03/07/2002

As the recent United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children (UK) report on sexual abuse in West Africa demonstrates, sexual violence and exploitation are chronic problems in refugee settings. In 1991, the UNHCR adopted Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Guidelines, the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (Women’s Commission), with the support of UNHCR and two of its principal donors, undertook an assessment of the degree and means of UNHCR compliance with the principles contained in the Guidelines. The following is a summary of this very timely report by Mary Diaz, the Executive Director of the Women’s Commission.

The demands for UNHCR to establish gender sensitive policies were and are especially compelling:

In keeping with the 1990 UNHCR Policy on Refugee Women, the Guidelines called for “integrating the resources and needs of refugee women into all aspects of programming so as to assure equitable protection and assistance activities.” (UNHCR Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women, I.4.) Emphasizing the intrinsic relationship that exists between protection and assistance, the Guidelines include but go well beyond traditional notions of protection through promotion of refugee laws and conventions. They review the range of legal and physical protection needs that arise for females in refugee situations, outlining those areas of protection that are in need of particular attention and response and the actions that can and should be taken when protection problems occur.

In 2001 the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children visited four field sites and reviewed dozens of reports and documents as part of the assessment, which will be released in the spring of 2002. The assessment team met with refugee and internally displaced women in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkey and Zambia. Extensive time was spent interviewing UNHCR staff and implementing partners in the field and at the agency’s Geneva headquarters. In visits to the field, the Women’s Commission team documented examples of progress and good practice including:

Nevertheless, preliminary findings show that field level implementation with the principles of the Guidelines remains deficient. In all sites the assessment team found problems of sexual and gender-based violence, including exploitation.

The assessment team heard from Angolan and Congolese women in Zambia who bartered sex for fish and other basic goods, including school supplies for children. These women also reported that beer-brewing in their camps and by local Zambians increased levels of domestic violence. Sudanese women in Eritrea’s Elit camp reported similar problems. The team visited a safe house on the Turkish border with Iran and Iraq, talking with women who were there because they were vulnerable to trafficking and domestic violence. Sudanese women in Ethiopia spoke of growing levels of harassment by local populations as they have to travel farther and farther from the camps in search of firewood for cooking.

In addition, the team found problems with access to goods and services. Dozens of women asked for gynecologists and female health staff, because they were reluctant to visit male doctors. All women, in all refugee camp sites, told of hours of hard work pounding grain because mills were not functioning, or siphoning their meager rations to pay for the grinding in local markets. Broken infrastructure means that women do not have time to participate in programs, like literacy classes or time for participation in camp leadership activities.

Urban refugee women and their children reported different yet equally alarming hardships including harassment by landlords, and anxiety as money runs out while they await decisions from UNHCR on their refugee claims. These women told the assessment team they worried about the safety and psychological well-being of their children who work illegally, sometimes in factories, other times selling candy and gum in the streets, or cleaning houses.

The assessment team also considered management issues. UNHCR has had a Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women since 1989. At that time there were few women in Executive posts. UNHCR has made some strides in raising women to positions of high authority in the organization. But, there is now a problem at the bottom of the hierarchy. Funding cuts in UNHCR have brought a sharp reduction in field-based staff. UNHCR is now too thin on the ground generally and especially in terms of female staff. The reduced field presence, in turn, directly reduces the ability of the organization to protect refugees. The now small number of women field officers particularly affects activities related to women’s health, education and the information flow about sexual violence and other protection concerns. As staff are cut, field-level presence dwindles and the UNHCR has less ability to be aware of, and address, protection problems because they have less interaction with the refugees.

Preliminary recommendations include:

1. Senior managers should establish clearly defined and measurable objectives for gender, and these should be priorities for the organization. In addition to the statement of gender objectives in plans of operation and other reporting mechanisms, Bureau Directors should take the initiative in the first instance to establish the specific objectives they wish to see met in their region, the actions they expect to be forthcoming to meet them, and how these will be funded.

2. Donors should restore refugee funding, which has now fallen below adequate levels, to ensure progress in compliance with the Policy and Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women. Donors should continue to promote and advocate policies and programs that keep the principles of the Guidelines at the front and center of refugee protection and programming.

3. The Office of the Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women and Gender Equality should be supported and a long-term strategic plan for it should be developed. This should include support for the current process to move the organization towards a gender equality approach. In addition, one staff member should be added to track potentially beneficial projects through the program and budgeting cycles.

4. Reinforce field staff particularly in sub-offices and refugee camps. In response to lower funding, UNHCR has undergone a reduction in staff. The reductions are most strongly evident in the field where UNHCR presence on the ground is now unacceptably thin. The review team found that in every country visited, staff reductions not only had reduced its ability to comply with the Guidelines, but they have added to risks that refugees are facing. In particular, UNHCR should: