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Second Quarter Newsletter  April-June 2016
 
News Highlights
In Focus: World Humanitarian Summit


Ahead of the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in May, UN Women and Oxfam convened more than 50 refugee advocates from 15 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. They presented key recommendations on tackling the challenges of refugee women and girls. Read More.

The Summit resulted in historic discussions among global leaders from 173 countries, and a call for gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights to be pillars of humanitarian action. Read More.
Ending Violence Against Women

Shelters offer a new lease on life in Georgia
Domestic violence shelters, set up with UN Women’s support, provide job training as well as medical, psychosocial and legal assistance to help women rebuild their lives. Read More.
Coordinated response gives hope to Kosovo* survivors
UN Women has helped municipalities set up coordination mechanisms that guide police, judiciary, NGOs, shelters and other actors in offering effective, comprehensive support to domestic violence survivors.
Read More.

*All references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)
Empowering Women in the Economy

Girls learn IT skills at web coding camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Young women learn how to code and programme their way to future careers in IT and science, thanks to IT Girls, a joint UN initiative.
Read More.


 
Astana Economic Forum highlights women's empowerment to drive economic growth
Forum participants agreed that gender equality and the empowerment of women are fundamental for economic growth. Attendees included leading economic experts, and representatives of governments, financial institutions and international organizations. Read More.
Turkey shares business experiences with Tajikistan
UN Women organized a study visit to Turkish businesses for Tajik policy makers, helping them gain new insights into strategies to back women entrepreneurs. Read More.
Leadership and Political Participation

Moldova takes a historic step to promote gender equality
Landmark new legislation mandates a minimum of 40 per cent of women in cabinet and party lists, gives men 14 days paid paternity leave, and prohibits sexist ads and language in media. Read More.
UN Women presents a gender review of legislation to the Turkish Parliament
UN Women analysed legislation from a gender perspective and shared the findings with parliamentarians so they can consider amendments to better align laws with gender equality aims. Read More.
 
Photo contest explores perceptions of gender equality
In Moldova, over 15,000 people have viewed the photo exhibit “Equality through lenses – Women and men.” Overturning stereotypes through topics such as women firefighters and men hugging children, it aims to raise awareness of gender equality, especially among young people. Read More.
Governance and National Planning

Communities weigh in on local budgets in Albania—for the first time 
UN Women-led advocacy has resulted in the first community budget consultations. These are producing new commitments to women in need, such as housing subsidies for poor women and a shelter for domestic violence survivors. Albania earlier embedded the principle of gender equality in the Organic Budget Law and adopted gender-responsive budgeting for all central ministries. Read More.

Take a glimpse at our work on gender-responsive budgeting in Europe and Central Asia here.
Peace and Security

UN Women urges women's inclusion in peace talks in Cyprus
Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, UN Women’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, and Representative to Turkey, visited Cyprus on 5 May 2016. She emphasized the importance of women’s inclusion in the peace talks, expressed hope that gender perspectives would be integral to a comprehensive settlement and offered UN Women’s technical support. Read More.
EU grant to help communities rebuild in eastern Ukraine
The European Union granted 10 million euros to a joint UNDP and UN Women programme, “Restoration of Governance and Reconciliation in Crisis-Affected Communities of Ukraine.” It will focus on local governance, gender-responsive recovery and improved service delivery. Read More
Civil Society Voices
Balkan groups champion comprehensive reparations for survivors of wartime sexual violence 
The South-East European launch of the UN Secretary-General's Guidance Note on reparations for conflict-related sexual violence in Sarajevo has galvanized Balkan women’s groups to press for comprehensive programmes. Read More.
From Where I Stand
In this series, UN Women captures unique and powerful stories of people around the world, showing how they are bringing about change. Here are a few examples from the Europe and Central Asia region.
From where I stand: Sonja Dimitrijoska
Sonja Dimitrijoska, 39, from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, is a humanitarian aid worker with the NGO La Strada. It partners with UN Women and Oxfam to support refugee women and girls in transit centres in the Western Balkans. Read More.
Upcoming Events
The Embassy of Sweden in Bosnia and Herzegovina and UN Women are co-organizing a conference in Sarajevo on “Involvement of Men and Boys in Ending Gender Based Violence,” from 22-23 September 2016. It will build on international and domestic knowledge and experience to help governmental and non-governmental professionals improve practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For more information, contact Nadja Hasanovic, nadja.hasanovic@unwomen.org.

On 21 September – International Open Day for Peace – UN Women in Kyrgyzstan will convene a discussion of the draft results of the evaluation of the project “Building a Constituency for Peace.” On 28 September, a workshop will present the results of the Gender in Society Perception Study and its draft project evaluation. For more information, contact Meriza Emilbekova, meriza.emilbekova@unwomen.org.


About UN Women

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. The UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, which oversees the work of 14 countries, was established in Istanbul in 2014. To see UN Women’s main areas of work in the region click here.

For more information, please visit eca.unwomen.org.

 
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