyze the extent and variation ofprevailing GBV in the countries and, hence, con-strains the design of appropriate and adequateinterventions. Lastly, but more importantly is adearth of initiatives in monitoring and assessinggovernment and other efforts directed ataddressing GBV.

These challenges call for increased collabo-ration among international agencies, donors andNGOs to mount coordinated and complementaryinitiatives on GBV. Such collaboration wouldfacilitate replication and scaling up of successfulapproaches, harmonization and standardizationof guidelines, protocols, training manuals andmodules for example.

9.3 Way Forward

Overall the review shows that UNFPA andUN sister agencies are all offering significantsupport to a variety of GBV initiatives eitherindependently or jointly. UNFPA is seeking toconsolidate its work and increase effectivenessin its efforts to eradicate GBV in its threeprogramming areas of reproductive health,population and development and gender.

UNFPA Programming to Eradicate GBV

Concerning future programming on GBV, itis instructive to highlight the UNFPA StrategicFramework on Gender Mainstreaming andWomen’s Empowerment for 2008-201171. Theframework identifies six priority-programmingareas with components that seek to eradicateGBV through:

1. Strengthening the Health Sector’s Role,Responding to Gender-Based Violenceas an Integral Part of Sexual andReproductive Health and HIV and AIDSServices

2. Mainstreaming’ Responses to Gender-Based Violence:

3. Supporting Initiatives Exclusively Focusedon Gender-Based Violence:

UNFPA support to GBV specific initiativeswill continue to cover a multiplicity of issuesfocused on advocacy for law formulation andimplementation, IEC/BCC, capacity buildingand partnerships with civil society, male coalitionand interventions on selected issues includingsexual trafficking and harmful practices.

Multi-Agency and Multi-Coalition Partnerships

As the review has clearly demonstrated,both in the achievements made as well as thechallenges that are discussed in the studycountries, GBV is one area that presents uniqueopportunities for actualization of the UnitedNations goal of “Delivering as One at the CountryLevel”72

In Chapter 2, we made references to multi-agency and regional initiatives on GBV. Theseregional partnerships also aim to foster coalitionsworking on the same issue such as men coalitionsspeaking against domestic violence or sex-ratioimbalance. Such coalitions have great potential formobilizing and pooling resources as well asstrengthening the effectiveness of advocacy whileenhancing the visibility and credibility of GBVapproaches across a diversity of constituencieswithin and across countries and region. It is envi-sioned that this operational strategy will becomemore established and effective in the coming years.

71 This strategy is currently undergoing final process ofapproval and adoption. UNFPA April 2007

72 These include : enacting clear policies and laws; monitoring,review and reform of legislation, implementing laws,improving criminal justice systems, providing services, andpreventing violence against women. United Nations http://www.un.org/events/panel/index,html.

85

ANNEXES

Annex 1: Implementers and Donors/Supporters of GBV Interventions inChina 2000-2006

Donor/Supporter ImplementingAgency

Interventions/Services Rendered

ILOCombating HumanTrafficking in theGreater Mekong Sub-region 2001-2004

DFID and ILOProgramme onPreventionTrafficking in Girlsand Young Womenfor Labourexploitation inFour years, fromMay 1st, 2004

ActionAidInternational,China office

UNICEF CooperationProject on PreventionTrafficking andCommunityRehabilitation2001-2005

Ford Foundation

Ministry of PublicSecurity, Women’sFederation ofYunnan Province

All China Women’sFederation

Shangchen Women’sFederation, HenanProvince

All China Women’sFederation

Maple Women’sPsychologicalConsulting ServiceCentre

The Centre forWomen’s LawStudies and LegalServices of PekingUniversity

Young rural women in border area. Trainingand education, agricultural development andemployment opportunities.

16-24 years migrant girls and young women,trade unions and employers in Anhui, Hunan,Henan as export provinces and Jiangsu,Guangdong as import provinces.Direct assistance locally, and policy recom-mendation nationally.

Gender training for villagers, especially womenby using REFLECT method; form womenREFLECT groups to disseminate anti-domestic violence knowledge and establishself-help network among villagers.

Girls and young women seeking to move outof poor areas for marriage or employment.Women with experiences of being trafficked;potential buyers like bachelors who havedifficulty to marry local women, and ownersof entertainment places.Other influential stakeholders included localofficials, teachers, and journalists.

Hotline telephone for Anti-Domestic Violencesince March 2003

Legal service, such as consultation, Legal rep-resentation for Domestic Violence victims

86

Donor/Supporter ImplementingAgency

Interventions/Services Rendered

Ford, AsiaFoundation, andOxfam HKJan. 2004-Dec.2005

Oxfam HK IntegratedCommunityIntervention inDomestic Violence inLouhe, HenanApril.2004-Aug.2006

Novib

Novib

The Ford Foundation,NOVIB, SIDA,Human RightsCentre of OsloUniversity, Norway

UNFPA, UNIFEM2003-2005

Oxfam HKJune 2005-Sep. 2007

Women’s Federationof Hebei province,several cities andcounties

Shaanxi ResearchAssociation forWomen and Family

Louhe Anti-Domestic ViolenceAssociation

Xuzhou, Jiangsu

Women’s Federationof Xiaogan city,Hubei province

Liaoning Women’sFederation

ANTI-DomesticViolenceNETWORK

Anti DomesticViolence Network.

