Ulaanbaatar - Raising public awareness about violence against women and girls has always been a priority to combat it. Specifically, heightened public awareness seeks to encourage decision-makers to push for and prioritize policies that stop violence and end the culture of impunity. Violence against women and girls remains one of the most common human rights violations in the world, including Mongolia.

Journalists play a key role in covering issues in relation to violence against women and girls, and monitoring the progress made through the implementation of various governmental and non-governmental interventions. Mongolia’s law-makers approved the revised Law on Combating Domestic Violence in December 2016, which recognized DV as a crime  for the first time in the country. It has been enforced as of February 2017.

“The criminalization of domestic violence marks a major milestone in holding perpetrators accountable and providing a mechanism for victims to seek help, accountability and justice. However, it just doesn’t and shouldn’t stop there,” explained Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative.

“It is vital that the media continues to shine light on these crimes. Not only to hold perpetrators accountable, but to be an agent for social change.”

Recognizing the importance of media in raising awareness, UNFPA and the Press Institute of Mongolia recently launched a nationwide competition for journalist reporting on violence against women and girls.

The awards ceremony is a two-part event. The first half of the event focuses on the role of media in reporting on domestic and gender-based violence. The second half of the event highlighted and awarded not only the top story, but the rights-based approaches to each story. At least 60 members of the media and relevant civil society organizations are in attendance, along with SDC and UNFPA.

“Journalists have a great potential to play a leading role in changing perceptions towards violence against women and girls,” said Ms. Munkhmandakh, Executive Director of the Press Institute. “I believe activities such as this help Mongolian journalists to better understand and address important issues of violence against women.”

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About the Press Institute of Mongolia. The Press Institute of Mongolia is non-governmental non-profit organization, which was established in 1995 focusing on building a culture of quality media in Mongolia through constant training workshops for industry journalists, roundtable discussions on key issues in the media, building critical thinking skills among journalists, government personnel and media users, and strengthening discourse, research and education in journalism. Contact: pim@pressinst.org.mn, or 976-11-350002

About UNFPA (www.mongolia.unfpa.org).  UNFPA is the UN agency delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA Mongolia currently implements the 6th Country Programme 2017-2021, closely in line with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Mongolia.
Contact: Tim Jenkins, UNFPA, Jenkins@unfpa.org (8011-0366)