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The revised version of the Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (No. 205) was adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2017. In its Article 15, the Recommendation establishes that “In responding to discrimination arising from or exacerbated by conflicts or disasters and when taking measures for promoting peace, preventing crises, enabling recovery and building resilience, Members should…prevent and punish all forms of gender-based violence, including rape, sexual exploitation and harassment, and protect and support victims”
View MoreThe revised version of the Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (No. 205) was adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2017.
In its Article 15, the Recommendation establishes that “In responding to discrimination arising from or exacerbated by conflicts or disasters and when taking measures for promoting peace, preventing crises, enabling recovery and building resilience, Members should…prevent and punish all forms of gender-based violence, including rape, sexual exploitation and harassment, and protect and support victims”
In 2015, as a follow-up to OCHA’s “Keep Her Safe” commitments, the CERF secretariat incorporated a dedicated self-assessment indicator on whether sexual and gender-based violence has been considered and/or mainstreamed in project design. This data is recorded in the CERF’s Grant Management System Database for tracking and analysis purpose. This marker helps CERF determine the amount of money that goes to GBV-related issues.
As the Global CCCM Cluster lead agency for natural disasters, and in line with the objectives of the global Call to Action, IOM is working to ensure that proper prevention and mitigation measures are in place to reduce the likelihood of GBV taking place in camps and camp-like settings in crises . At the global level, IOM continues to mainstream GBV prevention and mitigation through a range of activities, including the deployment of RRAs. In 2017, IOM deployed RRA to 15 emergency operations to support the GBV mainstreaming activities in humanitarian crisis. RRAs ensured the integration of GBV considerations into programmatic and cluster responses. RRAs have also looked at longer term capacities to pursue efforts in-country, encouraging the appointment of GBV focal points in emergency response teams, and supporting the recruitment of dedicated staff to coordinate GBV mainstreaming activities in countries facing high GBV risks - including in Nigeria, South-Sudan and Bangladesh. IOM also undertook safety mapping and audits in conflict settings to help identify and address immediate GBV risks in conflict settings. The organization adopted programmes based on these findings, for example, it designed and implemented a project for the provision of fuel efficient stoves in South Sudan.
IOM also works to fight impunity, facilitate access to justice and promote accountability. IOM advocates the inclusion of sexual crimes committed against women and girls during conflicts into large-scale victims’ reparations programmes and policies. The organization is currently expanding support on access to care and justice for conflict-related sexual violence survivors in Sri Lanka and Central African Republic.
1. The ILO report “Care work and care jobs for the future of work” gathers diverse data on the presence of violence and harassment in care work and acknowledges that, “on occasion, care workers experience violence and harassment” and that “health-care workers report some of the highest levels of violence compared to other industries or sectors”. See: ILO. 2018. Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work (Geneva).
2. A national questionnaire and a paper was developed in Egypt in early 2018 to better understand the dimension of violence at work. The paper is under finalization.
In Mali, OHCHR training military and government officials in relation to the prevention of CRSV by Malian actors. In 2017, 446 security officials, 132 members of the civil society organizations and 89 officials of the governmental institutions were trained to address and prevent CRSV.
In Ukraine, OHCHR documented and reported instances of CRSV, affecting women and men, both in the territory controlled by armed groups, and in Government-controlled territory. Following the release of the report in February 2017, OHCHR in Ukraine participated in 15 events to present the key findings of the report and recommendations. Overall approximately 495 people participated in these events at national and local levels from various groups – civil society, State institutions, international community. The report was instrumental to get the Government commitment to work towards addressing CRSV. OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop the Strategy to prevent and address CRSV. In 2018, OHCHR and UN Women will continue joint work to integrate the developed Strategy to prevent and address CRSV into 1325 National Action Plan.
OHCHR-Guatemala provided technical assistance and closely followed up on key transitional justice cases in the country related to sexual violence committed during the armed conflict. This includes the Sepur Zarco case, in which two ex-military officials were found guilty (affirmed on appeal in July 2017), of crimes against humanity in the form of sexual violence and slavery against Q’eqchi’ women during the armed conflict and the ongoing Molina Theissen case, which involves the alleged 1981 rape of Emma Molina Theissen and the disappearance of her 14-year-old brother.
UN Women undertakes several measures to address sexual violence in conflict situations related to the UN Women workforce such as:
- Message of prohibition of sexual misconduct and SEA and importance of reporting repeatedly communicated by ED.
