Information on UNICEF activities towards the implementation of the Brasilia consensus is presented below.

Transcription

1 1 Introduction This report contains information on the initiatives undertaken by the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) for the implementation of the Brasilia Consensus and is being submitted for the 46 th meeting of the Executive Board of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2010, UNICEF adopted a gender policy entitled: Working for an Equal Future: UNICEF Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Girls and Women. Through this policy, UNICEF asserts its commitment to work with partners against discrimination of all kinds, recognizing that gender based discrimination is unacceptable. UNICEF acknowledges that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are central to its mandate. UNICEF also works for the equal rights and empowerment of girls and boys and recognizes that gender equality provides an essential context and precondition for inclusive human development as articulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and elsewhere. Information on UNICEF activities towards the implementation of the Brasilia consensus is presented below. 1. Enhance the citizenship of girls: Empowerment of girls and human rights education of girls UNICEF believes that the empowerment of girls is an essential strategy in the realization of their human rights. Empowerment of girls will also contribute to the empowerment of women who will be better equipped to claim their own rights. Moreover, UNICEF understands that gender equality among adults expressed as the equal enjoyment of rights and mutually respectful relationships in both the public and private spheres provides an essential context in which girls will be empowered and where boys and girls can learn the gender equal attitudes and behaviours capable of sustaining human development and development goals such as the MDGs. In Bolivia, UNICEF supports the Child Friendly Schools initiative. This initiative incorporates the gender approach in efforts to strengthen the capacities of teachers, families, communities and adolescents. It also promotes the participation of girls and adolescent girls in student committees. UNICEF Bolivia has also developed educational materials for teachers, parents, girls, boys and adolescents on topics such as gender equality, children s rights and the CEDAW. A CEDAW and CRC training toolkit to promote the rights of women and girls has been provided to public officials.

2 2 The Construye T programme, supported by UNICEF Mexico and other UN and public partners, aims to create communities that favour inclusion, gender equality and democratic participation in order to develop the capacities necessary to ensure that girls complete secondary school. Within this programme, UNICEF provides technical support in the design of methodologies to establish dialogue on student governance between girls, boys, adolescent girls, adolescent boys, teachers and the academic authorities. UNICEF Venezuela is designing education policies on human rights in partnership with national government. Over the past two years, the gender approach has been added to curricula in order to promote and strengthen the rights of women of all ages as a fundamental basis for education. UNICEF has worked on an initiative to create school committees with the equal participation of girls in partnership with a local nongovernmental organization and the Venezuelan Association of Catholic Schools. In Haiti, UNICEF supports a project providing anaemia monitoring for adolescent girls in and out of school. This new project also provides pregnant adolescent girls with training in motherhood and childcare skills, building their capacities as agents of change within their community, among others. This project works on several levels. The prevention element works against iron and folic acid (IFA) deficiency and worm infestations adolescent girls are provided with a 52 week course of IFA and biannual worm treatment to prevent helminth infections while the information, counselling and support strands help them to improve dietary intake and prevent anaemia, build knowledge on child feeding practices and become empowered as agents for change within their communities. UNICEF Argentina has supported the Vivir sin Violencia website initiative by the Ministry of Education. This website was designed as part of the Campaign for Gender Equality and Against Violence that promotes gender equality between girls and boys in academic settings. The aims are achieved through non discrimination policies, the eradication of gender stereotypes and inclusive education sensitive to the situation of girls, adolescent girls and women, and their human rights. In Panama, UNICEF has partnered with civil society organizations to strengthen local networks for adolescents within indigenous communities. These networks focus mainly on HIV and AIDS prevention for adolescent girls and young women. UNICEF in the Eastern Caribbean has supported programmes for the empowerment of girls and boys. These efforts have included advocacy with governments on the return to school for teen mothers and support for the continued education of teen mothers. There has also been advocacy with Ministries of Education to ensure that teaching methodologies and curricula cater to needs of both girls and boys; that girls be offered training in the use of media, thus empowering them to express their rights; that girls and boys work on communication materials targeting their peers in separate pre trial and focus groups.

3 3 In Nicaragua, UNICEF supports the work of the Ministry of Health in developing strategies to promote shared responsibility between mothers and fathers through pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and the child rearing years. 2. Participation of girls and adolescent girls in decision making processes Promoting leadership among adolescent girls is one of the five strategic priorities defined in the United Nations Joint Statement Accelerating Efforts to Advance the Rights of Adolescent Girls. In this statement, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Now UN Women) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) call on Member States to ensure that adolescent girls gain essential economic and social skills and that they are supported by mentors and resources to participate in community life. The Haiti Country Office is working with Plan International to strengthen the Haitian National Youth Council, ensuring that youth representatives from each department can participate actively in decision making processes at the local level. The Youth Council includes youth organizations that boast the active participation of adolescent girls. During 2011, UNICEF also provided support for a series of youth consultation forums in Haiti in collaboration with the local Konesans Fanmi organization. The forums provided the opportunity for adolescent girls and boys to share perspectives on their role in the reconstruction of Haiti. The project aimed for gender balance among participants, also including girls with disabilities and members of vulnerable groups such as earthquakeaffected adolescents. UNICEF Brazil has encouraged adolescent girls to work as partners in social budgeting initiatives. Adolescent girls and boys have received training to help them identify those areas of public policy relevant to them, undertake research, estimate the benefits of additional expenditure on social spending and become effective advocates of young people at all levels of society. UNICEF Chile encourages adolescent girls to impact policies by participating with key actors and decision makers in legislative matters and public policies that seek to eradicate violence and promote gender equality. This activity was one outcome of a successful partnership between the Centre for the Development of Women in Chile, UN Women, UNICEF and the Observatory for Gender, Culture and Health. Its key actions include training for adolescents in topics related to gender, violence and advocacy within communities. In Panama, UNICEF advocated the inclusion of information on the situation of indigenous girls in the State Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Input

4 4 from adolescent girls was important to the process and their views on how the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been implemented in the country and their perceptions of the main challenges to full implementation were incorporated. In the Eastern Caribbean, UNICEF partners worked with eleven governments, as well as civil society and community based organizations to enhance the participation and leadership skills of adolescent girls and boys. This has been approached through support in areas such as: research into the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of this group in relation to participation in school and community organizations; the training and development of adolescent girl leaders both within school and in out of school settings; the establishment of students councils; the development of youth media networks; and the participation of adolescent girls and boys in regional and global fora such as the J8 summit. UNICEF Bolivia also promotes the participation of girls and adolescent girls in the entities of student government and in the creation of student groups to encourage the participation and empowerment of this group. In Colombia, UNICEF has promoted the participation of girls affected by HIV and AIDS in the National Roundtable for Children, Adolescents and HIV and AIDS. These girls have become key actors in all the negotiations and agreements that have come to the fore. Also in Colombia, as part of the public accountability process, UNICEF has supported an initiative allowing hundreds of girls and adolescent girls to establish direct dialogue with government authorities regarding the situation of girls in the country. 3. Address all forms of violence against girls and adolescent girls Violence against girls and women is frequently under reported and under recognized. For many women, the violence they experience is so widely accepted that they consider it normal from an early age. Even in those circumstances where violence is not accepted as normal, gender based violence may be hidden by families, including women and girls themselves, as a matter of shame. The gender dimensions of violence and abuse physical, sexual and psychological against adolescents are a critical issue. Girls experience higher rates of domestic and sexual violence than boys; these abuses reinforce male dominance in the household and community, and concurrently impede female empowerment. i Gender based violence (GBV) is a pervasive and particular outcome of gender inequality and discrimination against girls, boys and women that undermines national development. UNICEF is a member of the Secretary General s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign and collaborates in the UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women. UNICEF plays an advocacy role in drawing international attention to GBV in humanitarian contexts and it is a lead actor in ensuring that international commitments including UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820,

5 5 1882, 1888 and 1889 on women, peace and security and sexual violence in conflict are brought into operation in humanitarian contexts. UNICEF also provides support for the implementation of the UN Secretary General s Bulletin on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN staff and related personnel, and honours the humanitarian community s obligations to provide support for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. In Haiti, the Country Office works with Solidarité des Femmes Haitiennes (SOFA) a local NGO that provides counselling, referrals and legal advice to women and adolescent girl victims of violence, mainly in the Port au Prince metropolitan area. The Office also worked with the Ministry of Women s Affairs, Ministère à la Condition Feminine, on a campaign to sensitize women and girls, and particularly adolescent girls. In addition, UNICEF supported the Ministry in building the violence prevention capacity of women s organizations within the context of a cholera outbreak. In Mexico, UNICEF supported the design of a strategy to establish intercultural dialogue between traditional and government authorities responsible for providing basic services to indigenous girls and boys, and also those that provide access to justice. The main goal of this dialogue is to reinforce capacity among local authorities in Chiapas and Oaxaca on the consequences of gender based violence (sexual and domestic violence, in particular) against indigenous girls and boys. Agreement will be sought in order to develop an appropriate coordination mechanism to prevent and reduce occurrence of this form of violence. UNICEF Mexico contributed to the design of the National Report on Gender Based Violence in Basic Education in Mexico. This study was based on information gathered from surveys of 26,319 students between fourth and sixth grade, 324 school officials and 1,485 teachers. The key purpose of the research was to produce statistical data for evaluation of the magnitude of GBV in schools. This information could then be used in the design of new educational policies inclusive of the gender perspective in efforts to achieve gender equality in education. In Chile, UNICEF has provided technical assistance to support girls and boys who are the indirect victims of femicide, mainly by establishing networks to provide legal and psychological support. UNICEF has also supported the Government in designing an intervention model for girl and boy children of mothers who have been the victims of GBV in order to prevent the cross generation transmission of violence. This model is applied in shelters and centres for victims through psycho educational workshops on non violent conflict resolution. UNICEF Chile has also helped produce training materials on the prevention of sexual abuse for use in early childhood years and primary education. The strategies include joint efforts with the school community to promote protection, gender equality and life skills through social and family networks. UNICEF Argentina has supported the Judiciary in developing a programme to improve access to justice for girls, adolescent girls and women survivors of domestic violence.

6 6 This programme helps document the way judicial institutions in several provinces handle these cases in order to make improvements in the process. Another similar project in the country is working to support access to justice for girl and adolescent girl victims of sexual abuse in compliance with international human rights standards. UNICEF Argentina is also working with authorities from Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay on a multinational campaign against the trafficking and sexual exploitation of girls, boys and adolescents. In Venezuela, UNICEF is working in partnership with municipal governments and an NGO specialized in reproductive health to produce a gender based violence prevention strategy for the courtship period. The training materials are developed with the participation of adolescent girls as part of the Joint UN Programme in support of the Secretary General s UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign. The strategy aims to, inter alia: reinforce the capacities of public officials on women s rights, design an institutional roadmap for counselling women survivors of GBV, and support nationwide implementation of a single registry for all cases of violence. UNICEF Ecuador supports qualitative research into the cultural and social aspects of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls, boys and adolescents and the institutional response to this phenomenon in Lago, Esmeraldas and Atacames. In Uruguay, UNICEF has supported the design of a guide on child rearing practices aimed at eradicating violence and preventing sexual abuse. This guide also seeks to promote equal distribution of tasks between the father and mother. In the Eastern Caribbean, UNICEF has supported studies of the existing legal frameworks on violence against women and girls in order to assess implementation gaps, the barriers in place to protect women and girls survivors of gender based violence, and any obstacles barring their access to justice. In that regard, UNICEF supports efforts to align national legislation and service delivery systems with international and regional human rights standards in accordance with the observations of the CEDAW Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF also supports governments in developing a critical mass of expertise and capacities on GBV among lawyers, prosecutors, teachers and medical personnel through training and professional development. UNICEF Bolivia has incorporated the gender approach in educational materials to prevent child trafficking. As part of the Voice of Children and Adolescents programme, UNICEF has collected gender disaggregated data on violence through focal groups. This information will be used as an advocacy tool in UNICEF initiatives to support government efforts to prevent GBV. In Nicaragua, several UNICEF supported programmes, such as the Casas Maternas, provide support for pregnant women who have been the victims of abuse. These centres rely on trained personnel who can provide assistance to women during

