Arvaikheer, Uvurkhangai – A One Stop Service Center (OSSC) for survivors of gender-based and domestic violence was launched in Arvaikheer in the province of Uvurkhangai by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) last 23 January 2020. This OSSC is the ninth launched under the “Combating Gender-Based Violence in Mongolia” Project co-funded by UNFPA, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Government of Mongolia to tackle the issue of domestic violence in the country.
The launch was attended by UNFPA Mongolia Head of Office Ms. Kaori Ishikawa, Deputy Governor of Uvurkhangai Mr. O Batjargal, Head of the Coordination Council for Crime Prevention of the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs Ms. L. Nyamgerel, and heads of related government agencies of the province.
OSSCs provide survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), especially domestic violence, with services to help them escape and heal from violent situations. Aside from accommodations, OSSCs also provide health, psychological, legal, counselling and protection services. With this new Center, there are now 15 OSSCs, including one each in the provinces of Bayankhongor, Bayan-Ulgii, Darkhan-Uul, Dornod, Govi-Altai, Khuvsgul, Khentii, Umnogovi, and Zavkhan, and the rest in Ulaanbaatar. The Uvurkhangai OSSC is the last to be launched under the “Combating Gender-Based Violence in Mongolia” Project.
For this OSSC, UNFPA invests around 150 million MNT to fully stock the OSSC with equipment, furniture, and other needed items and to the capacity building activities. The local government of Uvurkhangai also took the initiative to allocate financial resource to the construction of the center totalling to 80 million MNT.
“With nearly 60% of Mongolian women abused by their partners at least once in the woman’s lifetime, we need to continue the tireless work to make quality services widely available in the country, especially the areas that need it the most,” said Ms. Ishikawa. “UNFPA is grateful to see the commitment and concrete steps of our partners toward ending gender-based violence in Mongolia.
Under this Project, UNFPA prioritized establishing OSSCs in provinces where GBV is most prevalent balanced by geographical considerations. In Uvurkhangai, 36.5% of women have experienced some form of intimate partner violence in the last twelve months, making it the fourth highest province in terms of prevalence rates. Of this number, 19.4% of women experienced sexual and/or physical violence, the highest rate in the country.
The OSSCs are part of a larger multi-sectoral initiative to combat GBV in Mongolia by (1) institutionalizing data collection for more targeted interventions; (2) raising awareness among key stakeholders and the public on the realities of GBV; and (3) providing multi-disciplinary responses to GBV and domestic violence. This initiative is spearheaded by the UNFPA, in partnership with the SDC and the Government of Mongolia.
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About UNFPA. 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. For more information, please visit http://mongolia.unfpa.org.
Contact: Kai Jimenez at jimenez@unfpa.org or Oyun Banzragch at oyun@unfpa.org
