On 17-18 August 2020, Central Asian technical meeting was held in Turkestan, Kazakhstan, to discuss national experience in strengthening the mechanisms of interagency response to gender-based violence, reported UNFPA – Kazakhstan.
The event was attended by civil servants, civil sector, development partners and international organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The exchange of experience between Central Asian countries was organized as part of a sub-regional project entitled “Strengthening national capacities to improve prevention of, and responses to Gender-Based Violence in Central Asia”, implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with financial assistance from UK Government Programme funding.
Eliminating violence against women requires a holistic approach and a comprehensive and coordinated system to provide services to survivors and to work with their aggressors. A Multi-Sectoral Response to Gender-Based Violence requires a coordinated work among many sectors, including medical, psycho-social and the police.
The project “Strengthening national capacities to improve prevention of, and responses to Gender-Based Violence in Central Asia” aims at disseminating best practices and share experiences among countries in the region on their responses to gender-based violence. It is within this context that the technical meeting took place.
On the first day, the participants reviewed the experience of the Turkestan region in implementing an interagency response to gender-based violence. One of the key response mechanism is the Psycho-Social Support Services for survivors of gender-based violence, which provides immediate assistance, as well as redirects the victim to the appropriate facility for any medical, psycho-social or police assistance.
The second day was focused the representatives of Central Asian countries discussed lessons learned and shared experiences in their countries, highlighting the next steps to further strengthen their response to gender-based violence.
“Looking at each other’s’ experience and learning from one another is a way forward to make sure we live in a society where there is no place for any violence. With this meeting we would like to facilitate the exchange of experience among representatives of public authorities from the five Central Asian countries and showcase to start with, the experience and achievements of Kazakhstan in creating and introducing a system of Multi-Sectoral Response to Gender-Based Violence,” said UNFPA Representative for Kazakhstan and Country Director for Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan Giulia Vallese. ///nCa, 19 August