Gender-based violence in the conflict zones of Africa has reached epidemic proportions yet remains a silent disaster in the continent, invisible in the media and beyond donors’ reach.

Gender based violence increases during and after disasters as already fragile structure of law and order breaks down. The Global Fund for Women reports that more than a million women were raped, mutilated and abused during and after the civil wars in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. Boys and girls are also affected. Boys served as cooks, porters and messengers while girls are forced into marriages and abducted as sex slaves.  Men, despite being often portrayed as perpetrators, are raped, killed and suffer from psychological trauma.

It is therefore important to understand that women, men, boys and girls experience disasters in different ways. In many reports after disasters, women are shown to be disproportionately affected because of their low social, economic and political status in society even before violent conflict and disaster strike. In their everyday lives, women and girls are often exposed to abuse when fetching water or gathering firewood. Women are restricted access to credit and are prohibited to inherit or own land. In disasters, women refugees are often forced to trade sex for survival, while relief policies favour refugee men.

However, despite the circumstances that women find themselves in, evidence from the ground has started to dismantle the ‘women as victims’ myth. Time and again, women continue to show their resilience in the face of disasters. They help build shelters and soup kitchens, organize self-help groups, and mobilize community to take action. Post-conflict, they play crucial roles in formal and informal peacekeeping initiatives. In 2003, Liberian women mobilized and demanded an “unconditional ceasefire, a negotiated settlement and an international community presence in Liberia.” In Ghana, during the peace negotiations in which women were markedly absent, “a group of women held a parallel meeting resulting in The Golden Tulip Declaration. They physically barricaded the stalled peace talks using their bodies as human shields and demanded that an agreement be reached.” Women in Monrovia formed the West Point Women’s Action Group to prevent rape and other violence.

Similar stories of women’s capacities and resilience abound and there is a need to systematically document these accounts in support of evidence-based research that could inform risk reduction policies and programmes and the development agenda.

There is also a need to build networks and coalitions to amplify the advocacy on gender justice and women’s rights in post-conflict and disaster situations. Writing on the status of women in Africa, Pumla Dineo Gqola, a feminist writer and academic, argues for a “coalition of women across the continent to further the cross-pollination of strategies, experience and research.” Gqola emphasised on taking advantage of the opportunities provided by ICTs.

One initiative of this nature is the Gender-based Violence Prevention Network. It was initiated by Raising Voices and UN Habitat’s Safer Cities Programme in response to the disconnect with other like-minded organizations and the need for space to share programs, approaches, strategies and ideas on GBV prevention. At the global level, the Gender and Disaster Network (GDN) draws on the interconnectivity provided by the World Wide Web to generate, share and exchange knowledge on gender and disaster risk reduction (GDRR) by documenting, analysing and transmitting the experiences of women and men; girls and boys, before, during, and after disasters and highlighting their capacities as agents of change.

Preventing gender based violence, addressing a culture of impunity and upholding women’s rights in disasters are not easy tasks. Collective action coming from the ground with support from governments, international NGOs, donors and the media is imperative to achieve fundamental change in the way society treats and views women and other marginalised social groups.

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References:
Bennett, T.W. Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition? Criminalising the Recruitment of Child Soldiers. ISS Monograph Series No. 32 December 1998. Institute of Security Studies South Africa. http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/monographs/no32/UsingChildren.html (accessed 15 November 2010)

Cape Town Principles on the Recruitment of Children into the Armed Forces on Demobilization and Social reintegration of Child Soldiers in Africa. Cape Town, South Africa, 27-30 April 1997.

Gcola, P.D. The Status of Women in Africa. In Gender Instruments in Africa Consolidating Gains in the Southern African Development Community,ed. Ruiters, M. Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa. 2008.

Global Fund for Women Annual Report 2009-2010. http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/what-we-do/publications/reports/latest-annual-report/1826 (accessed 10 November 2010)

Marsh, M. , Purdin, S. and Navani, S. ‘Addressing sexual violence in humanitarian emergencies’, Global Public Health, 1:2, 133 – 146. International Rescue Committee, New York. USA. 2006.

Neumayer, E. and Plumper, T. The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events on the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy, 1981-2002. Final Version. Social Science Research Network. January 2007. http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/SSRN_Neumayer_Plumper_GenderedNature_NaturalDisasters.pdf accessed 10 November 2010

Reproductive Health Matters. Conflict and and Crisis Settings: Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Ed. Petchesky, R.P. http://www.rhm-elsevier.com accessed 10 November 2010

Scanlon, H. and Muddell K. Gender and Transitional Justice in Africa: Progress and Prospects. In African Journal on Conflict Resolution. Vol. 9, No. 2. ACCORD 2009.

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Note: An excerpted and edited version of this article appeared in the Genderlink website.