- Since February 2017, UN Women has provided training to personnel in over 20 field offices and HQ sections.
- Launch of UN Women’s initiative “Take a Stand” in 2016, which provides guidance not only on how to report cases but also on services available to the affected staff member – from telecommuting, to salary advances, to advanced leave requests, and assisting in facilitating their access to safe and secure spaces.
- Established a network of focal points on SEA in headquarters and its Regional Offices from whom staff can request guidance on reporting allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Ensuring that where there are ANY allegations of SEA or other sexual misconduct committed by UN Women personnel or partners, they are promptly referred for investigation.
- Ensuring that alleged victims are referred to the appropriate service providers for protection, medical care and support.
- Collaborating with the Secretary-General’s Victims’ Rights Advocate Ms. Jane Connors on sexual exploitation and abuse and victims’ assistance.
A project implemented by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) with funding from the UN Trust Fund in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya is working to address gaps in the medical-legal process in order to improve responses to sexual violence against women and girls. The programme has been actively engaged in the two countries, both of which have endured widespread, conflict-related sexual violence and were being investigated for mass crimes by the International Criminal Court.
In December 2017, the Kavumu Case was concluded with the conviction of 11 men for crimes against humanity for the rape of 37 toddlers and young girls over a three-year period in the village of Kavumu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This was a landmark case because a sitting government official was stripped of his immunity and was found guilty for crimes that he and his armed militia committed and because it was the first time that survivors/witnesses were afforded innovative means of protection in court in the country. PHR helped to coordinate the investigation and provided technical assistance to clinicians and police investigators that led to the arrests of militia members.
Gender analysis is at the core of OCHA’s central strategic planning and field-focused operational planning. The IASC Gender Marker, introduced in 2010, also guides OCHA-managed funding and financing. OCHA’s Country Offices has also played a key role in further mainstreaming gender in the Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNOs) and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs). In 2017, in 25% of HRPs gender analysis fully defined how HRP implementation took into account distinct needs/risks related to gender, and in 70% of HRPs gender analysis partially informed implementation.
In 2017, out of the 397 projects funded by CERF, 280 (71%) had a Gender Marker 2a indicating strong gender mainstreaming. A total of 77 (19%) had a 2b indicating a targeted gender action and 22 projects (6%) had a Gender Marker 1, meaning limited gender consideration. Eighteen (18 or 4%) were marked “Non- Applicable” as they dealt with the provision of common services to humanitarian partners (air operations, logistics, emergency telecommunications, safety and security), and none (0) were marked 0 which means that all CERF-funded projects for 2017 considered gender to an extent or another in their design. Gender Based Violence was the focus action of 27 projects (7%) of all the 397 projects funded by CERF in 2017, 234 projects (59%) had a GBV component, and 135 projects (34%) had no GBV related activity or component one (1) project was not marked for GBV.
All OCHA managed Country Based-Pooled Funds (CPBFs) apply the Gender Marker in all project proposals. In 2017, 79% of CPBFs projects were designed to contribute significantly to gender equality (76% in 2016), equivalent to $511 million. CBPFs provide the largest source of direct funding for local NGOs, including women’s organizations
In OCHA’s core digital assets – unocha.org, reliefweb.int and HDX – particular attention was given to highlighting how humanitarian crises impact women and children. For example, on ReliefWeb 1,835 documents were posted in 2017 on Gender-Based Violence and 1,288 Women, Peace and Security documents.
FAO facilitates the preparation of Country Gender Assessments for agriculture and food security, as part of the implementation of its Gender Equality Policy. During 2017 and 2018 several CGAs were finalized with GBV analysis forming a part of the assessment.
IOM’s efforts to improve the capacity to identify GBV risks continued, including through the use of the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). The DTM is a system that regularly captures, processes and disseminates multi-layered primary data and information on the mobility, locations, vulnerabilities and needs of displaced populations at national, regional and global levels, now contains protection and GBV risk indicators. In the aims of developing tools to facilitate the analysis and reporting of GBV risk-sensitive data collected through the DTM, DTM-GBV workshops have been organized. The DTM also made progress in standardizing data dictionaries including GBV-risk related data and standard operating procedures for collecting this type of data in its response. Furthermore, IOM decided to review its DTM data monitoring system to better capture its use by other clusters and agencies, including the Protection, Child Protection and GBV sectors. 36 DTM operations reported collecting gender sensitive and GBV-risk related data at the end of 2017.