In 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution entitled '"Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women' " (A/RES/61/143). This mandate of the General Assembly strengthens the ongoing efforts at regional and national levels for defining and calculating indicators on violence against women, which contribute to build a knowledge base on violence against women. One of the five key outcomes of the United Nations Secretary-General's Campaign, "UNiTE to End Violence against Women", is the establishment in all countries by 2015 of systems for data collection and analysis (see the Framework for Action adopted by the Campaign). A recommended set of questions used to collect data on the interim indicators can prevent countries from diverging in their application of surveys on violence against women and facilitate international comparability of results.
The United Nations Development Account project "Enhancing capacities to eradicate violence against women through networking of local knowledge communities" aims, among others, at improving statistical data and indicators of violence against women. This project is implemented by the five United Nations Regional Commissions, in cooperation with the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW).
Spanning two-years (2009-2011), the project includes a range of activities:
- Development of a bilingual toolkit for the collection and use of information on violence against women
- Workshops on the collection of data and measurement of violence against women
- Interregional web portal / knowledge sharing platform
- Short Survey module to measure violence against women
- National publications on violence against women
- One interregional publication based on national findings.