(Personal reflections from the field – KPK and PUNJAB)[1]

Maira Zahur, Social Research Initiative (SRI)

The floods – 2010 have played havoc all over Pakistan and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions. Heavy rains in the last week of July 2010 which caused super flooding in the vast network of rivers along with the hill torrents have severely affected millions people in nearly 79 districts of the country. According to the preliminary estimates by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 1,754 people died due to floods, 2702 are injured and more than 20 million people are directly affected by the floods. The infrastructure and agriculture losses run into billion of dollars and million have been made homeless.

According to some preliminary data from the field, as expected, the hardest hit were the most vulnerable i.e. women, children, disabled, elderly etc. The disaster response (EWS, evaluations, relief provided) which was to a large extent gender insensitive, has further added to their already existing vulnerabilities.

Though exact data is not available there is a common perception with the range of stakeholders that around 15 to 20% of the affected population didn’t evacuate timely i.e. were not able to leave with their valuables (livestock, documents and other assets). This untimely evacuation can be attributed to a number of reasons. Firstly, the lack of proactive coordination among the various government departments involved. The district governments got a response time of nearly a week (in both Sindh and Punjab) but they were unable to estimate the magnitude of the flood and to prepare in accordance with it. Secondly, in the affected areas of Punjab and Sindh, the population is scattered and to reach out to a population which fall in thousands of kilometers was another challenge. Thirdly, the households who were reached on time were not able to perceive the magnitude of the floods. The floods of a similar magnitude struck the area way back in the 1927. Since then there have been floods but this time they were unprecedented in nature. Hence the risk perception also played a major role in the untimely evacuation. Fourthly, the sentimental value attached to the land, homes and livestock also played an important role in the untimely evacuation. Please also note that according to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. Some of the females also shared that without the man of the house, it was difficult for them to decide and leave. So until men came back from the other cities, the evacuation was deferred.

The affected households who evacuated in the last hour were not able to bring their legal (ID cards, property papers etc) and education documents. According to a rough estimate around 15 to 20% of the affected population comes under this category all over the affected area. Apart from the lost ID cards, a large number of affected, mainly females didn’t have them in the first place. For the displaced card, NADRA (state agency responsible for the making the national ID cards and other registration documents) with the help of their mobile vans is making copies of the ID cards, but there is absolutely no provision of fresh ID cards for the affectees. Please note that the compensation process (house, crop, livestock etc) in both early recovery and recovery phase would require ID cards as a basic requirement.

In the response phase, the displaced population can be divided into the three groups i.e. in camps, under open spaces and with the host families. Please note according to the estimates provided by the respective provincial disaster management authorities, only 15 percent of the affected population has made it to the camps. For the other two categories, according to the estimates, 10-15 % has moved with the host families and around 70% of the affected population remained on the road sides or stayed stranded in the higher attitudes.

The ones, who moved to the camps, were better off as far as meeting of basic needs is concerned. Still one can find issues like protection (3 girls from a camp in DG Khan were kidnapped), purdah issues (no segregation), the same toilets for men and women etc.

The ones who were stranded in the open on road sides or on higher altitudes are/were the ones who were affected the most. They have issues from food, to water, to protection. The food relief for this group is patchy and more or less they rely on their livestock and stored wheat. The food consumption pattern of the households, especially for the women and children was observed to be extremely poor. For drinking water collection, mainly women are responsible; and now try to collect in an environment which is new to them. Though no harassment issues were brought out, females are generally feeling insecure. The same goes for defecation, new environment and open spaces.

According to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. They are mostly from the landless families. The remittances sent by the migrant workforce constituted a good part of the family income and were also spent on basic needs. Since the floods, men have returned to take care of their families and are under lots of emotional and financial stress.

The flood affects are unprecedented in nature and district governments have never in the past responded to a similar situation. The district government is doing whatever is possible but still there are lots of challenges. The district governments have so far not been able to a register the affectees. This is giving an opportunity to non-affectees to get hold of the relief provided by a range of stakeholders. It is turning out to be a huge issue in the response phase and will create greater challenges in the recovery and rehabilitation phases and this issue has huge potential of further marginalizing the most vulnerable especially women/child-headed households, people with disabilities etc.

At this stage in time it is also very important to mention that there is so far no sex-disaggregated data regarding death, injures or disabilities. The collection of sex-disaggregated data provides insights on the different societal processes adding to the disaster vulnerabilities and is useful for planning for the later stages.

Gender and women’s networks around the world appealed for a gender-sensitive approach to the Haitian earthquake. Below are some links to news, solidarity statements issued by women’s groups, and resources for humanitarian and emergency responders:

SOLIDARITY STATEMENTS

GDN reaching out — how can we help?

