30-31 July 2018: SAP, 10 Hudson Yards, New York, NY

The #MeToo movement has firmly put sexual harassment and assault on the policy agenda. A vital global conversation has been opened and the game-changing momentum, led by brave women, continues. A door has been opened for real change on sexual violence, in particular in the form it takes in workplaces. It has profound ramifications to progress work to end violence against women, as required by the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Executive Director of UN Women has created a new post of Executive Coordinator and Spokesperson on Sexual Harassment and Discrimination (held by Purna Sen) to ensure that women’s experiences are placed at the heart of work to address sexual harassment; survivor-focused approaches must be at the core of this work. UN Women is holding this Feminist Think Space to hear from experts and victims on promising practices, policies and measures for preventing and addressing sexual harassment. These will inform our policy and advocacy work, including in a forthcoming publication.

The UN Secretary-General set up a task force to address sexual harassment in the UN system. UN Women sits on the task force and is a co-chair of the work to develop model policy in this regard. UN Women will take the opportunity of gathering experts for this Feminist Think Space to share knowledge on positive developments and seek feedback on work underway at the UN.

Objectives

1. Gather expert input on promising policies and practices to address and prevent sexual harassment and assault

2. Inform UN Women’s ongoing work on sexual harassment and related violence

3. Consider how to bring this reflection into UN Women’s work, including the deliberations of UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) task force on sexual harassment

The workshop aims to ensure:

• voices from different sectors bring their expertise to bear on UN Women’s work on sexual harassment
• experts’ and staff expectations regarding changes within the UN are known and become a reference point for UN Women

Desired outcomes:

• Recommendations for UN Women’s advocacy and policy work, including advocacy for including a CEDAW general recommendation on sexual harassment and input to UN Women’s engagement with the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) task force on sexual harassment
• Contribute to a UN Women publication on sexual harassment and assault
• Any other recommendations

Resources

1. Q&A: UN Women's first spokesperson on sexual harassment talks necessary changes at UN
2. U.N. Cases Read Like ‘Manual in How Not to Investigate’ Sexual Assault
3. UN Feminist Network’s Feminist Agenda for the new Secretary-General
4. Statement from Purna Sen on Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Discrimination
5. UN Women Safe Cities report
6. UN Glossary on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: Thematic glossary of current terminology related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) in the context of the United Nations
7. Note to Correspondents on the recent Chief Executives Board's Session (4 May 2018)
8. CEB Task Force on addressing sexual harassment in the organizations of the UN System
9. Elizabeth Broderick presentation
10. List of UN acronyms