Ulaanbaatar - Raising public awareness about Gender-based Violence (GBV) has always been an integral part of the advocacy to combat it. Specifically, heightened public awareness seeks to encourage decision-makers to push for and prioritize policies that stop GBV and end the culture of impunity that sustains it. Gender-based violence remains one of the most common human rights violations in the world, including Mongolia.

Recognizing that GBV issues remain relevant, and as such, the Press Institute of Mongolia and UNFPA are partnering to combat GBV by officially signing today the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Present at the signing were Munkhmandakh Myagmar, Executive Director of the Press Institute, and Naomi Kitahara, Representative of UNFPA Mongolia Country Office.

Recognizing that GBV issues remain relevant, and as such, the Press Institute of Mongolia and UNFPA are partnering to combat GBV by officially signing today the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Present at the signing were Munkhmandakh Myagmar, Executive Director of the Press Institute, and Naomi Kitahara, Representative of UNFPA Mongolia Country Office.

The MOU covers a year-long agreement to cooperate on several activities designed to engage journalists and media, encouraging them not only to be more aware of GBV issues but to be conduits of increasing public awareness through sensitive, evocative and compelling story-telling. The activities include organizing a GBV journalism competition, forming a GBV-focused media network and conducting journalist training courses. The UNFPA serves not only as a resource for GBV information but also for other issues within the UNFPA mandate promoting the safety and well-being of Mongolia’s women and girls (such as addressing maternal health, and the fulfilment of their sexual and reproductive rights.)

The MoU follows an earlier joint effort between the Press Institute and UNFPA. On 25 November 2016, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNFPA launched the “16 Days of Activism” campaign to end GBV in Mongolia. On that day, the Press Institute and UNFPA conducted their first workshop for journalists on GBV reporting. This collaboration is only the beginning.

“Journalists have great potentials to play a lead role in changing perceptions of gender based violence” says Ms. Munkhmandakh. “I believe that in partnership with the UNFPA we can help Mongolian journalists to better understand and address important issues of GBV.”

“We are excited to work with the Press Institute to help raise public awareness about GBV in the year to come, as well as to build stronger relationships with the media to achieve this.” says Ms. Kitahara. “We have to sustain public support for creating a legal environment in which laws address GBV, upholding and protecting the rights of victims.”

Further, this is part of larger national and global goals. “The Mongolian government has committed to the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including SDG # 5 – Gender Equality”, shares Ms. Kitahara, “That goal can be realized with a proactive media, a supportive and well-informed public, and government policies that will end the proliferation of GBV.”

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About the Press Institute of Mongolia is non-governmental non-profit organization, established in 1995 under the Free Press project financed by a grant from the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA). It focuses 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 5th Country Programme 2012-2016, closely in line with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for Mongolia.

Contact: Angelica Esguerra, UNFPA, 353505 (ext. 3314), esguerra@unfpa.org