Why is it important to address gender-based violence?

While gender-based violence often takes place in the private sphere, it has an indirect but dramatic impact on a country's health care system, and places a severe burden on the national workforce. According to several studies cited by the World Health Organization, women who have been victims of physical or sexual violence use health care services more often than those who have not, and that rape and other violent assault is the “strongest predictor of health care use than any other variable.” A national survey of violence against women in Canada revealed that nearly a third of battered wives were unable to continue regular activities due to the severity of the abuse, and half of abused women took sick days from work. In Nicaragua , women who were victims of abuse earned 46% less than those who were not. Gender-based violence disempowers and disables women, and drives health care costs up. The importance of addressing gender-based violence is therefore not only related to the physical and psychological well-being of women and girls, but to the economic and social welfare of any given community and nation.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to protect and assist refugees. In a manifestation of this mandate, in the early 1990's, UNHCR and its NGO partner organizations began addressing violence against women and children. In 1995, the first UNHCR guidelines for gender-based violence (GBV) were published. These guidelines were revised in 2001 and again in 2003 in order to incorporate the lessons learned from several years of implementing GBV programs. These most recently revised guidelines, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and Response, provide GBV program guidance and explain GBV-related expectations for the humanitarian community.

What is gender-based violence?

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) offers a comprehensive and widely accepted definition of what constitutes gender-based violence:

Any act… that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

The Declaration further specifies what kinds of abusive acts fall under the category of gender-based violence, while also acknowledging that GBV is not limited to these acts:

(a) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;

(b) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;

(c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.

GBV is a significant and complex public health problem the world over, and effective and appropriate systems for preventing and responding to GBV are rarely well established. Refugees, and especially the women and children who comprise the majority, are at great risk of violence, exploitation and abuse that too often result from armed conflict, displacement, deterioration of social, familial and community networks and loss of financial and material support. Women and girls in many parts of the world are also forced to undergo female genital mutilation at a very young age, as well as being subjected to domestic violence, the most widespread form of violence against women, each and every day.

What are the essential components of gender-based violence assistance and prevention programs?

Model GBV programs, as recommended by UNHCR and GBV experts, comprise three main components: (1) prevention, (2) response or survivor assistance and (3) coordination of efforts to prevent and respond to GBV. A coordinated, multi-sectoral approach to preventing and responding to GBV requires ongoing and dedicated teamwork that relies on well-developed referral and reporting systems. These systems, in turn, depend on effective collaboration between various agencies, local organizations, the conflicted-affected (especially women), and all other concerned parties. In addition, all humanitarian workers are expected to carry out the work of protecting and assisting refugees and other conflict-affected groups by upholding human rights principles, and to do so according to a Code of Conduct that emphasizes high standards of professionalism and ethics.

Facts about Gender-based Violence

•  In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, which “calls upon all parties to armed conflict to take specific measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and sexual violence”. Source: Ward J and B Vann, “Gender-based violence in refugee settings,” The Lancet Supplement, Vol. 360, pgs 13-14, December 2002.

•  Interpersonal violence was the 10th leading cause of death for women 15-44 years of age in 1998. Source: Violence Against Women, WHO Fact Sheet 239, June 2000.

•  Most incidents of sexual violence remain unreported for reasons including shame, social stigma, and fear of reprisals. Source: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons; Guidelines for Prevention and Response, UNHCR. May 2003.