Press Room
Introduction
1. Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the Executive Committee for the opportunity to address you today on behalf of the NGO community on the critical issues confronting refugee women. This statement, however, should not be construed as a consensus position of all NGOs. We welcome the inclusion of this agenda item and the paper, "Refugee Women and Mainstreaming a Gender Equality Perspective."
2. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it is important to acknowledge that progress has been made in addressing the unique situation of refugee women and girls. At the same time, this is an opportunity to reflect on and evaluate this progress and identify concrete steps toward further advancement of the rights of refugee women and girls. To be successful in this, UNHCR must promote their equal access to goods, services, knowledge, resources and participation in all decisions regarding their lives.
3. UNHCR took an important institutional step in this direction last week by hosting its first international dialogue with refugee women. The Women's Commission was pleased to be a co-sponsor of this event, which built on regional dialogues with refugee women in 12 different localities. The process proved once again the power of refugee women to identify priority concerns and contribute to solutions.
Ten Year Review
4. More than a decade ago, UNHCR adopted a policy on Refugee Women, giving institutional recognition to the unique abuses faced by women and girls who flee violence and persecution. UNHCR created the post of Sr. Coordinator for Refugee Women to promote the policy and in 1991 issued the Guidelines for the Protection of Refugee Women. In 1995, UNHCR issued guidelines on prevention and response to sexual violence.
5. As the Standing Committee paper outlines, UNHCR has made important strides in empowering refugee women through initiatives such as the project to encourage Kosovar women returnees to participate in the emerging economy. There have been projects to assist Rwandan and Guatemalan returnee women to realize their rights to property. Yet the challenge remains to systematically implement policies and guidelines at the field level in all refugee settings. Many of these programs exist because individual staff or donors urged them, not because UNHCR as an institution made them a priority.
6. In recognition of these continuing challenges, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children has launched a 10-Year Review of UNHCR's programming in this area. This initiative is supported by the United States and Canada, and facilitated by UNHCR's Department of International Protection, the Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit and the Sr. Coordinator for Refugee Women/Gender Equality. The assessment is led by Dr. Patricia Weiss Fagen.
7. The review is designed to assess and make recommendations with regard to gender related protection and programming in UNHCR, and to consider the process of gender mainstreaming in administration and field operations. The research includes an examination of the institutional mechanisms by means of which awareness of and actions on gender issues are transmitted within UNHCR and between UNHCR and its operational partners, including application of its Policy and Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women. The results are expected to inform staff in protection and program activities. Field visits represent the major research tool of the project. Research teams will have visited Ethiopia, Eritrea, Pakistan, Turkey and Zambia by the end of the project. Additionally the project team will complete desk studies of initiatives in Central America and examine other experiences such as the Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo Women's Initiatives.
Preliminary Findings
8. While the assessment is still underway, the team has reached some preliminary conclusions that are drawn from the site visits. It has found that gender mainstreaming remains more an objective, than a reality. For example, in each of the countries visited there were gender focal points, but for the most part these positions are not seriously regarded. Meanwhile, a small number regional gender advisors are playing important roles in advancing protection for refugee women and children, but each is expected to cover large numbers of countries.
9. The assessment finds that from a gender perspective, assistance and protection are intimately linked. In Ethiopia the team found the major protection problem affecting Sudanese refugee women in the Sherkole camp to be the various risks they encountered in gathering firewood. These problems are not new to UNHCR: firewood is a scarce resource in many areas and locals are hostile to refugee use of it. Because it is a scarce resource it is also difficult--and dangerous--to access. Alternative sources of fuel should be introduced, or UNHCR should supply part of the fuel.
10. The assessment team has observed that UNHCR presence and visible involvement in refugees' lives is essential to identifying and solving the protection problems which women face. UNHCR coordinates health services offered to refugees in Pakistan, which include both government and NGO projects; it is present with government health workers in Ethiopia, and has materially supported aspects of the Eritrean government services for IDPs and refugees. In all three, because of the close relationship with the health professionals, UNHCR, at times, has learned about female patients who appear to have suffered sexual violence or other forms of abuse. But as UNHCR staff presence in the field diminishes, cases of sexual violence and abuse are less likely to be brought to its attention. There is already a trend to reduce community services staff and this is having a negative impact on UNHCR's ability to identify protection problems as well as solutions.
11. The review team found that in Turkey, UNHCR has made progress in developing refugee status determination procedures which are more gender-sensitive. These efforts include facilitating the separation of women's claims from male claims, and training of legal officers and government officials, guards and migration officials.
12. The Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women were, and in many corners remain, an important call to action and awakening on the concerns of women and girls. They lay out overarching common principles which must be adapted to specific local conditions. Program objectives and indicators should be developed for every UNHCR country and sub-office so that UNHCR can measure whether the principles of the Guidelines are being met.
Next Steps
13. The assessment will continue through this year, and will include findings from the refugee women's dialogue held at UNHCR last week. One of the recurring themes from the dialogue was the crisis of sexual and gender based violence. Many of us heard on Monday the emotional testimony of a 16-year old girl from Sierra Leone who survived rape and sexual slavery at the hands of rebels. Adolescent girls face special risks, and are often neglected or overlooked in assistance and protection programs because of their age and lack of social status. In Sierra Leone and Uganda, they have been abducted, raped and forced to participate in violent acts of war. When they are not killed, they may be sent back to their families, who reject them or do not have the resources to help them to heal.
14. UNHCR's current Guidelines on sexual and gender-based violence require updating, as they do not adequately address issues facing adolescent girls or the critical problem of domestic violence. We also look forward to the release of the revised Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women, to be finalized after the review.
15. Another priority for refugee women is their lack of involvement in camp management, development of projects and negotiation of return. Although the Standing Committee paper notes progress in this area, such efforts remain the exception rather than the rule. Refugee women consulted last week expressed dismay that they continue to be excluded from decision making processes. For example, in the camps in Pakistan, refugee women were not consulted about placement of latrines and baths under construction for new arrivals. Such planning has a major impact on the protection of women and girls from sexual violence.
16. The refugee women who met last week listed access to education and health care as critical rights that are essential to their protection. Lack of education and poor health care lead to the degradation of all other rights. They urged UNHCR to ensure that comprehensive health care and education programs are accessible in refugee settings, and where they are not, to find out why not and to take corrective action. The women called for greater emphasis on education and skills training, saying that if their communities are to contribute to return and reconstruction they need educated girls and boys, women and men.
17. In addition, the findings from the evaluation on refugee children, which is also underway this year, will be considered by the assessment team. Many of the issues are cross-cutting, including the barriers to protection and assistance faced by refugee girls.
Conclusion
18. While resource constraints are urgent and critical, they must not impede continued progress toward protection and empowerment of refugee women and girls. Budget exercises must move beyond obligatory references to refugee women and children to fully embrace their protection-recognizing that this is core to both UNHCR's mandate and program. Only when this happens will gender mainstreaming be realized. We urge UNHCR, governments, NGOs, refugee communities and others to build on the momentum of the first decade of achievement with renewed energy and commitment to equal access, services and opportunities for refugee women and girls.
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