UNITED NATIONS EXPERT GROUP MEETING TO DISCUSS CHALLENGES

 

IN MEASURING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

 

NEW YORK, 7 April (Division for Advancement of Women) -- The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Europe and the World Health Organization, will convene an expert group meeting on “Violence against women:  a statistical overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and methodology and approaches for overcoming them”.  The meeting will take place at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland from 11 to 14 April 2005.

Violence against women and girls continues to be a major human rights concern in all parts of the world.  Accurate data on violence against women is needed in order to better understand the scope and magnitude of the problem, its causes and consequences and to guide policymakers in developing effective preventative measures.  The expert group meeting will assess and evaluate statistics currently available regarding the extent and prevalence of all forms of violence against women and identify remaining gaps in data collection.  Participants will review national-level surveys and initiatives currently being spearheaded by governments, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and other entities and will put forward recommendations for enhancing data collection on the extent of violence against women.

The expert group meeting will provide input for the Secretary General’s study on all forms of violence against women, requested by the General Assembly (A/RES/58/185).  The study is expected to cover the following areas:  a statistical overview on all forms of violence against women; the causes, consequences, and costs of violence against women; and best practice examples for combating and eliminating violence against women.

The meeting will be an opportunity for producers and users of data to discuss the needs of policymakers and advocates for better information, and the constraints and challenges in meeting these needs.  Participants in the meeting include experts in the field of statistics and data collection on violence against women and users of such data.  Representatives from entities of the United Nations system will also participate in the meeting. 

Information about the study is available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm.

For further information, please, contact:  Monique Widyono, UN Division for the Advancement of Women, e-mail:  widyono@un.org.

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