Gender-based violence
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 "Violence against women is so widespread in different societies - in all our societies - that one is sometimes left with a sense of helplessness as to where to begin to act. But we must act and we must with a sense or urgency in both the private and public spheres."
Jan Egeland
(former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator)
From Foreword of "Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: Violence against women exposed", an IRIN-OCHA photo book
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Gender-based violence is a growing global phenomenon. Worldwide, one-third of women have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused. Women and children are most vulnerable to violent acts of all kinds, especially in times of war and conflict. A particularly vulnerable category is represented by refugees, numbering about 1.2 million. As a consequence, the number of children and women being abused in refugee camps is increasing dramatically.
But gender-based violence is not limited to women and children. OCHA is committed to working towards the goal of gender equality as pervasive gender inequalities undermine the ability of all individuals – men, women, boys and girls -- to exercise their rights and be active partners in emergency response, rehabilitation and development. OCHA recognizes the work of other humanitarian actors in the field of gender equality and has outlined its own policy on gender equality taking into account the expertise, policy commitments and responsibilities of these actors in this area.
In the context of humanitarian assistance, an important aspect of gender-based violence is sexual exploitation and abuse perpetuated by personnel working for, or affiliated with the United Nations and its partners, including both civilian staff and uniformed peacekeeping personnel. Sexual exploitation includes trafficking, prostitution and pornography. However, exploitation taking place particularly in refugee camps has received much public attention, most recently in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster, where thousands of children were orphaned and therefore became even easier targets of all types of exploitation and abuse.
The issue of providing sex in exchange for humanitarian supplies and goods has been of the greatest concern to the humanitarian community. The United Nations and its agencies have been actively working towards the common goal of addressing this problem. OCHA is committed to improving the plight of women and to this end two publications were jointly launched with the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations, the IASC (Inter-Agency Standing Committee) and IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) on 9 December 2005 - the IASC Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Situations: Focusing on Sexual Violence in Emergencies and Broken bodies... Broken dreams - Violence against women exposed.