Deklarasyon AWID sou kriz imanitè ann Ayiti apre Tranblemandtè janvye 2010 lan
Statement on Haiti issued by The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

Rekòmandasyon sou politik Kowalisyon Entènasyonal Fanm Defansè Dwa Moun (Creole)
Policy recommendations from the International Coalition of Women’s Human Rights Defenders (English)

RESOURCES

Gender and Disaster Network

Gendering DRR — Resources for emergency responders and humanitarian workers
Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres con Enfoque de Género. Recursos Claves

NEWS

Tens of thousands of pregnant women at risk

After the quake, depend on women

Haiti earthquake situationer reports

Haiti’s children most vulnerable after massive quake - aid agencies

The Adaptation Fund (AF) with an overall goal to support concrete ‘adaptation activities that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing communities, countries, and sectors’ is a result of negotiations in Bali during COP-13. The criteria for projects under adaptation fund will be level of vulnerability, level of urgency and risks arising from delay, ensuring access to the fund in a balanced and equitable manner, lessons learned in project and programme design and implementation to be captured, securing regional co-benefits to the extent possible, where applicable, maximizing multi-sectoral or cross-sectoral benefit and adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change. Two type of funding would be available i.e. small-size projects and programmes (proposals requesting up to $1 million); and regular projects and programmes (proposals requesting over $1million). The AF will be only funding projects endorsed by the requesting government.

According to the Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) hundreds of billions dollars would be required annually to meet the Climate Change (CC) adaptation requirements of the world. So far the funding mechanism of AF i.e. by the monetization of certified emission reductions (CERs), will produce around 500 million USD till 2012. Considering that the catering of CC adaptation needs would require a lot of attention in 2012 post scenario, mere 500 million USD would be opening another set of issues.

Apart from the funding, parties like India, Bangladesh, Nigeria etc along with the civil society has serious concerns regarding Global Environment Fund (GEF) handling the adaptation funds. In explicit terms it has brought out that instead of GEF, which has a non-proven track record, let there be an independent body to handle the adaptation funds.

Parties like Germany are trying to convert their Offical Development Assistance (ODA) into the adaptation funds. Serious voices of concern have been raised in COP-15 around the issues.

Above mentioned issues were raised by Gender CC on December 9th, 2009, in a statement at the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). GenderCC in its statement also showed its concerns regarding the gender neutral procedures of the adaptation fund.

Statement would be soon available at the web site of GenderCC (http://www.gendercc.net).

Maira
09 December 2009
Copenhagen

Approximately 25,000 people representing parties, academia, research groups, civil society, media , etc are gathered in Hopenhagen, the name given to Copenhagen till December the 19^th to negotiate a future for the next generations. In the words of Mr. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, prime minister of Denmark,  ‘it’s no more men in dark suits sitting in dark rooms’  debating around climate induced issues anymore. Now, along with the people in dark suits one can find youth groups with their innovative ideas; women and gender networks working hard to put their message across; research and academic institutes providing science-based evidence; humanitarian/development organizations narrating stories how CC is affecting people and how the burdens can be shared and reduced; and a vibrant media  constituency making efforts to give a human face to the whole negotiations process.

Collectively, civil society is looking for a FAB DEAL: a deal which is FAIR, AMBITIOUS and  BINDING.

Hopes and sentiments are high, atmosphere is charged and the stage is set. Let’s see how the story would UNFOLD.

I’m here till the end of negotiations and will be following the debate around disasters, adaptation and adaptation fund.

Maira

07 December 2009

The recent disasters which struck neighbouring countries in Asia and the Pacific emphasised once again the need for gender sensitive disaster risk reduction strategy.

Here are several resources which provide some basic principles in gendering DRR:

1) GENDER EQUALITY IN DISASTERS: SIX PRINCIPLES FOR ENGENDERED RELIEF AND RECONSTRUCTION. http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/GDN_GENDER_EQUALITY_IN_DISASTERS.pdf

Equidad de Genero en los Desastres: Seis Principios para Transversalizar el Género en la Respuesta
y en la Reconstrucción. http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/GDN_sixprinciples_es.pdf

L’egalite des Genres dans la Prevention et la Gestion des Catastrophes: Les Six Principes pour une Résilience
et une Reconstruction Collective. http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/GDN_sixprinciples_fr.pdf

2) WORKING WITH WOMEN AT RISK: PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING LOCAL DISASTER RISK. http://gdnonline.org/resources/WorkingwithWomenEnglish.pdf

CÓMO TRABAJAR CON MUJERES EN SITUACIONES DE RIESGO DIRECTRICES PRÁCTICAS PARA
EVALUAR LA VULNERABILIDAD A LOS DESASTRES NATURALES Y LA CAPACIDAD DE RESPUESTA A
NIVEL LOCAL. http://gdnonline.org/resources/WorkingWithWomenSpanish.pdf