Younamen Street,Fengtai DistricBeijing

Women’s shelter for Domestic Violencevictims; room and board, income generatingactivities; legal help

Telephone consultation for about ten thousandwomen, face to face psychological and legalconsultation, emergency help for over 50 women,run 15 supporting groups of Domestic Violencesurvivors, legal representation for 250 women

A one-stop service centre will be set up tostrengthen the empowerment for domesticviolence survivors and counselling for men

Shelter: room and board for DV victims

Volunteer training and aid to victims of DV:vocational trainings, legal aid, appraisals andmedical care

Legal aid to DV victims in Liaoning province.120 women received services from 6 shelters,legal aid in 2004

“Medical intervention green channels”,clinical services, referrals for DomesticViolence victims

Promotion of gender equality through sensiti-zation and awareness- raising for law makers,judiciary, prosecutors, police officers andwomenís organizations from selected provinces

Targets are residents of urban community.Establishment of an anti-domestic violencevolunteers’ organization in Beijing to furtherexplore community-based domestic violenceintervention mechanism and model in China

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Donor/Supporter ImplementingAgency

Interventions/Services Rendered

Oxfam HKAug-Dec.2004

Oxfam HKAug 2004-Nov.2005

Local Company2001-2002

Local Company2004

UNIFEMNov.2001 and Nov. 2002

Ford, and 3 others2000-2005

AusAid

China Gender Facility2006-2007

Ford 2005-2006

Ford and three others2000-2006

Sex/GenderEducation Forum,Sun Yat-Sen(ZhongshanUniversity)

Sex/GenderEducation Forum,Sun Yat-Sen(ZhongshanUniversity)

Network of AntiDomestic ViolenceGeneral Public

Network of Anti Do-mestic Violence

General Public, maleactivists, media

Journalists fromselected nationaland local media

All China Women’sFederation (ACWF)

Inner MongolianWomen’s Federation

Aizhixing, MapleWomen Centre

ANTI-DVNETWORK

To produce a documentary of the performanceand making of ‘Vagina Monologue’, as well aspublic discussion. It is disseminated throughuniversities and various training groups todifferent walks of Chinese society.

To support the production of 2 documentarieson women fighting against sexual violence andrelated advocacy in China and conduct lecturesand campus campaigns.

Bus Stop Ads and oversize posters

Roadside signs and flags targeted at thegeneral public

Skit, white ribbons and rally for commemoratingthe International Day for the Elimination VAW

Gender training for media, follow up reports,

Developing strategies to assist ACWF in theexercise and enjoyment of their rights.

Gender and Law Training for Inner MongoliaMinority Region Targeting staff in publicsecurity organs, prosecuting offices, courts;jurors, community workers, and volunteers onhow to handle domestic violence; standardizeprocedures in dealing with domestic violence

Training on gender related violence and HIV/AIDS advocacy to enhance communication,information sharing, and partnership onadvocacy, education, training and communityservices between two type of groups;mainstreaming gender into HIV/AIDSprevention, treatment, care and advocacy.

Targeting deputies of National People’sCongress (Parliament) and NGOs working ondraft proposal of Law on Domestic Violence

88

Donor/Supporter ImplementingAgency

Interventions/Services Rendered

Novib

Oxfam HKApril 2004-Aug.2006

UNFPANov. 2004-2005

UNFPA2004-2005

China Gender Facility2006-2007

China Gender Facility2005-2007

China Gender Facility2005

Ford and 3 others2003

Local Branch ofAll China Women’sFederation

All China Women’sFederation (ACWF)

Changsha Women’sFederation

Louhe Anti-Domestic ViolenceAssociation

National Centre forWomen and ChildrenHealth, CDC, MOH

National Centre forWomen and ChildrenHealth, CDC, MOH

XuZhou DomesticViolence Shelter

Rights Departmentof Xinjiang Women’sFederation

JiangxiAdministrationCollege

ANTI-DVNETWORK

Advocacy for Peopleís Congress at Provinciallevel on Regulations or resolutions onPrevention and Control DV in about 20provinces

Deputies of National People’s Congress, peoplewho involved in revision process. Revisionof Women’s Law 2005. Added a clauseprohibiting sexual harassment

Establishment and Spreading of “Zero DomesticViolence Community” of Changsha city, Hunanprovince; have extended from urban districtsto four counties. Each of the counties pickedup one town as an experimentation area

Integrated Community Intervention in DomesticViolence in Louhe, Henan. Capacity buildingfor Louhe Anti-domestic violence association;A draft of anti-domestic violence law will beproduced to facilitate the enacting of locallegislation.

