UN Women in Action: Intergovernmental Support

• With technical and advocacy support from UN Women, countries from the region adopted or amended legislation to address violence against women and ensure that public policies meet the needs of women and girls. In Kosovo*, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, governments have introduced offenses or made amendments regarding domestic violence.
• The implementation of the Istanbul Convention – the comprehensive regional instrument on ending violence against women and domestic violence – has improved throughout the region. North Macedonia ratified the Convention in March 2018 with the support of UN Women, and the standards within the Convention informed amendments to the criminal code in Kosovo.
• Across the region, countries are taking action to monitor and implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). With UN Women’s assistance, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Tajikistan all submitted official reports to the CEDAW Committee, and civil society in Turkey and Serbia developed their own reports to hold governments to account. Ukraine has also adopted a National Action Plan to implement the feedback they received from the CEDAW Committee in 2017.
• In Albania, as a result of UN Women advocacy and technical assistance, the government enacted a 118% increase in 2019 budgetary allocations aimed at closing gender gaps and advancing gender equality, compared to 2018 allocations.
• As a result of recommendations made by the Security and Gender Group in Kosovo, chaired by UN Women, the Criminal Code of Kosovo has been amended to accurately define all acts of domestic violence and list it as a separate criminal offence.
• The Ukrainian government adopted the first-ever Action Plan for the Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

* Under UN Security Council resolution 1244 in all references.