3) WORKING WITH WOMEN IN EMERGENCY RELIEF AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES. http://www.ifrc.org/publicat/catalog/autogen/0097.asp

4) GENDER-AWARE DISASTER PRACTICE: A SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR DISASTER RESPONDING AGENCIES. http://gdnonline.org/resources/gender-sensitive-planning.doc

5) MAKING DISASTER RISK REDUCTION GENDER-SENSITIVE: POLICY AND PRACTICAL GUIDELINES. http://www.preventionweb.net/files/9922_MakingDisasterRiskReductionGenderSe.pdf

6) GUIDELINES FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT. http://www.apwld.org/pdf/Gender_Sensitive.pdf

7) GENDER MATTERS: TALKING POINTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION. www.gdnonline.org/resources/gendermatters-talkingpoints-ee04.doc

8)  WOMEN, GIRLS, BOYS & MEN. DIFFERENT NEEDDS - EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES.  IASC GENDER HANDBOOK FOR HUMANITARIAN ACTION. http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/gender

9) THE SPHERE PROJECT: HUMANITARIAN CHARTER AND MINIMUM STANDARDS IN DISASTER RESPONSE. http://www.sphereproject.org/

10) GENDER EQUALITY AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE: A GUIDE TO THE ISSUES. http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUImages/Africa/$file/Guide-Gender.pdf

11) GENDER SENSITIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT: A TOOLKIT FOR PRACTITIONERS. http://gdnonline.org/resources/Pincha_GenderSensitiveDisasterManagement_Toolkit.pdf

TRANSLATED IN:

TAMIL. http://gdnonline.org/resources/Pincha_Gender_Sensitive_DM_Toolkit_Tamil.pdf

BAHASA INDONESIA. http://gdnonline.org/resources/Pincha_GenderSensitiveDM_BahasaIndonesia.pdf

TURKISH. http://gdnonline.org/resources/PinchaKitap_Turkce_RENKLI.pdf

The list is not exhaustive, for more resources please visit the Gender and Disaster Sourcebook >> Policy and Planning Tools: http://www.gdnonline.org/sourcebook/chapt/ind.php?id=2

To add your publication to the G&D Sourcebook, email us at: gdn[at]gdnonline.org.

To get the point of view of the NWP team on gender sensitive practices, tools and systems for climate and disaster risk reduction assessments, I have been trying to get hold of Ms. Xianfu Lu (the NWP liaison person from the UNFCCC secretariat). After trying a bit on the suggested phone number, I wrote to her on June 8^th 2009. Now waiting!!!!!!!!!

I’m also pursuing the case with Mr. Kishan Kumarsingh, representing the government of Trinidad and Tobago and the focal point for NWP in the current meeting i.e., SBSTA-30 (Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice ).  Mr. Kumarsingh has shown interest to come to the women’s caucus to learn more on the importance of gender sensitive practices, tools and systems for climate and disaster risk reduction assessments.

A draft conclusion for the NWP for the SBSTA-30 (what conclusions have been reached in this meeting) is now available. I would keep you posted reagrding this.

Maira

June 9^th 2009,

Bonn

With the help of the Nairobi Work Program (NWP), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is working with 133 stakeholders including the UN, IGOs, NGOs, CBOs and research institutes on adaptation issues.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN ISDR) is one important partner of NWP. In March 2009, the UNISDR and NWP teams arranged a technical workshop on integrating practices, tools and systems for climate risk assessment and management and disaster risk reduction strategies into national policies and programmes in Cuba.

In one of the UNFCCC side events in Bonn, the NWP team presented the findings of the workshop in Cuba. The workshop which brought together around 100 experts representing developed and developing countries, along with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, was described as a ‘successful platform’ to share practices and lessons-learned at  international, regional, national and subnational levels, and to identify gaps and needs and how to overcome barriers in order to facilitate successful integration. The final report will be shared in the coming days. The preliminary report is available in  the UNFCCC website (http://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/application/pdf/preliminary_workshop_report.pdf).

Surprisingly, this preliminarily report or the background documents on the workshop, say nothing on gendered vulnerabilites exacerbated by disasters or climate change. I’m surprised to read that neither the facilitators nor the participants, who were representing 100 developed and developing countries, brought up the importance of gender implications in disaster/CC risk assessments. Maybe this is something which has been missed-out!!!! I strongly feel that we are supposed to be at the stage where we should have learned and internalised the gendered impacts of disasters in light of social, cultural and economic processes of the society, and that bringing both women’s and men’s points of view in the table is extremely important.

I would try to get the perspective of the NWP liaison person, Ms. Xianfu Lu on this. If someone from UNISDR is reading this, your response might help clarify things and explore this issue further.

Would keep the Network posted.

Maira

June 5^th 2009