Producing GBV resource book for medicalprofessionals

Research on DV situation in 3 counties in threerural provinces

Research advocacy to promote setting upfunctional women’s shelters in China toprotect domestic violence victims

Research on situation, peculiarity, andprevention of VAW in multiethnic Area

Gender Analysis and Recommendation on“Care for Girl Action” (an intervention on Sexratio by birth) in Jiangxi Province

Professional Guideline for media and writerson covering DV.

89

Donor/Supporter ImplementingAgency

Interventions/Services Rendered

Ford and 3 others.June 2000-May2003,June 2003-2006

Oxfam HKAug 2005-Sep 2006

ANTI-DVNETWORK

Institute ofSociology, ChineseAcademy of SocialScience

Production of 21 booklets on Theory andPractice in Combating Domestic Violence. TheEnglish one titled Combating DomesticViolence Against Women: China in Action

A qualitative research on sexual harassmentin workplace to facilitate the formulation ofanti-sexual harassment laws and policies toeliminate sexual discrimination and violence,promote gender equality in China

Annex 2: Implementers and Donors/Supporters of GBV Interventions inIndonesia

Donor/Supporter Implementing

Agency

Focus Area of GBV

HIVOS, The AsiaFoundation, USAID,Netherlands, GlobalMinistries,CHRF-PBHI,ASPPUK

CIDA, USAID

Ford Foundation,HIVOS,NOVIB, Oxfam GB,Tifa Foundation,Mamacash,Global Fund, EEDGermany, Cordaid,KIOS Finland

Fahmina

Flower Aceh

ICMC

Indonesian Women’sAssociation forJustice(LBH APIK)

Kalyanamitra

Gender and Islam

. Counselling, shelter. General GBV, GBV in conflict/emergencysituation

. Migrant worker, trafficking

. Provide paralegal training. Women’s rights and the law, genderresponsive laws and regulations

. All forms of discrimination against women

90

Donor/Supporter Implementing

Agency

Focus Area of GBV

Government

UNFPA

UNFPA, FordFoundation, IOM

UNFPA

Ford Foundation,WorldPopulation Fund,Global Fund, TDH

UNFPA, Canadafund, HIVOS, PACT,USAID,Ford Foundation

Global Fund forWomen

Kelompok PerjuangankesetaraanPerempuan SulawesiTengah (KPKPST)

Jambi

KOMNASPerempuan

LBH Justicia Annisa

Pendapa

PIKUL Foundation

Puan Amal Hayati

Pulih Foundation

Rahima

Rifka Annisa

Rumpun Tjut NyakDien

Sahabat Peduli

Samitra Abhava

Savy Amira

. State/military violence, GBV in conflict area

. All area of GBV

. All area of GBV

. Women’s rights and the law, genderresponsive laws and regulations. Legal aid and counselling

. Women study, advocacy andresource centre

. IEC/BCC/Advocacy. Services (counselling, shelter, legal, aid, etc.). Support for technical capacity building

. For pesantren based crisis centre. Islam and gender/GBV

. Psychosocial support

. IEC/Increasing awareness, advocacy,public/women’s education, research,public campaign

. All areas of GBV

. Focusing on domestic workers

. Counselling sexual violence

. All area of GBV

. All area of GBV

91

Donor/Supporter Implementing

Agency

Focus Area of GBV

Global Fund forWomen

UNFPA andMamacash

IOM, ICMC

UNIFEM

ILO/IPEC, ICMC,IGTC

Government budgetand UNFPA

UNFPA

ICMC, IOM

UNFPA, WHO

SolidaritasPerempuan

SpekHAM

Sukanto PoliceHospital WCC

The East IndonesianWomen’s HealthNetwork (JKPIT)

Yayasan JurnalPerempuan

YayasanKesejahteraan AnakIndonesia

BKKBN

MOWE

Police

MOH

Dept of Law andHuman Rights

. Discrimination/GBV at the workplace,trafficking, marginalized women, migrantworkers

. Women’s right protection

. All area of GBV, currently extra attentionfor migrant workers through IOMsupported project

. Domestic violence, stop rape and militaryviolence/GBV in conflict situation

. Increasing awareness and influencing policymaking through the media

. Child trafficking

. IEC/BCC advocacy

. All areas of GBV

. Data collection on GBV

Medical treatment

Support capacity building on GBV

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Annex 3: Implementers and Supporters of GBV interventions in Philippines

Implementer & Funding

Sources

Target Group and Interventions/

Services Provided

Bantay-Bata HotlineABS-CBN, Quezon CityDial: 163Supported by Corporate funds;public and private donations

Centre for Family Ministry (CEFAM)Ateneo de Manila UniversityQuezon City. (02) 426-4289 to 98(by appointment)

Intouch FoundationMakati City Tel: 893 1893Fax: 893 1892Funded by membership fee

Crisis LineMakati City (02) 893-7603

Arugaan ng Kalakasan45 Maalalahanin St., Teachers VillageQuezon City(02) 921-8013/928-7774

