Report - Activities since the appointment of the Co-Champions on Sexual Harassment and Abuse against Aid-Workers

In December 2016, at IASC Principals meeting, the results and recommendations arising from the Humanitarian Women’s Network Survey (HWN) of some 1,000 UN and NGO field workers from across 70 organizations on their experience with sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace were presented. The survey revealed widespread harassment and abuse, from explicit sexual comments, to sexual assault and rape. Over half of all physical aggressions were committed by a supervisor, and the majority of the respondents reported limited support from their respective Organization or efforts to make them feel safe. 69% of women did not report discrimination, harassment or abuse because of a fear of professional consequences, lack of trust in the system or an absence of a mechanism to report.