CM for GBV - UNFPA EECARO - Long term partnership on gender-based violence case management

This program aims to address the pervasive issue of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and gender-based violence (GBV) across the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region. According to a recent WHO global review, 26 per cent of women in Eastern Europe and 23 per cent of women in Central Asia have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner. National studies highlight alarmingly high prevalence rates, with 58.3 per cent of women in Tajikistan and 41.9 per cent in Turkey reporting intimate partner violence (IPV).
GBV/VAWG manifests in various forms, including intimate partner violence, child marriage, sexual assault, and exploitation, and is prevalent across the South East Europe and Asia region. These forms of violence stem from entrenched gender inequality and power imbalances, representing significant violations of human rights and impacting the well-being, health, autonomy, and access to opportunities of women and girls.
The true burden and impact of GBV/VAWG across the life course of women and girls remains largely unknown, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions.
Currently, there is a scarcity of actionable data to inform the design of effective interventions to prevent and respond to GBV/VAWG. With multiple stakeholders involved in the response, including NGOs, health, social, and education institutions, police, and courts, among others, the GBV /VAWG information systems are usually fragmented and none of the services has a comprehensive picture of the true burden of GBV/VAWG and the effectiveness of interventions in preventing GBV/VAWG and ensuring the safety of survivors. This lack of essential and disaggregated information results in women falling through the cracks of the system, and interventions not being appropriately targeted or monitored. When it comes to vulnerable groups, the situation is even darker, as most information and response systems do not capture wom*n from marginalized groups, such as women with disabilities, trans women, non-binary individuals or refugee women.
Comprehensive and multisectoral information systems are a crucial starting point for understanding the complexity of how interventions for GBV/VAWG operate and how to strengthen them. Efforts to enhance coordinated referral mechanisms and services for detecting and responding to GBV/VAWG have been observed in countries across the region, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey, as reported by various sources. However, challenges persist, such as limited access to basic services for marginalized groups like ethnic minorities, women living with disabilities, and LGBTIQ+ communities, and a lack of real-time data on GBV incidents. This lack of comprehensive, disaggregated data hampers a complete understanding of the extent and nature of GBV/VAWG in each country and across the region.