7 7 pregnancy and after birth. UNICEF Nicaragua also supports centres for victims of sexual violence and trafficking through community networks, municipal commissions and special units for children and women within the national police service. In Colombia, 22,233 girls and adolescent girls have participated in capacity building processes for life skills and the promotion and realization of their rights. The main goal of this initiative, which included participants from indigenous communities, is to prevent girls from being recruited or used by armed groups. UNICEF Colombia also works with judges, prosecutors, public defendants, the national police and other partners in the hotel industry to support national efforts to prevent sexual exploitation. 4. Facilitate girl s access to new technologies and promote egalitarian, democratic and non discriminatory practices by the media Over the past decade, access to the Internet, mobile devices and digital media has increased at a rapid rate. Approximately one quarter of the 6.8 billion people in the world have access to the Internet, and 86 per cent can connect to the global communications networks through mobile devices. Yet such access remains highly inequitable. ii Digital literacy the ability to navigate a digitally mediated world further separates young people likely to benefit from digital technologies from those who are not. Young people with no access to the Internet at home or in school and who lack the support of teachers and parents equipped with strong digital skills will not develop the social, learning and technical skill sets necessary for success in the wired global economy. The benefits of far reaching digital technologies extend beyond learning into the promotion of creativity, entrepreneurship and activism. Adolescents and young people are using these technologies to express themselves through videos, audio recordings and games. They create inspiring political movements, watchdog groups and new modes of organization that combine the online and offline worlds. As they become young adults, some of them contribute business and technology innovations that create jobs and opportunities. They learn from one another as they move out into the global cyber environment. As technology becomes an ever more crucial element of education, and its role as a means to achieve goals and objectives increases, girls must be given greater access to these forms of communication and creativity tools in order to empower them and allow them to reach their full potential. As part of these efforts, UNICEF Ecuador supports the RED NNACE initiative; a network of girls, boys and adolescents that works to promote children s rights through communication strategies. The network has recently produced a series of videos on teen pregnancy and sexual exploitation that are currently being broadcast. In Caracas, UNICEF Venezuela works in conjunction with NGOs to increase the capacity of teachers and students in the promotion of access to new technologies for girls, boys

8 8 and adolescents, stressing the importance of Internet use as a positive tool for education, information exchange and violence prevention. UNICEF Colombia supports virtual strategies, such as Aleja la Ignorancia an on line environment that fights the stigma of HIV and AIDS and discrimination against persons living with the disease. The Country Office also supports the RED Escala La Vida a website that offers participation and empowerment tools for girls, boys and adolescents affected by HIV and AIDS. UNICEF in the Eastern Caribbean works with State agencies to train adolescent girls and boys in print and broadcast journalism and the use of social media applications for advocacy on children's rights issues through its Adolescent Media Network partners. 5. Promotion of sexual and reproductive health of the adolescent girl Investment in sexual and reproductive health knowledge and services in early adolescence is critical. Many adolescents in the region are engaging in sexual relations in early adolescence and Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the highest proportion of adolescent females claiming to have become sexually active before age 15, at 22 per cent. iii There is also an enormous disparity in practice and knowledge of sexual and reproductive health between adolescent males and adolescent females. The data suggest that boys are more likely than girls to use a condom when they engage in higher risk sex despite the fact that girls are at greater risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. In many countries in the region, early pregnancy affects many adolescent girls. This has been a subject of concern of the CEDAW Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the risks to her health. In Latin America and the Caribbean a study shows that girls who give birth before the age of 16 are three to four times more likely to suffer maternal death than women in their twenties. Complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death worldwide for adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19. iv In the Eastern Caribbean, UNICEF supports delivery of a quality school based life skills education programme (Health and Family Life Education) as part of the core curriculum, in an effort to ensure that all girls and boys have access to basic information and skills for positive management of their sexuality. UNICEF Argentina supports the Observatory for Sexual and Reproductive Health in partnership with the Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES), the Centro Rosarino de Estudios Perinatales (CREP), the Institute for Epidemiologic Research of the National Academy of Medicine, UNFPA and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO. The main goal of this observatory is to provide journalists and decision

