Region:Asia Pacific
Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
outcome XM-DAC-41146-APA_D_6.6
Women are empowered to build resilient, cohesive and peaceful communities to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism
Under the regional Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) project, women in communities in Bangladesh are empowered to be agents of change in their communities and promote peace and social cohesion, thereby preventing radicalization and violent extremism as a result of the project’s social entrepreneurship initiatives. In 2021, in Bangladesh, the initiatives undertaken by the Women Peace Cafés (WPC) are a testament to the capacity of its members in promoting social cohesion and building the resilience of communities to prevent violent extremism. By the end of the fourth phase of the programme (March 2021), the WPC reached 395 women through entrepreneurship activities in communities at risk of radicalization. This included an online social entrepreneurship training that enabled 186 female students as agents of peace and engagement of 209 female volunteers in the Women Peace Ambassadors (WPA) initiatives. Under WPA, 40 female students and 16 male volunteers were selected to implement small projects that support vulnerable women affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and promote social cohesion in their communities. Moreover, approximately 1.2 million people were reached through a social media campaign on project activities, including 12,604 combined new followers on social media pages of WPCs and WPA initiatives. At the regional level, the project facilitated the participation of 70 individuals in regional dialogues to strengthen their understanding of the gender dynamics of violent extremism through an online event. In the fourth phase (April – December), the WPC continued to showcase good results. The WPC model from the prior phase was scaled up with the addition of two more universities resulting in its expansion into four WPCs. The WPC members continued to engage with peers through virtual events and social media despite the ongoing closures of all educational institutions. As a result of WPC activities, the project reached 241,180 individuals in Bangladesh to contribute to improving their understanding of women’s role in PVE and the gender dynamics of the threat of terrorism and hate speech. Furthermore, an animation “The Impact of Gender Identities, Norms, and Relations on Violent Extremism” has been developed to summarize the key findings of the research entitled Building a Stronger Evidence Base: The Impact of Gender Identities, Norms and Relations on Violent Extremism, which was previously produced under the PVE programme in collaboration with Monash University Gender Peace and Security (GPS) Centre. The animation has been subtitled in four different languages: English, Bahasa, Bangla, and Tagalog, corresponding to the languages spoken in the focus countries of the study. Ground-breaking UN Women research advances the conversation on gender in violent extremism. UN Women continues to advance the research agenda on gender and violent extremism in Asia – an area that remains without much international attention. (See UN Women Asia Pacific PVE webpage to access the research) In addition, with the technical support of UN Women, the government and CSOs have increased their capacities to implement and monitor the National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security Bangladesh which integrates gender issues and the important role that women play in preventing violent extremism.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-APA_D_6.7
At-risk border communities are more resilient to human trafficking and related escalation, focusing especially on women
In 2021, UN Women has made significant progress to strengthen the resilience of at-risk border communities to human trafficking and related escalation. The dynamics of human trafficking are highly gendered and border locations are particularly vulnerable to these types of crimes. When there is little understanding of how gender affects the dynamics of trafficking, women’s and girls' risk of not receiving the assistance and services that they need is apparent. This risk is compounded by the low level of women’s leadership, representation, and retention in law enforcement and border security functions. To build resilience and mitigate these risks, an in-depth understanding of the gendered dynamics of trafficking as well as recruitment and retention policies for women officers is important, and integrating this awareness into the daily operations and strategies of law enforcement agencies is key. Research has shown that increasing the number of women in law enforcement results in law enforcement that is more responsive to women’s needs and more operationally effective. However, across the ASEAN region, the share of women law enforcement officers ranges from 6-20 per cent. In 2021, UN Women disseminated the findings of the milestone report on Women in Law Enforcement in the ASEAN Region published by UN Women, INTERPOL, and UNODC. Through numerous events/dialogues/training including training of law enforcement officers across Thailand, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, and Cambodia. The report provided valuable insights on recruitment and retention practices within law enforcement agencies from a gender lens across the ASEAN region, looking both at regional trends but also deep-diving into challenges and opportunities on a national level. The recommendations highlighted the importance of gender-sensitive facilities that accommodate the specific needs of women and children and in view to implement this recommendation, UN Women supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security’s partner the Peace House Shelters to improve their facilities and shelters for survivors of human trafficking and violence against women, for them to be more sensitive to the needs of women and girls. The donations also aimed to improve the compatibility of equipment of the Call Center Services which is exceptionally important to address cross-border human trafficking. In addition, UNODC together with UN Women finalized a training curriculum to strengthen law enforcement’s capacity to investigate trafficking in person from a gender and victim centered perspective. The Facilitation Handbooks are available in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese. In conclusion, UN Women’s contributions throughout this Programme have provided significant knowledge gains on opportunities and obstacles for women’s leadership and participation in law enforcement across the ASEAN region. These advocacy measures generated spaces at the highest political levels in the South-East Asia region to discuss the advancement of women in law enforcement, its progress, and pending challenges, which resulted in the introduction of legal, institutional and operational changes to improve the conditions of access, employment, and promotion of female police officers. For instance, the ASEAN Border Management Cooperation Roadmap adopted by the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime on 29 September 2021 encourages the collection of disaggregated information that includes gender and includes a chapter dedicated to the increased capacity of border officials to address the growing incidence of human trafficking involving women targeted by criminals and recommends “law enforcement agencies strategies […] to consider refining their recruitment strategy to deliberately increase the number of female officers who participate in cross-border operations. This will improve the ability of border management teams to identify human trafficking involving women and girls and develop more effective and timely responses”.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-APA_D_6.8
Timely gender-sensitive data on the impact and responses to crisis, including COVID-19, are produced and their use is promoted to inform policies, programmes, advocacy and research
Since the onset of COVID-19, UN Women has supported the production of evidence to inform crisis responses and related decision-making. For instance, two rounds of Rapid Assessment Surveys were conducted, the first of which covered 11 countries and the second 7 countries. Related nationally representative estimates have been produced and included in publications, which helped shed light on the gender-differentiated impacts of the crisis. Analysis of big data has been conducted across eight Asian countries and four Pacific countries, and publications and events were organized to promote these findings, including uptake for policy making. Finally, an analysis of existing policies in place to respond to the COVID-19 crisis is currently ongoing and expected to generate important findings on the effectiveness of the response and how to improve it.Showing 11 - 13 of 13
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).