Batis Centre for WomenRm. 711, Don Santiago Bldg. Ermita,Manila(02) 521-1279/529-1256(fax) 522-4357

Centre for the Prevention and Treatmentof Child Sexual Abuse (CPTCSA) 150Sct. Fuentebella St., Brgy. Sacred HeartDiliman, Quezon City

Tel: (+63 2) 434 75 28TeleFax: 426 78 39cptcsa@cptcsa.orghttp://www.cptcsa.org/Funded by UNICEFsupported through foreign and localgrants, supplemented by individual do-nations and a beginning fee-support sys-tem based on the purchase of preven-

For children only — Media advocacy; medical, coun-selling, referrals, legal, follow-up visits; shelter, hotline,support group/social, etc

Face-to-face counselling

A non-profit organization for newcomers helping themto understand the Philippines and its people, withresource centre, newsletter orientation programmesand telephone hotline.

Hotline counselling

Counselling, referrals, support group/social group;networking and advocacy

Specific focus on women victims of traffickingespecially to and from Japan

Counselling, temporary shelter, referrals, supportgroup/social group; networking and advocacy

Programmes:

PREVENTION - These materials, referred to as PersonalSafety Lessons (PSL), aim to give information,develop skills, and build self-esteem in children toincrease their ability to resist sexual offenders.CPTCSA helps prevent child sexual abuse andprovide early intervention by reaching out to childrenin schools, and their parents.TRAINING — CPTCSA provides three levels oftraining that involve child sexual abuse orientation,prevention education, and treatment information.REFERRALS — to other organizations forincome-generating projects, educational assistance,psychological testing, medical/psychiatric services,

93

Implementer & Funding

Sources

Target Group and Interventions/

Services Provided

tion education materials training a slid-ing scale for therapy and operate onbasic funds of approximately Php.5,000,000 per year

Centre for Women’s StudiesUniversity of the PhilippinesDiliman, Quezon City(02) 920-6880

Dial-A-FriendFoundation for Adolescent Development(FAD)1037 R. Hidalgo St.Quiapo, Manila 1001

Tel (632) 7341788Telfax (632)7348914

fadinc@codewan.com.phfadinc@pworld.net.ph

Funded by. UNFPA. AusAid. Johns Hopkins University Centre forCommunications Programme. Office of the Philippine President,. Philippine Stock ExchangeFoundation,. Levi’s International. Coca-Cola Foundation. Procter and Gamble, Penshoppe,House of Sara Lee and PLDTThe Foundation has also collaboratedwith civic organizations such as theRotary Club of Chinatown and theManila Jaycees.

technical training, housing assistance, legal and courtassistance and temporary shelterFamily Advocacy Sessions (strengthen thecapability of family and community to fulfilltheir role as child protectors; developed the “FamilyAdvocacy Manual”KTCP - Kids and Teens Court Programme (Courtpreparation for victim-witnesses) organized for childsexual abuse victims who want to seek justice.Publishes a newsletter

Referrals, support group/social group; networking andadvocacy

Programmes:

MCYA, Dial A Friend (DAF), Teen Health quarters(THQ), the Campus-Based Programme on AdolescentHealth, Sexuality and Development and Life PlanningEducation and Vocational Skills Training.Campus Based Programme on Adolescent Health,Sexuality and Development

Hotline and counsellingDial-a-Friend at (632) 734-8902, (632) 734-8903,(632) 734-9663 and (632) 734-9664 from 10:00am to 10:00 pm.

Empowering Parents On Adolescent Sexuality AndReproductive Health

Life Planning Education and Vocational SkillsTraining Programme for the Out of School Youth ofDepressed Urban Poor Communities in Manila

94

Implementer & Funding

Sources

Target Group and Interventions/

Services Provided

Project HavenEast Avenue Medical Centre

Women’s Crisis Centre7th Floor, East Avenue Medical CentreEast Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City1101 Philippines

Fax and Phone: +632 925-7132 to 33Email: wccmanila@pacific.net.phWeb: www.wccmanila.orgFunded by UNFPA

KALAKASAN46 Maginhawa St., UP Village, QuezonCityTelephone: (632) 921-0955

Ma. Rosanna E. de Guzman, M.D.Programme Coordinator

June Caridad Pagaduan-Lopez, M.D.Training CoordinatorContact Nos. (632) 524-2990/ (632)521-8450 local 3072

E-mail: womens_desk@yahoo.com

Women’s Education, Advocacy andDefense (WomenLEAD)Unit 3D VSI Bldg., Quezon CityTelephone: (632) 924-6045loc. 18, 435-6823

Women’s AIDS HotlineManila (02) 524-4427; 524-4507

Support group/social group; networking and advocacyFace-to-face counsellingLegal referralsCourt accompaniment

Raquel Edralin-Tiglao Institute for Family ViolencePrevention (RETIFVP) develops training courses inresponding to domestic violence, sexual assault, andchild sexual abuse.

