Key Issues

Roles and Responsibilities

To prevent and respond to GBV in the earliest stages of an emergency, a minimum set of coordinated activities need to be undertaken quickly and in collaboration with all partners; community groups including women, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), national authorities, UN agencies and the displaced and host community. Key areas of intervention include:

• ensure that the needs of all vulnerable groups are considered in the assessments
• establishment of safe and appropriate structures and mechanisms for reporting and accessing lifesaving services, especially of referral pathways. Any of these responses should first seek to strengthen and support existing services and structures where they exist
• provision of health care, psychological and social support, and security services in the first responses. Medium term measures should also include the provision of legal aid and redress
• raising awareness in the community on how to support survivors to access services, and how to play a role in mitigating risks.

Lead United Nations GBV coordination actors, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), or other relevant authorities, should set up GBV coordination and work with specialised NGOs and the community to establish multisectoral and inter-agency responses. The Camp Management Agency needs to collaborate with these agencies, which have substantial field practice in dealing with GBV.

☞ For more information on GBV coordination mechanism, see the Handbook for Coordinating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings in the References section.

Within the camp setting, the Camp Management Agency has roles and responsibilities in both the prevention and mitigation of GBV. Key activities for the Camp Management Agency related to both of these are explained on the following pages.

Reducing Risks of GBV

Assessments and Monitoring Risks

GBV assessments, carried out by specialised GBV experts, seek to identify and improve understanding of violence against women and girls, protective and risk factors for violence, and available services. When not carefully planned and carried out in line with international guidelines, however, GBV assessments can also put women, girls, communities and humanitarian staff at great risk.

The Camp Management Agency should not seek to carry out specific GBV information gathering unless working in collaboration with a specialised GBV partner, including through the GBV Working Group and with well-trained staff. However, the Camp Management Agency can and should play a lead role in identifying and monitoring risks to women and girls in the camp environment. This can be done through regular and frequent observation of service delivery points, camp perimeters, communal latrines and showers, collective centres, security checkpoints, and other areas. The Camp Management Agency should also monitor and report on the existence or lack of medical, psychosocial or legal services available to survivors, their accessibility and quality.

The Camp Management Agency plays other key roles related to assessments and GBV, these include:

• advocate for all assessments undertaken in the camp to be participatory and include women, girls, boys and men of different age and background
• ensure that assessments are well informed and are undertaken in a safe and ethical way
• incorporate safety audit results and analysis into camp specific security strategies such as provision of appropriate lighting, patrols of fuel wood and water collection routes and monitoring of school routes
• be on the look-out for information relating to community practices that might contribute to secondary (psychological) or tertiary (loss of opportunities such as income) trauma for GBV survivors, or which might dissuade them from seeking health and psychosocial support
• share information with the GBV and protection coordination leads in a systematic manner, such as through weekly coordination meetings while always respecting the confidentiality and survivor-centered approach
• work with teams carrying out community awareness and prevention activities to ensure they understand, and can provide information on where survivors of GBV can go for help
• monitor the availability of Information Communication and Education (ICE) culture-gender-and-age appropriate material throughout the camp and request packages if not available
• ensure existence of confidential reporting procedures where camp residents who experience GBV before arrival in the camp receive appropriate support, care and treatment.

Community Participation

To fully address the safety and security concerns of women and girls, they themselves must participate in planning camp activities. Programmes that are not planned in consultation with women and girls, nor implemented with their participation, often increase the risks they face. The Camp Management Agency should ensure that camp committees and other decision-making bodies have equal participation from both women and men, and that women have a safe space for meaningful participation. Engagement with men and boys as part of any prevention intervention is critical. Other internal measures that improve protection include:

• employ and train female camp management staff
• promote the employment of female staff by other agencies
• ensure all staff working in the camp are clearly identified by a uniform or name tag. Job functions can be provided in writing to the community so that followup can be facilitated in the case of complaints
• ensure all camp staff have received training on gender and GBV.

