Sexual and Gender Based Violence
© UNHCR/L. Dobbs
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) refers to any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships.
It encompasses threats of violence and coercion. It can be physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual in nature, and can take the form of a denial of resources or access to services. It inflicts harm on women, girls, men and boys.
SGBV is a violation of human rights. It denies the human dignity of the individual and hurts human development.
SGBV is largely rooted in individual attitudes that condone violence within the family, the community and the State. SGBV has been both a cause of forced displacement and a terrible consequence of the breakdown of family and community structures that accompanies displacement. It has also been perpetrated by some of the very people who have been entrusted with the task of protecting refugees and displaced persons.
As UNHCR, we are mandated to provide international protection to refugees. We, together with States, thus share the responsibility for ensuring that refugees are protected against sexual and gender-based violence.
UNHCR is committed to ending all forms of SGBV by working to prevent SGBV before it happens and responding to the needs of all survivors, who can be women and girls, as well as men and boys.
Through a multi-year strategy and initiatives such as Safe from the Start that bring together numerous sectors, UNHCR is working to reduce the risks of SGBV and to ensure support is available for survivors. We do this by working alongside displaced communities and with different partners across multiple sectors.
Documents and resources
- SGBV Prevention and Response - Training Package
- Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy
- Working with men and boy survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in forced displacement
- Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Guidelines for Prevention and Response
- Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action
- UNHCR Age, Gender and Diversity Accountability Report 2016
- Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies
- Mainstreaming capacity development overview 2018
- Cash assistance and the prevention, mitigation and response to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
- Promising practices: prevention, risk mitigation and response with practices from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Iraq.
- Turning learning into action: SGBV Mainstreaming Project Summary Overviews with studies from Turkey, Uganda, Egypt, Jordan and the DRC