Last Updated: Thursday, 05 November 2009, 12:32 GMT

Gender Equality and Women

Refworld contains a wealth of documents related to gender equality and women, including legal, policy and background information. This "Special Feature" on gender equality and women is regularly maintained and contains legal, policy and operational material.

Legal Documents Related to Gender Equality and Women
Resolution 1820 (2008) [on women and peace and security], Adopted by the Security Council at its 5916th meeting, 19 June 2008
Resolution 2005/31 on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective Into All Policies and Programmes in the United Nations System, Adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council at its 39th plenary meeting, 26 July 2005
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 15 November 2000
Resolution 1325 (2000) [on women and peace and security], Adopted by the UN Security Council at its 4213th meeting, S/RES/1325 (2000), 31 October 2000
Agreed Conclusions 1997/2, Adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council on 18 July 1997, and as contained in A/52/3/Rev.1, "Report of the Economic and Social Council for 1997"
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, General Assembly resolution A/RES/48/104, 20 December 1993
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 18 December 1979, and its Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (6 October 1999)
Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Assembly resolution A/RES/2263, 7 November 1967
Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, 7 November 1962
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, 2 December 1949

UNHCR Policy Documents Related to Gender Equality and Women
UNHCR Handbook for the Protection of Women and Girls, UNHCR, First edition, January 2008
Secretary-General's Bulletin: Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, ST/SGB/2003/13, 9 October 2003
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons. Guidelines for Prevention and Response, May 2003 (in French)
Guidelines on International Protection No. 1: Gender-Related Persecution Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/GIP/02/01, 7 May 2002
UNHCR's Commitments to Refugee Women, 12 December 2001
UNHCR Policy on Harmful Traditional Practices (Annexes) , 19 December 1997
UNHCR Policy on Refugee Women, 20 August 1990

UNHCR ExCom and Standing Committee
At many occasions, UNHCR's Executive Committee has dealt with issues relating to gender equality and women.
Report on the High Commissioner's Five Commitments to Refugee Women, EC/55/SC/CRP.17, 13 June 2005
Refugee Women and Mainstreaming a Gender Equality Perspective, EC/51/SC/CRP.17, 30 May 2001
Progress Report on Refugee Women, SC/1998/INF.1, 25 May 1998
Progress Report on Refugee Women and UNHCR's Framework for Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, EC/47/SC/CRP.45, 15 August 1997
Executive Committee Conclusion No. 105 (LVI) - 2006 on Women and Girls at Risk, 6 October 2006 (in French)
Executive Committee Conclusion No. 60 (XL) - 1989 on Refugee Women, 13 October 1989 (in French)
Executive Committee Conclusions relating to age, gender and diversity mainstreaming
Executive Committee Conclusions relating to sexual violence
Executive Committee Conclusions relating to women

Other Policy Documents Related to Gender Equality and Women
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Yakin Ertürk : addendum : 15 years of the United Nations SR on violence against women, its causes and consequences (1994-2009): a critical review, United Nations Human Rights Council, A/HRC/11/6/Add.5, 27 May 2009
Progress of the World's Women 2008/2009: Who Answers to Women? Gender & Accountability, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), September 2008

Tools
The Heightened Risk Identification Tool (and User Guide), First (Revised) Edition, UNHCR, June 2008 (in French)
Women, Girls, Boys and Men: Different Needs - Equal Opportunities. IASC Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action, IASC, December 2006
UNHCR Tool for Participatory Assessment in Operations, May 2006
Masculinities: Male Roles and Male Involvement in the Promotion of Gender Equality. A Resource Packet, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, September 2005
Clinical Management of Survivors of Rape. A Guide to the Development of Protocols for Use in Refugee and Internally Displaced Person Situations, WHO and UNHCR, January 2005
UNHCR Gender Training Kit on Refugee Protection and Resource Handbook, December 2002
Respect Our Rights: Partnership for Equality. Report on the Dialogue with Refugee Women, Geneva, Switzerland 20-22 June 2001, December 2001
Good Practices in Gender Equality Mainstreaming. A Practical Guide to Empowerment, UNHCR, June 2001
Prevention and Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Refugee Situations. Inter-Agency Lessons Learned Conference Proceedings, 27-29 March 2001, Geneva
"How To Guide", relating to reproductive rights and sexual and gender based violence programmes in Guinea, Liberia and Tanzania
Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations. An Inter-Agency Field Manual, 1999
Gender and Humanitarian Assistance Resource Kit, 1999
Leadership Training for Young Refugee Women

Related UNHCR Links
UNHCR's Refugee Women webpage

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