Protection Systems

Survivors of GBV have multiple needs and coordination amongst service providers is crucial to meeting those needs. The Camp Management Agency cooperates with responsible GBV and protection organisations, including national authorities where relevant, in the establishment of a coordinated, confidential and appropriate referral and reporting mechanism for survivors of GBV in the camp.

Agencies responsible for providing health, case management, psychosocial, legal, safety and other services for survivors should be involved in the mapping of services and establishment of the referral system. All agencies within the referral system must agree upon guidelines to maintain confidentiality and informed consent for survivors, and to agree upon mechanisms for referrals, documentation information-sharing and regular coordination. The GBV coordinating agency is responsible for ensuring the referral system functions. This means establishing and supporting links between service providers, scheduling regular meetings to discuss any problems with the system, and developing and updating referral forms and a directory of locally available service providers.

The Camp Management Agency needs to know what is the referral system for survivors of GBV, and improve it in line with international guidelines, where it is inadequate. Where national systems are not functioning, it may be possible to have women’s groups, after appropriate capacity-building, serve as focal points for the referral system. The Camp Management Agency can play a role in considering what option best fits the specific community and context, and ensuring that appropriate measures are taken for each particular displacement setting.

GBV-sensitive Shelter and Site Planning

Provision of appropriate and safe shelter is one means of strengthening protection. Many cases of GBV can be prevented if there is safe planning of sites where displaced populations live, and if shelters are safe and meet internationally agreed-upon standards.

The Camp Management Agency should ensure that there is strong coordination among organisations and active involvement of communities, especially women, in decision-making to ensure security-focused, gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate shelter arrangements. Camp layout should also strive to promote a sense of community and reinforce community-based protection measures, while preserving privacy, safety and security of individuals and the family unit. Other key roles the Camp Management Agency plays related to shelter and site planning include:

• Ensure that the physical layout of the camp, including the placement of latrines and other communal facilities, is done with the involvement of the community including women and girls specifically, thus mimising the risk of GBV.
• Ensure that in cases where collective centres are the only options appropriate divisions between gender and families are established. Ensure sufficient space and privacy, including, when possible, door locks. Take specific protection measures for female headed households.
• Ensure areas used by children are safe and can be monitored by the community.
• Check that the shelter solution provided is the right one in the cultural context, considering that, for example, in certain contexts it will not be culturally acceptable to place single or widowed women together on their own.
• Make arrangements for appropriate alternative sources, such as solar energy for lighting in communal areas, especially latrines and showers, and for individual use, for example torches, lamps for families, with due consideration for security issues.
• Introduce alternative fuel arrangements based on the community’s assessment of the best alternatives including fuel-efficient stoves.
• Establish women-friendly meeting spaces where women can share and access information on a variety of issues, including sexual and reproductive health and other specialised services.

☞ For more information on site planning see Chapter 7, Camp Set-Up and Closure.

Distributions and Services

In many cases, humanitarian agencies can improve women’s and girls’ immediate safety and security by providing assistance to meet their basic needs. Distributing entitlement cards or vouchers, plastic sheeting, food and other humanitarian materials through female heads of households, may help ensure that women and girls have access to aid.

This approach, however, may also unintentionally increase violence against women and girls, because their engagement and participation may be challenging traditional gender and social roles. It is essential that the Camp Management Agency analyse and monitor what distribution approaches will best ensure equitable access to resources while at the same time minimise risks. Other key roles for the Camp Management Agency related to distributions and meeting basic needs include:

• advocate with distribution partners to ensure that decisions on the distribution of food and non-food items are done with the direct participation of the camp community, and particularly with women of diverse backgrounds and ages
• promote interventions designed to address risks associated with fuel collection and other activities that involve movement in insecure or volatile areas. This may include the promotion of fuel alternatives, firewood patrols or similar interventions
• promote food security and livelihood strategies, particularly for those who are most at risk of abuse, exploitation and rejection. These activities also help to reduce competition for scarce resources and intra-community and household tension or violence
• advocate for the regular and ongoing distribution of hygiene or dignity kits to women of reproductive age to meet sanitary needs, help restore dignity and promote basic hygiene and health. These kits typically contain sanitary materials, soap, a bathing bucket and clean underwear. Access to these materials also allows women and girls to resume daily activities outside the home, such as collecting water and food or attending school.

