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The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched this toolkit, developed in collaboration with multiple countries, experts and the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation. The kit, available in English and Spanish, includes key messages for health policymakers and managers interested in strengthening health administrative data on violence. Countries will be able to draw on a regional template for capturing data on intimate partner violence/sexual violence and care given to survivors, equipping health workers with practical tools to enhance the quality and consistency of the health system response.

Documento desarrollado en el marco del Programa OASIS-PACAM y aprobado en la Segunda Reunión Preparatoria celebrada el 13 de mayo de 2024 del Comité Consultivo de la Convención Interamericana contra la Fabricación y el Tráfico Ilícitos de Armas de Fuego, Municiones, Explosivos, y otros Materiales Relacionados (CIFTA).

Women and girls, who are often themselves victims of human trafficking and are sexually exploited by criminal gangs, are being prosecuted and convicted for human trafficking-related crimes, according to a new UNODC publication., Female victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation as defendants: A case law analysis

These victims often have no alternative but to obey an order. Some hope to limit their own exploitation or escape poverty by playing a role in the criminal process.

Yet at the same time, the traffickers use the women and girls as a shield to protect themselves from being punished for their crimes.

These are the findings of a new UNODC study which aims to shed light on this alarming trend. The publication highlights the complexities faced by victims of human trafficking, with a view to assist the authorities and victim support services that handle such cases.

Source: Textt by UNODC, 2020

One in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. This is the Shadow Pandemic growing amidst the COVID-19 crisis and we need a global collective effort to stop it. As COVID-19 cases continue to strain health services, essential services, such as domestic violence shelters and helplines, have reached capacity. More needs to be done to prioritize addressing violence against women in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Everyone has a role to play.

**UN Women is providing up-to-date information and supporting vital programmes to fight the Shadow Pandemic of violence against women during COVID-19.

Even before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the home was a place of fear for many women and girls living in situations of violence. In Latin America, 70 percent of femicides occur in the victim’s home.

The quarantine and stay-at-home orders that governments adopted to address COVID-19 trapped many women with their abusers; evidence from early on in the pandemic reinforces the urgency of this issue. ORMUSA, or Organización de Mujeres Salvadoreña, in El Salvador reported 13 femicides in the first 6 weeks of quarantine between March 17 and April 29, 2020. In Argentina, 63 women and girls were killed because of their gender between March 20 and July 7. In the month of March 2020, 50 feminicides were recorded in just six states in Brazil. These statistics are alarming as the virus continues to spread across the Americas, raising fears that extended lockdowns will continue to exacerbate gender-based violence while governments struggle to address the twin public health crises.