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UNHCR supported the annual 16 Days of Activism against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in its country operations across the globe in 2016. From November 25 until December 10, UNHCR staff in country and field operations engaged in a number of awareness-raising activities to end sexual and gender-based violence. Activities included the participation of refugees, internally displaced people, stateless people, host-communities, women, men, boys and girls, community leaders, partners and governments representatives in a global effort to promote healthy relationships so that young people can feel safe at home, in their schools and in their communities.
UNHCR deploys Senior Protection Officers (SPOs) with expertise in SGBV to UNHCR operations around the world. These UNHCR staff work for an average of six months per deployment to prioritize SGBV prevention and response at the onset of emergencies. To evaluate the deployment scheme, UNHCR developed a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework around a set of 47 essential actions across sectors that – when fully implemented – are deemed most effective at preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) during humanitarian emergencies.
During 2016, in Cameroon, Djohong, UNHCR worked to use education and peer support to address SGBV experienced by young women. The aim is to reduce the rate of forced and/or early marriage and early pregnancy among young women through peer education and support. The project aims also to reduce the number of youth without work in refugee camp communities through peer support network and art training. In addition, the projects sought to reduce the use of drugs and involvement in crime by providing training and leadership opportunities.
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.
UNHCR is a founding member of the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System and sits on its Steering Committee along with UNFPA, IRC, IMC and UNICEF. UNHCR is working to strengthen and harmonize data collection on SGBV by implementing the GBVIMS in selected operations. In 2015, UNHCR provided technical support in data collection and analysis to 22 countries.
In 2015, UNHCR conducted 6,995 awareness raising campaigns on SGBV prevention and response and 2,188 community-based committees/groups were working on SGBV prevention and response.
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.
UNHCR field operations collect data on sexual and gender-based violence incidents in collaboration with partners, according to UNHCR and interagency guidelines and principles. UNHCR analyzes data on SGBV in order to inform planning and program design and ensure services are accessible to all survivors. UNHCR operations documented an increase in the number of reported incidents of SGBV from 18,245 in 2014 to 26,632 in 2015. While the increase in reported cases does not necessarily represent an increase in SGBV incidents, it may be due to increased awareness and use of reporting mechanisms, as well as systematized data management of incidents reported to service providers.
UNHCR is a member of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies and contributed to the Call to Action’s five-year roadmap that reflects collective goals and focuses on the systemic changes that must be made in policy and practice to transform humanitarian response to SGBV. The Call to Action is a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to transform the way SGBV is addressed in emergencies, so that every humanitarian response provides safe and comprehensive services for those affected by SGBV and mitigates SGBV risk from the earliest phases of a crisis. UNHCR has made ten commitments aimed at changing UNHCR’s internal institutional policies, improving inter-agency systems, and implementing SGBV prevention and response programmes from the onset of emergencies.