Raising Community Awareness

A lack of understanding of what constitutes GBV, its prevalence, social attitudes and a lack of legal structures to address GBV, often makes it difficult to discuss openly. Therefore, more awareness raising activities are needed to support community members to identify and understand GBV, and commit to its prevention. These efforts should specifically target engaging men and boys and be coordinated/designed in close collaboration with GBV expertise to ensure appropriate messaging, and addresses safety considerations in particular during the initial emergency response. The camp population should also be informed about the existing complaint mechanisms and specifically who is entitled to what service in which circumstances. Key roles for the Camp Management Agency in raising community awareness include:

• work with the GBV working group, GBV actors and agencies within the GBV referral pathway to identify appropriate means of sharing information about GBV services with communities. This may include community outreach/ awareness activities, posters at health centres or camp information points, radio spots, or stories, theatre plays and ICE materials
• ensure that staff and volunteers working with the Camp Management Agency are aware of GBV referral pathways and GBV guiding principles and are able to communicate this information in a way that respects confidentiality and the survivor approach
• work with GBV actors to share the GBV referral pathway and community outreach messages with other sectors and actors, and to provide guidance for their teams working within the camp community.

☞ For more information on GBV pathway, please see UNFPA, UNHCR, IRC, Gender-Based Violence Information Management System in the Tools section.

Safety and Security

There are many different personnel involved in providing security for camp populations and camp property, such as the police, camp security personnel, community security groups, or military personnel. All of the personnel involved in security measures have a crucial role in protecting GBV victims. They need to be known to the camp population and have clearly delineated responsibilities. All security groups, particularly those assisting survivors of GBV, must uphold human rights in their work and should be trained on prevention of GBV and women’s rights. These groups also play an important role in prevention activities by assessing security risks and communicating issues they become aware of through their surveillance.

In some emergency settings, displaced populations may establish camp security groups or community watch teams. These groups must recognise that they are not a military or police force, and care should be taken to ensure that they do not assume the responsibilities of security or military personnel, such as levying fines or punishments.

In any case, the Camp Management Agency should carefully consider the role of security forces. In some cases, increased patrols by peacekeeping forces may decrease general lawlessness and improve communities’ sense of security, while in other settings an increase of peacekeepers may augment the presence of other armed actors or increase the militarisation of the camps.

In many contexts, the security forces are not the main interlocutor who survivors will turn to. Sometimes they do not have the necessary training or personnel to deal with cases. In these contexts the Camp Management Agency should advocate to enhance the capacity of the security forces on this regard and, in coordination with GBV lead agency, plead in favor of alternative response mechanisms. Other key roles for the Camp Management Agency plays related to safety and security include:

• ensure that woman are informed and are involved in camp security measures and are represented within camp security groups or community watch teams
• advocate for women's support networks which may act when someone is in danger
• advocate for community policing, monitoring and for security structures to take into consideration high-risk areas, and specific risks faced by women and men of different age groups and backgrounds
• liaise with national/host authorities to encourage them to participate and take an active interest in the host community’s welfare. Wherever possible, promote joint benefits from doing so
• advocate for adequate numbers of properly GBV-trained police and security personnel and promote gender parity among all security staff.

Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

The Bulletin issued by the UN Secretary-General in 2003, (Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse) applies to all UN staff including UN peacekeeping forces conducting operations under UN command and control, as well as NGOs under contract to the UN. All staff members and persons working on behalf of the camp residents should be trained on and sign codes of conduct.

