Guidelines on Gender-Based Violence Interventions

Dear friends and colleagues, It is our pleasure to present the Guidelines for Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings which have been newly issued by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task force on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance. These guidelines represent joint efforts of all its members and standing invitees namely: FAO, ICRC, ICVA, IFRC, InterAction, IOM, OCHA, OHCHR, SCHR, UNICEF, UNDP, UNIFEM, UNHCR, UNFPA, WFP, WHO. UNFPA coordinated the process of developing and publishing the guidelines on behalf of the Task Force. These Guidelines have been developed to respond to the growing need for effective activities to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in crises. The purpose of these Guidelines is to enable communities, governments and cooperating agencies, including UN Agencies and NGOs, to coordinate the minimum required multi-sectoral response to Sexual Violence during the early phase of a crisis. We hope this publication will assist organisations in the field to provide a multi-sectoral and coordinated response to the increasing challenge created by Gender-Based Violence in emergencies. We will rely on all the Task Force members to disseminate the guidelines to their partners on the field. These Guidelines are a living document that will be updated through field-testing and inputs from partners. It is our wish that the Guidelines will aid advocacy efforts aimed at preventing Gender-Based Violence in humanitarian situations and bring people affected by GBV appropriate support. Yours sincerely Jan Egeland Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs