OCHA on Message: Gender-Based Violence (updated 13 Nov 2023)

What is gender-based violence?

Gender-based violence (GBV), sometimes also referred to as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is an umbrella term for any harmful act perpetrated against a person’s will, and which is based on socially ascribed gender differences between females and males. The term includes acts that inflict physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering; threats of such acts; coercion; and other deprivations of liberty. These acts can occur in public or private.

Examples include rape; intimate partner violence and other forms of domestic violence; forced and/or coerced prostitution; child, early and forced marriage; and trafficking for sexual exploitation and/or forced labour.

GBV in humanitarian emergencies

GBV is deeply rooted in gender inequality and discriminatory gender roles and norms. During humanitarian emergencies, gender dynamics may be affected and inequalities worsened.

Crises can deepen GBV risks for women and girls, especially when family and community protections have broken down. Domestic violence, rape, trafficking, early and forced marriage, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation and abuse are some of the types of GBV common in humanitarian emergencies. In particular, women and girls may be attacked as they perform gender roles, such as fetching water, food and firewood. They may be also be targeted by armed actors who use sexual violence as a tactic of war, control and exploitation. Addressing all forms of GBV is a priority in humanitarian settings because such acts pose immediate and life-threatening health consequences. It is therefore important that humanitarian actors ensure that their actions and initiatives prevent and mitigate GBV from the onset of emergencies.

Some forms of GBV, in particular sexual violence, can affect both females and males. As a result of structural gender inequality, however, women and girls are disproportionately affected.