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E/CN.6/2019/7
VI. Global advocacy for ending violence against women
55. In the context of the growing momentum to address and end violence agai nst
women, the trust fund continued to use its unique convening power to support
meaningful opportunities to advocate for change, call for financing commitments and
amplify the voices of diverse women’s movements. It hosted a number of key events
and initiatives to increase the visibility of the work of the trust fund and its grantees.
56. For example, Princess Eugenie of York (United Kingdom) visited with two non governmental organizations, the grantees ASTRA and ATINA, both of which have
implemented projects in Serbia aimed at providing support to survivors of human
trafficking. ATINA’s project works to prevent the trafficking of women and girl
refugees and asylum-seekers and to offer support services to victims of human
trafficking and sexual exploitation. The visit provided an opportunity for the Princess
Eugenie to meet face-to-face with the representatives of the two organizations that
are working to change the lives of survivors of human trafficking and to create safe
spaces for their recovery and opportunities for their reintegration into society.
Princess Eugenie’s advocacy on the prevention of human trafficking helped bring
much needed visibility to the issue as well as to the trust fund itself. ASTRA activists
provide specialized support to survivors of trafficking and have established effective
referral procedures through a trust fund-supported project. The ASTRA SOS hotline,
which provides essential information, has received more than 8,000 calls, most of
which were directly related to human trafficking. In addition, ASTRA has provided
direct legal and reintegration assistance in 503 cases relating to trafficking.
57. In August, the Free Yezidi Foundation, a trust fund grantee, participated in a
high-profile panel discussion – also attended by the President of the Global Justice
Centre, Akila Radhakrishnan; the Executive Director of UN -Women, Phumzile
Mlambo Ngcuka; and the Special Representative of the Secretary -General on Sexual
Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten – to mark the attack by ISIS on the Yazidi
community in Sinjar, Iraq, and to commemorate the victims. The discussion, held at
United Nations Headquarters, was focused on access to justice of Yazidi women and
girls who were victims of violence, as well as the need for recovery from tr auma, and
rehabilitation.
58. In October, the founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Denis Mukwege, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for
his work with women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence. The ho spital
helped to pioneer the Panzi Foundation model of integrated rights -based
psychosocial, legal and socioeconomic support provision in one -stop centres. The
Panzi Foundation, which was awarded a trust fund grant to enhance its services for
sexual violence survivors, worked in partnership with Physicians for Human Rights,
another trust fund grantee, to train medical, legal and psychosocial professionals on
the principles underlying its model and on the collection of forensic evidence to bring
the perpetrators of sexual violence to justice and obtain justice for survivors.
Beginning in 2011, the trust fund has invested in the Programme on Sexual Violence
in Conflict Zones launched by the Physicians for Human Rights and is currently
funding its second generation of results. Since that time, Physicians for Human Rights
has trained 1,578 health-care, legal and law enforcement professionals, who have
provided services to 42,162 survivors of sexual violence throughout the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Kenya.
18-21716
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