IASC Guidelines on Genderbased Violence in Emergencies

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IASC Guidelines on Gender-based Violence in
Emergencies

• Ann Burton
• Senior Regional HIV Coordinator
• UNHCR
• 31st October 2006

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Session objectives

• Provide background information on gender-based
  violence in emergencies and the link to HIV
• Introduction of the IASC Guidelines (structure,
  sectoral content, use)

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Background

• Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious, life
  threatening protection issue primarily affecting
  women and children
• Adequate, appropriate, and comprehensive
  prevention and response are lacking in most
  countries worldwide
• Civilian women and children are often targeted
  and are the most vulnerable simply by virtue of
  their gender, age, and status in society

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Definition

• Any harmful act that is perpetrated against a
  persons will, and that is based on socially
  ascribed (gender) differences between males and
  females

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Forms of GBV in Emergencies

• Early stages
• sexual violence most common, most immediate and
  most dangerous
• Stable phases
• other forms of GBV occur (harmful traditional
  practices, forced early marriage, and domestic
  violence)
• IASC guidelines focus on sexual violence

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Extent of GBV in Emergencies

• GBV has been a feature of all recent conflicts
• Rape used as weapon of war well documented e.g.
  Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Bosnia
• GBV in natural disasters less well recognized but
  exists
• Philippines after the Mount Pinatubo eruption
• Central and North America after Hurricane Mitch
• Several countries after the 2004 tsunami

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Causes and contributing factors in emergencies

• Norms regulating social behaviour are weakened
  and traditional social systems often break down
• Breakdown in law and order - ready availability
  of weapons
• Women and children may be separated from family
  and community support
• Sexual violence is often used as a weapon of war,
  targeting civilian women and children
• Males lose provider and supporter role - violence
  used to express authority

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Consequences

• Severe and long-lasting health and other problems
  
• Death from injuries or suicide
• Unwanted pregnancy
• Unsafe self induced abortion, infanticide
• sexually transmitted infections, including HIV
• Psychological trauma
• Social stigma and rejection

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Link to HIV

• Rape directly associated with an increased risk
  of HIV and STIs
• (IASC Guidelines for HIV Interventions in
  Emergency Settings Action Sheet)
• Women and girls forced to exchange sex for
  survival more likely to be unprotected sex with
  higher prevalence groups e.g. uniformed forced

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Links to HIV (contd)

• Women who are subject to any form of GBV have
  reduced power in the relationship - difficult to
  negotiate safe sex
• Women who are subject to GBV may have reduced
  access to health and other social services,
  including HIV prevention services

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Underreporting

• GBV, particularly sexual violence, is
  underreported
• Any available data, in any setting, about GBV
  from police, legal, health, or other sources will
  represent only a very small proportion of the
  actual number of incidents of GBV

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• Assume sexual violence is a major problem in the
  early phase of an emergency

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Prevention and Response

• Effective prevention and response to sexual
  violence requires multisectoral coordinated
  action among, at a minimum
• health and social services actors
• legal, human rights, and security sectors and
• the community

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• In most humanitarian settings these mechanisms
  are not in place

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• New IASC Guidelines
• Key interventions for preventing and responding
  to SV in humanitarian emergencies

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Who developed the Guidelines?

• IASC Taskforce on Gender and Humanitarian
  Assistance
• Representatives from more than 30 UN and NGO
  entities were involved

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What is the purpose of the Guidelines?

• Allow humanitarian actors (communities govts,
  NGOs, UN agencies and CBOs) to establish and
  coordinate a set of minimum multisectoral
  interventions to prevent and respond to sexual
  violence in the early stages of an emergency

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How are the Guidelines structured?

• Organised in three parts
• Overview of activities to be undertaken in the
  preparedness phase
• Detailed implementation of minimum prevention and
  response during the early stages of the emergency
  
• Overview of comprehensive action to be taken in
  more stabilised phases and during recovery and
  rehabilitation

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IASC Matrix
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Cross cutting functions

• The guidelines are organized by sectors and
  cross-cutting functions.
• There are five cross-cutting functions that
  require action from multiple organizations and
  sectors
• Coordination
• Assessment and Monitoring
• Protection
• Human Resources
• Information, Education Communication

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Sector Specific Interventions

• There are specific interventions organized by
  sector
• Protection
• Water and Sanitation
• Food Security and Nutrition
• Shelter and Site Planning and Non-Food Items
• Health and Community Services
• Education
• Note that protection is both a cross-cutting
  function and a sector in these guidelines

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Focus on Minimum Prevention and Response

• For each action in this phase, there is a
  detailed Action Sheet in the 10
  functional/sectoral areas
• Guidance in the Action Sheets includes
• Background
• Specific key actions to take
• Agency/Sector responsible for those actions
• Key reference resources available to support
  implementation of the key actions

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Matrix Health sector
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Field Support / Testing

• A Group Pakistan (earthquake region), Columbia
  and Uganda
• B Group Pakistan (border region), Burundi and
  Sudan (Darfur)

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To keep in mind

• The Guidelines recommend specific key
  interventions for preventing and responding to
  sexual violence in humanitarian emergencies
• These guidelines should be available and
  accessible to all partners keeping in mind they
  do NOT give implementation details but rather a
  list of summary actions
• Other resources / materials referenced throughout
  the guidelines and included in the accompanying
  CD-ROM provide information on implementation.

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When to use the Guidelines

• Sexual violence is under-reported even in
  well-resourced settings worldwide
• It is difficult - if not impossible - to obtain
  an accurate measurement of the magnitude of the
  problem especially when no services are
  available
• Therefore these guidelines are applicable in any
• emergency setting, regardless of whether the
  known prevalence of sexual violence is high or
  low

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Dissemination

• Guidelines Matrix poster CD with resources
• Translated into French, Spanish, Arabic
• Available electronically (IASC and agency
  websites)
• http//www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc

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• Thank you