Legal counselling / advice, referrals, support group/social group; networking and advocacy

Counselling, referrals, support group/social group;networking and advocacy

95

Implementer & Funding

Sources

Target Group and Interventions/

Services Provided

Remedios AIDS Foundation (RAF), Inc.1066 Remedios St., cor. SingalongMalate, Manila(02) 524-0551; 524-0921; 523-6338

Funded by:. AusAidhttp://www.remedios.com.ph/fhtml/programs_sstp.htm. Community Aid Abroad,Australia (CAA). Filipino Health Advocacy Network(FHAN) Northern California. Filipino Task Force on AIDS(FTFA) of Northern California. Global Campaign for Microbicides. Global Funds AIDS ProjectFilipinas PNGOC. Global Network of People Livingwith HIV/AIDS (GNP+). Health and Development Network(HDN). International Treatment AccessCoalition (ITAC) GenevaSwitzerland. IPAS. Japan International CooperationAgency (JICA). Japan Official DevelopmentAssistance. Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore USA. Levi Strauss & Company USA. Margaret Sanger CentreInternational (MSCI) New YorkCity USA. The David & Lucile PackardFoundation. The Ford Foundation Inc.. United Nations Educational,Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO). UNFPA. University of South Hampton - UK. UNAIDS. World Bank (WB)

PHONE COUNSELLING via HOTLINES. AIDS HOTLINE: (632) 524-05-51Mondays to Saturdays - 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. FAMILY PLANNINGHOTLINE: (632) 522-01-76Mondays to Saturdays - 10:00 am to 10:00 pm

TRAINING INSTITUTE. Modules Development. Accredited by the Professional RegulationCommission (PRC) with correspondingContinuous Professional Education (CPE) unitsfor multidisciplinary professions.

Adolescent Reproductive Health Services

Care, Clinical and Diagnostic Services. Malate clinic operates every Thursday to Friday,2 pm to 6 pmAddress: 1066 Remedios St. Malate, ManilaTelephone Number : (632) 524-09-24 /(632) 524-48-31. Kalusugan@com clinic Cebu operates fromFridays to Saturdays, 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

Address: 3/F Colonade Mall Oriente Colon St.,Cebu CityTelephone: (032) 255-05-41

Community support services to PLWHA

Prevention services to vulnerable communities

Resource centre. Opens from Tuesdays to Saturdays 9:00 am to5:00 pm.

Global Partnerships, Networking / Advocacy

96

Implementer & Funding

Sources

Target Group and Interventions/

Services Provided

Bathaluman Women’s Crisis CentreFoundation (BCCF), Inc c/o DPF, Kilometer 5, BajadaDavao City 9000(074) 227-7714

Ing Makababaying Aksyon (IMA)FoundationAngeles City(045) 602-3820/602-3983

Development Through ActiveNetworking (DAWN) Foundationc/o Women’s CentreRm.209 JL Bldg., Lacson-Burgos Sts.Bacolod City(034) 526-256102 P.del Rosario ExtensionCebu City

Tel: 63-32-2548092/25611341Fax: 63-32-2548072

Email: lihok@durian.usc.edu.ph

Contact Person: Tessie B. Fernandez

Funded by foreign donors, e.g., fromGermany

Women’s LegalCordillera Task Force on ViolenceAgainst Women362 EDNCP Bldg., Magsaysay Ave.Baguio City (074) 445-4395

. Support systems, including a service andreferral centre, to help survivors deal with theirphysical trauma.. The Centre admits survivors of violence againstwomen aged 15 and over, with those under 15considered on a case-by-case basis. Victims mayhave suffered from rape, incest, wife battering,abandonment or militarization.. Support Group Volunteers provide assistance,and psychological interventions may also beinitiated at the centre.. Referrals to other agencies

Referrals, support group/social group; networking andadvocacy

Counselling, referrals, support group/social group;networking and advocacy

Community Based Response to Domestic Violence

The Family Watch Group (Bantay Banay) is acomprehensive programme of activities and interventions to alleviate, if not totally eliminate domesticviolence against women, currently covering fourvillages in Cebu City. With support from Germany,it is now expanding to ten cities in another fiveprovinces.

Counselling, referrals, support group/social group;networking and advocacy

97

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RE

MA

RK

S

C.