9 9 makers with national data on sexual and reproductive health that will facilitate a wellinformed social debate and will allow monitoring of progress in public health policies. In Ecuador, UNICEF, UNFPA and PAHO provide joint support for an in depth study of the social conditions that appear to be factors in teen pregnancy for girls under 15 years old and the bio psychosocial impact of early pregnancy. This study will also aim to establish deeper understanding of subsequent pregnancies in adolescent mothers, which will be useful in the design of prevention strategies for the future. UNICEF El Salvador helped design University courses for research into sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, establishing a strong gender approach in the course produced with the Landivar University. UNICEF has also participated in the Campaign to prevent the sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking of girls, boys and adolescents. UNICEF in Colombia worked with UNFPA and the Ministry for Social Protection in the design of a national course on sexual and reproductive health for health and social science professionals in the public sector and at community level. In Brazil, UNICEF supports a special programme dealing with adolescent pregnant girls Entre faldas e cadernos, whose objective is to develop a methodology in order to ensure the right to education to young mothers 6. Activities in favour of the rural girl Girls living in rural areas face even greater challenges than their urban peers, with yet more dimensions of inequality to overcome. The rural urban divide limits access to services and has profound consequences on their lives. Child poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean is almost a generalized phenomenon in rural areas, where it stands at 75 per cent, with 7.3 million rural households living in poverty v. The girl child faces double disadvantages because of gender discrimination at the household and community level. These vulnerabilities are even stronger in rural areas, where poverty, discriminatory practices, and lack of infrastructure and services prevail. In rural areas, girls play key roles in family farming and their economic activities generate incomes that improve rural livelihoods for the poor. Rural adolescents account for 55 per cent of the world youth population and tend to be the most disadvantaged in terms of access to training, education and human development facilities, especially when they are female. Additionally, women of 15 or 16 years of age are up to six times more likely to be infected with HIV and AIDS than young men of the same age, and half of all new infections are occurring among the young. vi In order to promote the full development of women, girls and adolescents in rural areas, UNICEF Nicaragua supports strategies to empower female participation in the water and sanitation committees by recognizing their leadership and community work. It also helps train women in the importance of programmes that take into account the special

10 10 needs of girls and women in hygiene and the equitable distribution of tasks in the household. In Ecuador, UNICEF is gathering information on exclusion from education in areas of high vulnerability in order to clarify understanding of why rural girls and rural adolescent girls are not in school. A recent study in 46 communities revealed that teen pregnancy and early childhood marriage are the main reasons why girls either fail to enrol in or drop out of school. On the basis of this evidence, UNICEF is engaging with school principals and responsible authorities in the provision of multidimensional solutions to guarantee the girls right to education is fulfilled. The gender perspective has been incorporated in the Mejorando la educación de niños y niñas de la Amazonia y el Sur Andino del Perú initiative supported by UNICEF Peru, targeting girls, boys and adolescents from five different rural regions in order to prepare them better for secondary education. In Argentina, UNICEF has supported capacity building workshops to empower indigenous women in the towns of Amaicha del Valle and Quilmes. The workshops have focused on the rights of women, girls, boys and adolescents as well as sexual and reproductive health and responsible communication for the prevention of violence. Similar workshops or courses have been conducted for indigenous women in rural areas of Panama and afrodescendant women in the rural areas of Vargas and Miranda in Venezuela with UNICEF support. UNICEF Bolivia has supported efforts to encourage indigenous girls and adolescent girls to stay in school through the provision of family support, parental education and school transportation. UNICEF Bolivia has also promoted gender equality in early childhood development programmes in rural areas and a set of gender based, intercultural materials are being developed. The Country Office has also promoted the participation of indigenous adolescent girls in meetings involving both girls and boys, where their participation has increased the visibility of their situation and specific concerns. i UNICEF (2011), The State of the World s Children: Adolescence An Age of Opportunity, p.32. ii UNICEF (2011), The State of the World s Children: Adolescence An Age of Opportunity, p.14. iii UNICEF Global Databases. More detailed information on methodology and data sources is available at iv Conde Agudelo, A., Belizan, J., Lammers, C., Maternal perinatal morbidity and mortality associated with adolescent pregnancy in Latin America: Cross sectional study, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 192, No. 2, Feb. 2005, p v ECLAC/UNICEF (2010), Child Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean vi Hartl, M. (2006), Reducing Vulnerability of the Girl Child in Poor Rural Areas. Activities of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome: International Fund for Agricultural Development