2. Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment

Vision

SCHR plays a targeted role in addressing the challenges of preventing sexual exploitation and abuse within the humanitarian sector

SCHR is growing the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme into a sector-wide standard for facilitating the prevention of abusive staff moving between countries and agencies. We will grow the scheme so that it covers a majority of aid workers in hundreds of aid agencies, including local, national and international responders.

In addition, SCHR plays an active part in wider efforts to tackle PSEA, including working with donors and the IASC Principals and PSEA focal points to ensure that donor policies being introduced decrease rather than increase the risk to survivors, communities, whistle-blowers and staff.

We recognise that addressing SEA will require a wider culture change, particularly around gender, and acknowledge the power that aid agency staff (including our own staff, volunteers and partners) hold and the ways in which such power can be abused.

Work within and between members

  • Provide visible and outspoken leadership on issues around the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse to deter such behaviours

  • Maintain robust approaches to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse

  • Systematically Implement the Misconduct Disclosure scheme, covering all our staff and partners

  • Share anonymised case management details with SCHR peers to both support immediate management of SEA and create a library of case studies which can support better management in future

  • Support other peer organisations, including partners, to implement the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme

Work at the SCHR Secretariat

  • Administer and support implementation of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme

  • Actively engage with the IASC PSEA Focal points group on behalf of SCHR

  • Support strong engagement with PSEA issues at the IASC, OECD DAC and Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance. Such engagement will Include cross-sectoral standards

  • Build on the 2003-2007 peer review of reviewed members’ progress in dealing with sexual exploitation and abuse, following the West Africa scandal on sex exploitation the Dealing with Misconduct paper.

Key Forums and External Stakeholders

  • CHS Alliance

  • IASC PSEA Focal Points and the IASC Principal champion on PSEA (currently UNFPA/Natalia Kanem)

  • UK/DFID, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, the US and the Good Humanitarian Donorship Alliance

  • OECD's Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC)