Browse by Theme: Gender Based Violence

Co-authored by Ros MacVean, Safeguarding Coordinator, CARE International, and Howard Mollett, Senior Policy Advisor, CARE International UK: Today’s Summit on Safeguarding provides an important moment for international donors, UN agencies and humanitarian agencies working on the ground to outline their commitments on how to better protect both staff and members of the communities we aim to support from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

This week marks the one year anniversary of #MeToo, and the subsequent #AidToo movement. This transformed the global conversation, and put this critical issue high on the public agenda. I for one hope it stays there until we as a society and we as an industry overcome the power imbalances and gender inequality that underpin sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

‘Rape against women and girls is common during the crisis. This is done by both soldiers and civilians.’ This quote comes from just one of the many women who have endured sexual violence in South Sudan – and in my role as Gender and Protection Co-ordinator at CARE South Sudan, I see thousands of women like this.

More than one in three women worldwide (35%) experiences physical or sexual violence in her lifetime; in some countries, the prevalence is as high as 70%. Gender based violence (GBV) is one of the most widespread and damaging violations of human rights in the world, but we’re starting to see some real progress in our efforts to promote a right to a “Life free from violence”.

As the Brussels II Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region gets underway, CARE International is partnering with UN Women, UNFPA, WILPF, Kvinna Til Kvinna, Oxfam and the Swedish government to host an event for Syrian women to share their priorities with ministers and senior officials. This blog outlines three suggestions from CARE to strengthen efforts to address gender and women’s rights in the Syrian crisis response.

On Friday, CARE International UK submitted a response to UK Parliament’s International Development Committee’s Inquiry into sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently published its ‘Yellow Report’ on the input from states, employers, unions and civil society to the proposed new Convention on ending violence and harassment in the world of work. The Yellow Report’s wide-ranging provisions are welcome – but there are key areas that still need to be addressed in the lead up to, and during, the 2018 International Labour Conference (ILC) in May/June in Geneva.