1. BACKGROUND OF ASSIGNMENT Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) remains a widespread violation of human rights in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, where between 6% of women in Singapore to 34% in Viet Nam and 44% in Thailand have experienced physical and/ or sexual violence in their lives, according to available data.[1] Violence against women and girls occurs at home, in workplaces, in public spaces and online, and can culminate in femicide, the murder of women and girls. The World Health Organisation defines femicide as the intentional murder of women because they are women.[2] Globally, more than 1 in 2 women (58 per cent) killed were killed by their partners or family.[3] Violence against women is rooted in gender inequality, discrimination and harmful cultural and social norms. Violence directed against women has devastating physical, emotional, financial and social effects on women, children, families and communities. It negatively affects women’s sense of self-worth, their general well-being and overall quality of life. Violence has serious negative consequences ranging from immediate to long-term physical, psychological and mental health effects and sexual and reproductive problems. Being subjected to violence is associated with injury, disability, death, induced abortion, low birth weight and prematurity in babies, poor sexual health, suicide, depression, anxiety, and harmful alcohol use.[4] Violence affects their participation in education, employment, civic life and politics, and impedes their access and control over resources – increasing poverty and inequality. The associated tremendous social and economic costs to survivors, communities, businesses and countries have been widely documented and reported. In Viet Nam, the persistence of domestic violence has resulted in an estimated loss of earnings equivalent to 3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a 2012 costing study.[5] In Viet Nam, direct costs of domestic violence represent 21 per cent of women’s monthly income and domestic violence survivors earn 35 per cent less than women not abused.[6] In Cambodia, 20 per cent of the women who experienced domestic violence reported that they missed work and their children missed school.[7] Violence against women has worsened in the context of COVID-19. Data show that, since the outbreak of COVID-19, reports of violence against women, and particularly domestic violence, have increased in several countries as security, health, and money worries create tensions and strains accentuated by the cramped and confined living conditions of lockdown. In 1976, the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) was established as a sectoral body to implement, coordinate and monitor the implementation of ASEAN’s regional priorities related to women’s issues at various levels of political, economic and social life. In 2004, the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came together to produce the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the ASEAN Region, which was followed in 2013 by the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Elimination of Violence against Children. In 2010, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) was established as an intergovernmental commission and an ASEAN human rights mechanism. In 2015, the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (ASEAN RPA on EVAW) was adopted and recognized that violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an “obstacle to the social and economic development of communities and states as well as the achievement of internationally agreed-upon development goals”. The ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (RPA), adopted in November 2015, ensures high-level political commitment to tackle the issue.[8] The ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (ASEAN RPA on EVAW, 2016 – 2025) outlines ASEAN Member States’ obligations in realizing their goal of eliminating violence against women in the region and provides practical guidance in implementing the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Violence against Children in ASEAN. UN Women is cooperating with ASEAN to facilitate the mid term review of the progress of the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women by the ASEAN Member States The ASEAN RPA on EVAW includes a provision to review the progress of the implementation of the plan after five years. During the MTR-Phase 1, undertaken in 2019, a desk review of the progress at regional and national levels was completed. During the review of the MTR-Phase 2, Thailand national consultant to support the Mid-Term Review (Phase 2) will be recruited by UN Women, supported by Safe and Fair Programme to document and report the national consultation on the implementation of the ASEAN RPA on EVAW in cooperation with Thai government counterparts with the aim to validate the desk review findings and elaborate the MTR report. Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region” (2018-2022). Safe and Fair is implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). The Programme aims to deliver technical assistance and support with the overall objective of making labour migration safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. [1] UN Women (2018). ASEAN Regional Guidelines on Violence against Women and Girls Data Collection and Use. Available from: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/04/asean-regional-guidelines-on-violence-against-women-and-girls [2] World Health Organization (2012). Femicide - Understanding and addressing violence against women. Available from: https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/rhr12_38/en/ [3] UNODC (2018). Global Study on Homicide - Gender-related killing of women and girls. Available from: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/GSH2018/GSH18_Gender-related_killing_of_women_and_girls.pdf [4] World Health Organization (2013), Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence, available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/85239/9789241564625_eng.pdf;jsessionid=8AF8AC7836F0A5AF46350DB1C567AD46?sequence=1 [5] UN Women (2012). Estimating the Costs of Domestic Violence against Women in Viet Nam. Available from: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2013/2/costing-study-viet-nam%20pdf.pdf?vs=1456 [6] UN Women (2013). The costs of violence, understanding the costs of violence against women and girls and its response: selected findings and lessons learned from Asia and the Pacific. [7] UN Women (2013). The costs of violence, understanding the costs of violence against women and girls and its response: selected findings and lessons learned from Asia and the Pacific. [8] ASEAN (2015). ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (ASEAN RPA on EVAW). Available from: https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/48.-December-2017-ASEAN-RPA-on-EVAW-2nd-Reprint.pdf
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