PE

RS

ON

NE

L

Has

a m

ini l

ibra

ry a

rea

whe

re r

eadi

ng m

ater

ials

are

ava

ilabl

e to

clie

nts

Has

com

pute

r da

taba

se f

or V

AW

C c

ases

Has

a s

epar

ate

priv

ate

room

for

int

ervi

ewin

g, c

risi

s co

unse

lling

,an

d m

edic

al e

xam

inat

ions

(N

B:

emer

genc

y co

ntra

cept

ion

will

be

offe

red

as o

ptio

n fo

r in

cest

and

rap

e su

rviv

ors

wit

hin

72 h

ours

aft

erth

e in

cide

nt o

f ab

use)

Pre

senc

e of

at

leas

t:-

1 re

gist

ered

nur

se-

1 re

tain

ed p

sych

olog

ist

-1

soci

al w

orke

r to

30

clie

nts

The

Uni

t/C

entr

e ha

s:. S

uffi

cien

t nu

mbe

r of

sta

ff f

or m

anag

emen

t

. Tra

inin

g st

aff

. Adv

ocac

y, n

etw

orki

ng a

nd p

ublic

info

rmat

ion

unit

/sta

ff

The

sta

ff h

ave

unde

rgon

e th

e ba

sic

trai

ning

s on

gen

der

sens

itiv

ity

and

VA

W t

o up

grad

e th

eir

know

ledg

e an

d sk

ills,

incl

udin

g bu

t no

t lim

ited

to t

he f

ollo

win

g:

a.G

ende

r an

alys

is o

f na

ture

, ext

ent

and

caus

es o

f VA

WC

and

traf

fick

ing

-M

inim

um o

f 30

hou

rs-

Topi

cs to

incl

ude

pow

er d

ynam

ics,

GST

ana

lysi

s of

dif

fere

nt fo

rms

of V

AW

b.G

ende

r-re

spon

sive

app

roac

hes

to c

risi

s in

terv

enti

on-

Min

imum

30

hour

s-

Topi

c in

the

con

text

of V

AW

C (

cris

is t

heor

y, c

risi

s in

terv

enti

onm

etho

ds)

99

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

c.M

edic

al a

nd le

gal l

iter

acy

-M

inim

um 3

0 ho

urs

-L

aws

and

proc

edur

es o

n w

omen

and

chi

ldre

n (R

A 9

262,

920

8,78

77, 8

353,

and

oth

er r

elat

ed la

ws

on V

AW

)-

Bas

ic m

edic

o-le

gal i

nfor

mat

ion

d.S

elf-

care

-M

inim

um o

f 15

hou

rs-

Str

ess

man

agem

ent

tech

niqu

es

e.C

riti

cal I

ncid

ence

Str

ess

Deb

rief

ing

-M

inim

um o

f 24

hou

rs-

Topi

cs to

incl

ude

stag

es o

f tra

umat

ic in

cide

nce,

type

s of

trau

ma

and

hand

ling

trau

ma

Acc

redi

tati

on o

f so

cial

wor

ker

as s

ervi

ce p

rovi

der

and

as c

ouns

ello

r(R

A 9

258)

Req

uire

men

t to

imm

edia

tely

rep

licat

e ac

quir

ed e

duca

tion

and

tra

inin

gth

roug

h st

aff

mee

ting

sha

ring

and

incl

usio

n in

re-

entr

y pl

ans

Inst

itut

iona

lize

cont

inui

ng e

duca

tion

pro

gram

me

for

staf

f

Cap

abili

ty b

uild

ing

prog

ram

me

for

volu

ntee

rs

Cou

nsel

lors

/cri

sis

wor

kers

are

on-

call

to

atte

nd i

mm

edia

tely

to

vict

ims-

surv

ivor

s w

ho c

ome

to t

he U

nit

Con

duc t

s at

le a

st o

nce

a m

onth

cas

e c o

nfe r

e nc e

s fo

r c o

lle c

tiv e

man

agem

ent

and

lear

ning

in h

andl

ing

VA

WC

cas

es

100

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

The

uni

t/ce

ntre

:. H

as a

dequ

ate

care

for

care

give

rs p

rogr

amm

es t

o ad

dres

s bu

rn o

ut

. Has

ade

quat

e m

anag

emen

t st

ruct

ure

and

syst

em f

or r

egul

arsu

perv

isio

n, m

onit

orin

g an

d ev

alua

tion

and

pla

nnin

g of

the

unit

sac

tivi

ties

. Has

on-

call

supe

rvis

ors

for

day

to d

ay c

ase

cons

ulta

tion

s

. Con

duct

s ca

se m

onit

orin

g an

d lim

itat

ion

of c

ase

load

. Has

qua

rter

ly s

tres

s de

brie

fing

and

man

agem

ent

sess

ions

. Has

ann

ual r

est

and

recr

eatio

n ac

tivit

ies

for

staf

f an

d m

anag

emen

t

. Has

ann

ual t

eam

bui

ldin

g ac

tivi

ties

. Has

cou

nsel

ling

for

coun

sello

rs s

ervi

ce

. Has

add

itio

nal w

elln

ess

leav

e

. Has

ret

irem

ent

bene

fits

for

ser

vice

pro

vide

rs

. Has

med

ical

ben

efit

s fo

r se

rvic

e pr

ovid

ers

The

Uni

t ha

s ge

nder

sen

siti

ve s

ervi

ce p

rovi

ders

who

dis

play

the

follo

win

g at

titu

des

and

ethi

cs o

f w

ork:

. Acc

epti

ng a

nd n

on-j

udgm

enta

l (re

spec

t fo

r cl

ient

s ri

ghts

, pac

ean

d de

cisi

ons)

. Sen

siti

ve a

nd s

ince

re

. Pat

ient

and

und

erst

andi

ng

. Em

path

etic

. Fir

m c

omm

itm

ent

to e

nd V

AW

(pe

rsis

tent

and

det

erm

ined

)

. Obs

e rv e

s an

d sa

fegu

ards

con

fide

ntia

lity

(ke

e p r

e cor

ds i

nco

nfid

enti

al p

lace

)

101

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

The

uni

t/ce

ntre

:. H

as a

wom

an-c

entr

ed a

nd w

oman

-fri

endl

y cr

isis

cou

nsel

ling

. Fac

ilita

tes

the

acqu

isit

ion

of m

edic

al c

erti

fica

tes,

labo

rato

ryre

sult

s of

the

str

icte

st c

onfi

dent

ialit

y

. Has

pro

visi

on f

or f

ood,

med

icin

e an

d tr

ansp

orta

tion

allo

wan

ceas

nee

ded

. Has

a r

efer

ral m

echa

nism

to

gend

er-s

ensi

tive

law

yers

for

cons

ulta

tion

and

fili

ng o

f le

gal c

ases

. Ass

ists

clie

nts

in c

ourt

pre

para

tion

s an

d es

cort

s th

em in

cou

rttr

ials

. Pro

vide

s as

sist

ance

in p

ara-

lega

l pro

cedu

res/

wor

k

. Has

gro

up c

ouns

ellin

g an

d ot

her

ther

apeu

tic

acti

viti

es f

orvi

ctim

s-su

rviv

orsí

con

tinu

ing

heal

ing,

rec

over

y an

d em

pow

erm

ent

. Has

edu

cati

on p

rogr

amm

es f

or s

urvi

vors

incl

udin

g:-

Nat

ure,

dyn

amic

s an

d so

cial

roo

ts o

f VA

WC

-W

omen

ís h

uman

rig

hts

base

d on

inte

rnat

iona

l and

nat

iona

lla

ws

(sex

ual,

polit

ical

and

soc

io-e

cono

mic

rig

hts)

-A

sser

tive

ness

-Ta

king

car

e of

the

sel

f-

Liv

elih

ood

skill

s an

d m

anag

emen

t tr

aini

ng-

Pra

ctic

ing

non-

viol

ence

. Con

duct

s at

leas

t m

onth

ly c

ase

conf

eren

ces

for

colle

ctiv

em

anag

emen

t an

d le

arni

ng f

rom

the

cas

es

. Has

a f

low

cha

rt t

o gu

ide

clie

nts

in a

cces

sing

ser

vice

s

102

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

D.

Du

rati

on

/tim

e

of

se

rvic

e

pro

vis

ion

E.

Mo

nit

ori

ng

,

Evalu

ati

on

an

d

Do

cu

men

tati

on

The

uni

t/ce

ntre

obs

erve

s th

e fo

llow

ing

stan

dard

ized

tim

e/du

rati

on t

oad

dres

s/re

spon

d to

a c

erta

in c

lient

:. 1

0 m

inut

es w

aiti

ng t

ime

befo

re in

take

inte

rvie

w. 1

hou

r to

com

plet

e th

e in

take

she

et. 1

hou

r in

itia

l cou

nsel

ling

. 2-5

day

s to

pre

pare

the

soc

ial c

ase

stud

y re

port

. Has

a w

ide

netw

ork

of r

efer

ral s

yste

m f

or:

-M

edic

al a

ssis

tanc

e-

Pol

ice

assi

stan

ce-

Leg

al a

ssis

tanc

e-

Em

erge

ncy

shel

ter

-P

sych

olog

ical

and

psy

chia

tric

ser

vice

s-

Pro

visi

on o

f ot

her

wel

fare

ass

ista

nce

-fi

nanc

ial a

ssis

tanc

e-

educ

atio

nal a

ssis

tanc

e-

livel

ihoo

d as

sist

ance

. The

uni

t/ce

ntre

org

aniz

es in

ter-

agen

cy r

efer

ral n

etw

ork

wit

hsi

mila

r pe

rspe

ctiv

es a

nd s

tand

ards

Rec

eipt

of

mon

thly

LG

U r

epor

ts r

egar

ding

com

preh

ensi

ve w

elfa

rese

rvic

es f

or a

buse

d w

omen

and

chi

ldre

n

Inta

ke F

orm

(th

at in

clud

es d

emog

raph

ics,

his

tory

of

abus

e, e

ffec

ts o

fth

e ab

use,

vic

tim

s/su

rviv

ors

beha

viou

r an

d ph

ysic

al c

ondi

tion

, nee

dsan

d co

ncer

ns o

f vi

ctim

s/su

rviv

ors

and

acti

on t

o be

tak

en

Con

duct

s fo

llow

-up

coun

selli

ng

Pro

perl

y ac

com

plis

hed

case

man

agem

ent

form

s:. R

efer

ral F

orm

s

. Pro

gres

s N

otes

. Qua

rter

ly a

nd a

nnua

l rep

orti

ng F

orm

. Mas

terl

ist

of c

lient

s

103

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

F.In

form

ati

on

,

Ed

ucati

on

an

d

Co

mm

un

icati

on

s

Pro

per

acco

mpl

ishm

ent o

f soc

ial c

ase

stud

y re

port

(S

CS

R)

