Mitigating gender-based violence risk in the context of COVID-19: lessons from humanitarian crises

GBV risk mitigation interventions aim to reduce exposure to GBV and ensure that humanitarian response actions and services themselves do not cause harm or increase risk of violence.6 This approach also seeks to proactively identify and reduce the risks of violence related to humanitarian programming.6 There is consensus in the humanitarian sector that GBV risk mitigation is a collective responsibility and should be systematically integrated in the design, implementation and evaluation of actions to respond to disasters and emergencies.6 Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has often been overlooked. UNFPA estimates that, globally, every 3 months of lockdown contributes an additional 15 million cases of GBV.8 Clear and practical guidance on GBV risk mitigation is available in the humanitarian sphere through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action (GBV Guidelines).6 These guidelines provide recommendations across a range of sectors—including education, food security, nutrition and health—on how to analyse and address GBV risks in the design, implementation and evaluation of humanitarian programming. [...]GBV has consistently been underfunded, accounting for only 0.12% of humanitarian aid between 2016 and 2017; additional resources are necessary.13 Longer term actions include advancing research on GBV risks and mitigation interventions, assessing their effectiveness and committing to mainstreaming GBV risk mitigation within institutional policies, procedures and programmes. The impact of sanitation on infectious disease and nutritional status: a systematic review and meta-analysis.