Eliminating gender-based violence ensuring equality: ECLAC/UNIFEM assessment of actions

This study represents a collaborative effort by the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the
Caribbean and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to
assess these actions with the aim of informing the future work of these
agencies around gender-based violence.
An important dimension of the mandate of the ECLAC Subregional
Headquarters for the Caribbean is the provision of strategic thinking and
information to governments for policy formulation. This is accomplished
through technical assistance and through research activities. At the Third
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/Caribbean
Development and Cooperation Committee (ECLAC/CDCC) Ministerial
Conference on Women held in October 1999, violence against women was
identified as a barrier to achieving gender equality. The recommendations
spoke not only of the need to extend services to victims, but also to take
actions based on an understanding of the root causes of violence. This study
forms one component in a scope of work in which the ECLAC Subregional
Headquarters for the Caribbean has been engaged since 1999.