In an effort to help law enforcement agencies in southern Africa
respond to gender-based violence effectively, the United Nations
Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
<"http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2011/January/southern-africa-unodc-works-to-help-end-violence-against-women.html?ref=fs1">said
today that it has launched a handbook and a training curriculum to
improve the capacity of national police forces in the region to combat
the problem.
Through the UNODC-backed capacity-building initiative, the agency is
working with officials and civil society in Botswana, Lesotho,
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to support law
enforcement and national criminal justice systems in their efforts to
tackle violence against women.
The handbook is designed for first-responders, such as the police, and
helps to define violence against women by providing an overview of
relevant norms and standards, and giving guidance on how to intervene.
It focuses on how to investigate acts of violence against women, a
process that requires sensitivity.
The training curriculum has been developed to equip local and national
police with the knowledge and skills required to respond to violence
against women in an effective manner. It has a special focus on
violence within intimate relationships.
It includes preventive measures, how to respond to and investigate
acts of violence, and specifies resources required to meet the needs
of victims during and after an incident.
In addition to the regional initiative focusing on law-enforcement,
UNODC is also working with communities in South Africa to provide
local-level support to victims of gender-based violence.
Several UNODC-supported "one-stop centres" have been established
across South Africa to provide legal, psychological and medical
services to the survivors of violence, as well as rehabilitation and
support services for men in order to break the cycle of domestic
violence.
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