Distribution by Region

Distribution by Organisation Type, Document Type, Region and Year

Gender-based violence occurs mostly in documents published in Europe, followed by North America, Africa, Asia and MENA with comparatively smaller contributions. Overall, the top five contributors in terms of occurrences are NGO, IGO, NGO_Fed, State and RE organisations.

NGO and NGO_Fed documents provide the greatest number of occurrences, primarily from activity reports published in Europe. Occurrences from IGO and State were mostly obtained from activity reports published in North America.

RE documents only generated occurrences in activity reports mostly published in Europe.

The actual term ‘GBV’ first entered widespread use following its inclusion in the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (UN DEVAW) of 1993. This described violence against women as gender-based violence, defining it as ‘any act of gender-based violence 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’. Thus, as a term GBV was originally adopted by the humanitarian community as a way to articulate the problem of violence against women and girls.

Gender Based Violence (GBV)

Gender-based Violence is an umbrella term for any harmful act against someone because they are female or because they are male.

Widely-affecting girls and women worldwide, gender-based violence can also affect men in some societies, where the social, religious and/or cultural roles and differences between men and women are strongly enforced and in some cases with violence.

Many – but not all – forms of GBV are illegal and criminal acts in national laws and policies.

Categorisation

• (violent) crime

• (domestic, physical, psychological, interpersonal) violence, exploitation

• (conflict-related, human rights) abuse

• (harmful, discriminatory) act, occurrence, traditional social/cultural practice

• (critical, key, hidden, overlooked, under-reported, longstanding, widespread, sensitive, gender and development, public health) concern, challenge, crisis, problem, issue, topic

• (gender, child protection, child rights, human rights, international humanitarian law contentious) issue, violation, infraction

• anti-women practice

• weapon of war

• (refugee, IDP) protection risk

• (global) epidemic

• (medical) emergency

• (HIV transmission) factor

• area (of reproductive healthcare, humanitarian themes)

• barrier (to ending poverty)

• feature, consequence, precursor, source (of conflict, humanitarian crises, emergencies, insecurity)

• fact of life, social norm

Gender-based violence, both physical or structural, is also prevalent in some of our schools – disproportionately limiting girls' access to education.

It is important to mention that gender violence may appear at any point within this range: as a form of "disorganized" violence (intra-family violence) or as a form of organized crime (human trafficking, sexual exploitation); hence the requirement for preventative measures and responses promulgated from the criminal justice system.

Although WASH interventions receive the highest proportion of humanitarian funding,3 key protection risks that lead to increased exposure to GBV and sexual violence in IDP camps and shelters are not being adequately addressed. Only 16% of respondents said that lighting to and from shower blocks in IDP camps and shelters was in place, and for latrines it was 21%. Provision of locks for latrines and showers is not the norm according to 60% and 78% of respondents respectively. Given that women and girls, particularly when menstruating, often use facilities after dark for more privacy and to avoid embarrassment, the lack of prioritisation of lighting and locks as part of these emergency services can greatly increase the risk of gender-based violence in unsafe humanitarian settings.

Protection: GBV-focused cluster responses The survey found that the participation of women in needs assessment teams varied considerably. For example, under the child protection cluster a third of respondents said that usually there were no women in their post-disaster assessment teams. According to respondents in the camp management cluster, more than half of assessment teams lack female representation, despite the fact that the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) protection standards stipulate that assessment teams should have equal numbers of men and women. The small number of women in needs assessment teams correlates strongly with high rates of gender-blind humanitarian response programmes. Male domination of the humanitarian sector is being tackled through interventions such as proactive female recruitment and investing in building the capacity of local staff, but the challenge remains.

Following a wide-ranging dialogue with women's organizations, human rights defenders, civil society organizations and UNDP partners and with the support of UNIOGBIS and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), a National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (2014-2017) was finalized in November and adopted on 23 December 2013. The Plan identifies three pillars to combat gender-based violence, namely prevention; promotion of an integrated system of victim support; and institutional and organizational capacity development. The approval of an effective and enforceable action plan against gender-based violence represents an important step for the eradication of GBV in Guinea-Bissau.

The combined application of national and international laws is needed to guarantee the physical security and mental integrity of men and women against such violence. 54. Ending gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies requires efforts that prevent and deter its use in settings of war and displacement, mitigate the collateral effects within communities and provide appropriate support to survivors. Prevention activities include ensuring that physical protection measures are in place and enforced. Such measures may include police training, community implementation of safe food distribution, camp management and fuel collection strategies and public awareness campaigns.

In the Insiza district of Zimbabwe, Diakonia's partner organizations are fighting against gender-based violence. They are training young and adult women in identifying and challenging harmful religious and traditional customs such as virginity tests, child marriage and forcing widows to marry the brothers of their deceased husbands. After the training, many decide to become advisers in their home villages, which means that women who have survived assault can now get help where they live. The partner organization also works with police, authorities and traditional and religious leaders to ensure that they take responsibility. They lead men's groups that discuss topics such as the causes of gender-based violence. Involving men and local leaders has led to increased support for survivors and to gender-based violence being condemned. Acceptance of violence is declining, and more cases of gender-based violence are reaching the courts now that women feel more secure in reporting these crimes without fear of reprisals or being stigmatised.

The chart below represents the distribution of Gender-based violence between 2005 and 2019 in terms of the number of occurrences and relative frequency of occurrences. It also allows you to view the distribution across Regions, Organisations and Document types.

Primary concerns in GBV interventions

• confusion about the definition of GBV and implementing strategies

  • value/risk of including men and boys in the definition of GBV

• lack of evidence (monitoring) and its distribution among humanitarian actors

• how to measure success

  • measuring prevention

  • quantitative (incidence rates) vs. qualitative (changing attitudes)

  • by type of gender-based violence and type of crisis

  • independent evaluations

• culture-appropriate interventions and programming

• increasing organisational capacity

• how WASH and food security impact vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence; integrating these efforts

For many humanitarian agencies and practitioners, gender-based violence remains synonymous with violence against women and girls. This paradigm is, however, shifting. There are now calls for GBV prevention and response in humanitarian settings to focus on a wider range of gendered and sexualised violence, such as sexual violence directed at men in conflict, and violence against gay, lesbian, transgendered and intersex people. Some child protection actors argue that forced recruitment of boys into fighting forces is a form of gender-based violence.

The idea that men and boys can simply be added to policies, documents and frameworks that aim to address violence against women is simplistic and problematic. It does not help build knowledge or understanding of the causes and consequences of sexualised and gendered violence against men and boys in conflict and disaster-affected settings, nor does it contribute to the development of good practice in responding to violence, which requires evidence-based and theory-driven frameworks.

As articulated in the 2005 IASC GBV Guidelines, humanitarian actors should not wait until data is generated to undertake basic protection against GBV; the assumption should instead be that GBV is occurring regardless of the availability of evidence. By not instituting basic protection, humanitarian actors may be inadvertently causing harm. The responsibility for addressing GBV is central to the humanitarian responsibility to promote and protect the rights of everyone affected by conflicts and natural disasters; accountability to the recommendations within the revised GBV Guidelines is a critical step in this process.

The rights, needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls are sometimes overlooked in emergencies, when many humanitarian actors are focused on reaching a large number of people in the shortest period of time. There is a great need to recognize that gender-based violence can, and very often does, occur in these situations and to build survivor-centred response services. and case management, using a confidential, survivor-centred, and comprehensive approach.

Underestimating sexual and gender-based violence prevalence in disaster settings. While the risk and impact of SGBV is increasingly understood in conflict settings, its pervasiveness in disasters caused by natural hazards is less well appreciated. Yet the same factors that contribute to an underestimation of the number of incidents also apply – including under-reporting due to stigma and shame, displacement, a collapse of social networks, and disruption of reporting and law enforcement systems. However, a study by the IFRC on SGBV in disasters concluded that, "Those responding to disasters are not aware that GBV may increase in disasters, and are neither looking nor preparing for it" (IFRC, 2015e, p.8). This lack of awareness means that basic measures to prevent further incidents of SGBV, and efforts to provide protection, assistance and services to survivors, are not adequately prioritized and implemented in disaster settings. More evidence of how SGBV affects people in disaster settings and the adequacy or otherwise of humanitarian response can begin to highlight the need for a recalibrated response.

In addition, violence against women and other forms of discrimination may result in 'extended risk' for some women. Yet these barriers to equality and the advancement of women are not always acknowledged in emergency situations. Power imbalance, the abuse of power by some and the exclusion of women in planning and implementing programmes and services contribute to ongoing manifestations of discrimination (see Box 5.3). Overcrowded camps and shelters and inadequate humanitarian relief also contribute to extending the risks of sexual violence for women and children. Documenting and researching gender-based violence is extremely sensitive and can be dangerous, even life-threatening, to interviewees and participants (generally these are community members, including survivors of violence against women), communities and those involved in collecting the information. The ethical and safety issues are difficult to manage in emergency settings, particularly in the early phases. At the same time, it is also important to note that the principles of equality and nondiscrimination are not always included as part of an overarching framework for understanding and documenting violence against women in emergency situations.

Misconceptions exist that gender-based violence is a women's issue only. Remarkable changes can be achieved if both women and men are motivated and skilled to take action in own lives and in their communities. Religious leaders can play an important role when involved in dialogue about the role of religion. Short-term plans are often too ambitious for change in deeply rooted social norms and practices, which require step-by-step approaches. Community conversations, dialogues and Behaviour Change Communication represent such approaches. Providing baseline data on various forms and prevalence of gender-based violence, and connecting them with legal instruments condemning gender-based violence, is needed for good programming. The strong lack of trust in law enforcement bodies is a concern, as impunity towards perpetrators continues and limits justice, safety and services available to survivors

Too often, GBV is not recognized for what it is: a form of violent extremism. While other forms of violent extremism are covered prolifically in the media and the programs to combat them are funded with huge portions of national budgets, this form gets far too little attention and funding, hence the awareness campaign.