two

wee

ksaf

ter

adm

issi

on

Pro

per

acco

mpl

ishm

ent

of c

ompr

ehen

sive

SC

SR

tw

o m

onth

s af

ter

adm

issi

on

Upd

ate

SC

SR

aft

er 6

mon

ths

vis-

a-vi

s tr

eatm

ent

plan

Sub

mis

sion

of

repo

rt/s

per

typ

e of

ser

vice

ren

dere

d to

VA

WC

clie

nts

The

uni

t/ce

ntre

:. H

as a

dequ

ate,

saf

e an

d co

nfid

enti

al f

iling

sys

tem

. Has

sep

arat

e lo

gboo

k fo

r re

cord

ing

VA

W c

ases

. Has

com

pute

r da

taba

se f

or V

AW

cas

es

. Has

col

late

d re

gula

r re

port

s fo

r su

bmis

sion

to

supe

rvis

ors,

man

ager

s an

d fu

nder

s (i

nclu

ding

fin

anci

al r

epor

ts)

The

uni

t/ce

ntre

:. C

ondu

cts

advo

cacy

and

net

wor

king

for

pol

icie

s to

con

tinu

ousl

yim

prov

e th

e go

vern

men

t an

d ci

vil s

ocie

ty’s

res

pons

e to

VA

WC

. Has

pub

lic in

form

atio

n an

d tr

aini

ng o

n V

AW

C fo

r at

leas

t on

cea

year

for

the

gen

eral

pub

lic

. Has

VA

WC

rel

ated

rea

ding

mat

eria

ls w

hich

are

tra

nsla

ted

inpo

pula

r la

ngua

ge a

nd a

re r

eade

r-fr

iend

ly

. Has

pri

nted

gui

delin

es a

nd p

roto

cols

in h

andl

ing

VA

WC

cas

esfo

r ea

sy r

efer

ence

of

Uni

t st

aff

. Has

cop

ies

of a

nti-

VA

WC

law

s an

d im

plem

enti

ng r

ules

and

regu

lati

ons

and

othe

r re

leva

nt a

nti-

VA

WC

mat

eria

ls

104

PA

RA

ME

TE

RS

IND

ICA

TO

RS

YE

SP

AR

TLY

NO

RE

MA

RK

S

G. R

eso

urc

es

. Has

an

upda

ted

and

com

preh

ensi

ve d

irec

tory

of

reso

urce

s al

lov

er t

he c

ount

ry

. Has

fly

ers

and

broc

hure

s th

at e

xpla

in t

he g

oals

of

the

prot

ocol

of t

he U

nit

. Has

fly

ers

on V

AW

C in

pop

ular

for

m f

or d

istr

ibut

ion

to c

lient

s

. Has

pos

ters

to

popu

lari

ze t

he w

ork

of t

he u

nit,

wri

tten

inpo

pula

r la

ngua

ge

The

Uni

t/ce

ntre

:. H

as a

dequ

ate

fund

s fo

r it

s pr

ogra

mm

es a

nd o

pera

tion

s

. GA

D B

udge

t is

allo

tted

to

fund

gen

der

resp

onsi

ve p

rogr

amm

esan

d op

erat

ions

of

the

unit

/cen

tre

or i

nclu

sion

in

the

wor

k an

dfi

nanc

ial p

lan

of t

he L

GU

. Has

sus

tain

able

and

mul

tipl

e so

urce

s of

fun

ds

Com

plia

nce

to fu

nd u

tiliz

atio

n ra

tio:

60

per

cent

for

prog

ram

mes

and

40 p

er c

ent

for

pers

onne

l

Has

an

exis

ting

tru

st f

und

stri

ctly

for

use

in

serv

ice

to v

icti

ms

ofV

AW

C

Has

sou

nd fi

nanc

ial s

yste

m fo

r pl

anni

ng, m

onit

orin

g an

d re

port

ing

ofre

sour

ces

Has

res

ourc

e m

obili

zati

on c

omm

itte

e to

rai

se f

unds

and

res

ourc

esfo

r th

e U

nit

Pre

senc

e of

adv

ocac

y pl

an f

or m

arke

ting

ser

vice

s in

the

cen

tre

Com

plia

nce

to A

O 7

9 on

the

Om

nibu

s an

d R

egul

atio

ns o

n P

ublic

Sol

icit

atio

n

Has

str

ong

linka

ges

wit

h ci

vic

orga

niza

tion

s an

d ot

her

NG

Os

* F

inal

ized

12

Dec

embe

r 20

06

105

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