A/HRC/26/17 E/CN.6/2014/8 I. Introduction 1. The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women is a multilateral grant-making mechanism established in 1996 pursuant to General Assembly resolution 50/166. It is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. 2. The Trust Fund reinforces the efforts of UN-Women to prevent and end violence against women and girls, while UN-Women provides the Trust Fund with a strong institutional foundation. Working in synergy with UN-Women and with other members of its Programme Advisory Committee, at the global level, and of the subregional inter-agency programme advisory committees, at the subregional level, 1 the role of the Trust Fund in accelerating all efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls is vital. 3. The Trust Fund supports local, national, regional and cross-regional programmes to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls in all contexts. It provides funding for proven, innovative and catalytic multi-year programmes implemented by civil society organizations, national and local Governments and United Nations country teams. To date, the Trust Fund has awarded $95 million to 368 initiatives in 132 countries and territories. It currently supports 78 active initiatives in 71 countries and territories, with grants totalling $56.8 million. 4. The present report, prepared for the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the twenty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council, describes the impact and achievements of the Trust Fund in 2013. II. Context 5. Grave manifestations of violence against women and girls attracted intense international attention in 2013, as did the courageous responses to them. Civilians and human rights defenders living and working in conflict settings continued to be the targets of gender-based violence. High-profile incidents of violence, widely covered in the media, generated public debate, sparked demonstrations and bolstered global activism. Women and girls made their message of non-violence __________________ 1 2/16 In 2013, members of the Programme Advisory Committee, at the global level, and of the subregional inter-agency programme advisory committees, at the subregional level, included: the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the World Bank. Leading civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations and other experts at the global and field levels, including representatives from the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, Equality Now, the Open Society Institute and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), were also actively involved in the grant-making process. 13-61736