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In October 2020, UNHCR released its first agency-wide Policy on the Prevention of, Risk Mitigation and Response to Gender-based Violence. The Policy institutionalizes the work on GBV through nine core actions that respond to its gaps and advance on quality programming and coordination across the organization, while consolidating the progress made to prevent, mitigate and respond to GBV in various operational contexts by UNHCR’s and partners. With this Policy, UNHCR reiterates that GBV as a serious human rights violation rooted in power imbalances, which disproportionally affects diverse women and girls around the world. It recognizes that the risk of experiencing GBV increases in situations of displacement and conflict and promotes gender equality in all aspects of its work, ensuring that all programming and coordination efforts contribute to strengthening efforts to respond to protection needs, promoting gender equality and the prevention of GBV.
The GBV Policy completes the UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity, launched in 2018 and which has 5 actions on addressing gender inequality.
In 2020, 64,796 GBV survivors received psychosocial counselling, 3,297 received legal assistance and 5,736 medical assistance through services provided by UNHCR and partners.
Through the Global Humanitarian Response Plan to COVID-19 (GHRP), over 2 million women and girls reached UNHCR via hotlines and other mechanisms to support GBV, while some 1.18 million women and girls were provided with sexual and reproductive health services.
Throughout 2019, UNHCR has drafted and consulted on the upcoming UNHCR Policy on the Prevention, Risk Mitigation, and Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, which will be launched in 2020. The Policy institutionalizes UNHCR’s work on SGBV and consolidates the progress made by UNHCR and partners to prevent, mitigate and respond to SGBV. The Policy aims at pursuing that the risk of SGBV is reduced for all persons of concern and at all survivors to access quality services in a timely and equitable manner.
The UNHCR Global Strategic Priorities report from 2019 for 2018 shows how UNHCR improved support to known survivors of SGBV in 44 situations and maintained the level of support in 39 operations. UNHCR improved data management and analysis of SGBV, which strengthened programming and enhanced services for survivors and those at risk. UNHCR deployed senior-level protection staff to ten emergency operations, covering all L3 emergencies, where they strengthened coordination among partners, ensured access to quality of SGBV services, trained staff, and worked with diverse communities to address SGBV. UNHCR and partners launched mass sensitization and awareness campaigns and conducted targeted trainings for community leaders and influential groups, including youth and men.
UNHCR contributed to the finalized UN Assistance Victim Protocol and piloted a one-week training for UNHCR’s security personnel on Gender Inclusion in Security Management which included psychological first aid, sensitive responses to incidents of sexual misconduct. UNHCR also led training for over 800 female colleagues from UNHCR, UN agencies and partner organizations across 17 countries on Woman’s Security Awareness and continued promoting the role of UNHCR’s psychosocial case manager who offers guidance to victims/survivors and witnesses of SH. The organization increased investment in more than 30 countries to strengthen field mechanisms that are available to beneficiaries in order to be able to safely report misconduct including SEA and reinforce the safety and security of survivors of SGBV which also supported referral to services such as health, psychosocial and legal support.
UNHCR and a partner organisation have opened a women’s only internet café in Herat, Afghanistan. The café, which is the first of its kind within UNHCR operations, was devised as a response to the harassment and intimidation experienced by many women who used traditional internet cafes in Herat. The café provides a safe environment to use the internet, participate in free trainings and report SGBV cases through a confidential questionnaire. The project also explores how to connect participants to skills training relevant to the local job market.
In 2016, UNHCR established response mechanisms to people fleeing from conflicts and crises in various parts of the world such as Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, CAR, Niger and Nigeria. With the continued flow of refugees to many of the mentioned countries, UNHCR operations have sought to swiftly increase and strengthen the SGBV response and assistance. UNHCR has worked together with partners, including refugees, with the aim of ensuring the provision of accessible, prompt, confidential and appropriate multi-sectoral services (safety, legal, psycho-social and medical) to survivors, establishing referral pathways and coordination mechanisms, recording cases on the GBVIMS and reducing of risk of SGBV through prevention and outreach activities. Although challenges persist, UNHCR continues to work to enhance community participation in SGBV programming and towards the empowerment of survivors.
In Egypt, the provision of support to SGBV survivors among Syrian refugees includes a shelter and the use of creative approaches to psychosocial support. Female survivors have access to women’s centers where awareness raising, counselling and psychosocial support is made available. Special projects and approaches were put in place, such as the individual and group art therapy focusing on issues such as child marriage, training of trainers (ToTs) on art therapy.
The UNHCR Sexual and Gender Based Violence Guidelines developed in 2003 are currently in revision to bring them in line with relevant internal and external guidance and policy documents such as the UNHCR Need to Know Guidance on Working with Men and Boy Survivors of SGBV, the Policy on the Protection of Personal Data of Persons of Concern to UNHCR, and the IASC GBV Guidelines. The revised guidelines will be rolled-out in 2017.
Compared to the previous year, in 2015 significantly greater levels of assistance were provided to survivors across a range of key core services: psychosocial counselling was provided to survivors in 27,616 reported SGBV incidents (38% increase compared to 2014); legal assistance in 7,342 reported incidents (31% increase); medical assistance in 4,518 reported incidents (7% increase); material assistance in 5,542 reported incidents (27% increase); and safe spaces in 3,948 reported incidents (50% increase). Additionally, over 6,000 survivors were enrolled in income generating and occupational activities doubled the number enrolled in the previous year.