A/HRC/23/17 E/CN.6/2013/8 I. Introduction 1. The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women was established in 1996, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 50/166, and is an important benchmark in the commitment of Member States to implement the legal and policy promises to end violence against women. Administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), on behalf of the United Nations system, the Trust Fund brings synergy and coherence to the work of the United Nations in this critical field. It is a vital platform for realizing the “Delivering as One” initiative. The Trust Fund is the only global multilateral grant-making mechanism specifically dedicated to addressing violence against women, irrespective of the type or context of this gross human rights violation. Guided by its strategy document for 2010-2015, “Vision 2015”, the Trust Fund supports national and local governments, non-governmental organizations and United Nations country teams in their programmes aimed at preventing violence, expanding services to survivors and strengthening institutional responses to address the causes and consequences of violence against women and girls. 2. By the end of 2012, the $63.5 million active grant portfolio of the Trust Fund included 95 programmes covering 85 countries and territories, touching the lives of over 24 million women and girls and influencing over 5,000 formal and informal institutions. The present report, prepared for the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council, describes the progress and achievements of the Trust Fund in 2012. II. Background and context 3. Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human rights. In some countries, up to 7 out of 10 women experience physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. 1 Women and girls in communities and countries across the world continue to live in a state of systematic insecurity that transcends geography, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status and religion. This violence and insecurity is exacerbated by the cumulative and intersecting discrimination and exclusion experienced by various groups of women and girls. Today, violence against women is increasingly recognized as a threat to democracy, a barrier to lasting peace, a burden on national economies and an appalling human rights violation. 2 4. The recognition that violence against women is a major social and political problem is evident in the record number of countries adopting or strengthening __________________ 1 2 2 See World Health Organization (WHO), Multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence against women, Geneva, 2005. The study found that the prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence by a partner varied from 15 per cent in urban Japan to 71 per cent in rural Ethiopia, with most areas being in the 30-60 per cent range. See also “Violence against women prevalence data: surveys by country”, compiled by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), 2011. See UN-Women, “United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, Annual Report 2011”. 12-64357