Experience in several camps has demonstrated that measures taken that allow displaced populations to more safely and appropriately report GBV committed by security forces include mandatory training for police officers on GBV and sexual exploitation issues, mandatory wearing of name tags for easy identification and establishment of a photo registry of all camp based personnel. The engagement of female officers has enhanced police effectiveness on issues related to GBV. Other key roles for the Camp Management Agency related to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse include:

• ensure that all camp management staff are trained on international codes of conduct. This should include Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) training and awareness for all staff, focusing on those in direct contact with the camp population
• inform camp population about existing complaint mechanism and how it can be used
• work with the UN and inter-agency PSEA focal point and others to ensure the establishment of a confidential complaint mechanism and a clear protocol for investigating reported abuses
• designate and train a PSEA focal point within the camp management agency
• ensure that individuals who report sexual exploitation or abuse are referred to GBV service providers for further follow-up and support.

Response to GBV

Camp residents who have experienced gender-based violence may approach the Camp Management Agency to seek help and referral to medical or legal services. Camp Management staff must be prepared to handle reports of GBV in a manner that prioritises confidentiality, respect, non-discrimination and the dignity of the survivor.

While it is the responsibility of specialised service providers and GBV actors to ensure appropriate response services for survivors of GBV, the camp management personnel should facilitate the referral to appropriate services to respond to the needs of a survivor. Where no GBV actors or coordination mechanism exist, the Camp Management Agency should advocate for their presence while at the same time work with health- and psychosocial actors to ensure that minimum health services are available, and continuing to focus on risk reduction through the work of other humanitarian sectors and actors.

The following key areas of GBV response concern the main responsibilities of GBV actors. For each of these areas of work, the Camp Management Agency advocates, shares information and supports GBV specialised agencies:

Health

Health services must be equipped to respond to GBV by ensuring availability and delivery of post-exposure prophylaxis (in response to HIV exposure), STI treatment, emergency contraception, and hepatitis and tetanus vaccination. This also requires that health staff is trained in the clinical management of rape. All staff working within health clinics, medical and non-medical, should be trained on GBV guiding principles and know the local referral system for survivors.

Case Management

GBV actors should seek to establish basic, emergency case management services at the outset of an emergency. This means having trained caseworkers available to offer survivors crisis counselling, information on where and how to access other available services, support in accessing those services where necessary, and follow up ensuring that survivors obtain the care they need. In some contexts, it may be most appropriate to have GBV caseworkers located near health- or registration/transit facilities, to ensure safe and easy access for women and girls. In other contexts, these services may be provided through a dedicated safe space or women’s centre, or other service provision point.

Psychosocial

GBV actors should put in contextually appropriate psychosocial support mechanisms. The approach to psychosocial care must be determined in consultation with local communities, and can take a variety of forms. This may include individual counselling delivered through the case management process, group-based activities through safe spaces or women’s centres, activities led by local women’s groups, skills and knowledge-building activities, or other locally appropriate approaches.

☞ For more information on how to provide psychological first aid, see see WHO's Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers, in the References section.

Legal

Where safe, functioning legal aid services exist, some survivors may elect to pursue access to justice. This can play an important role in healing and empowerment. It is important to remember, however, that if resources are limited, allocating them to legal services is not appropriate if adequate health, case management and psychosocial care are not yet available. These lifesaving services must be prioritised. They also lay the groundwork for improved access to justice later, as specialised response staff can provide women with accurate and realistic information about existing services and support and the likely outcomes of legal action to help them make informed decisions about the options before them.

It is often not feasible to link women with justice actors such as the police and courts early in humanitarian response, in part because justice systems and structures may have disintegrated as a result of the emergency. This may be particularly true in a camp setting. In cases where access to justice efforts do exist, protection and GBV agencies may work together to build the capacity of formal and informal justice actors to enable them to appropriately carry out their responsibilities. In any circumstances it is important to respect the survivor’s decision whether or not she/he wants to pursued a legal recourse.