Gender Issues

Promoting gender equality as well as equal rights for sexual minorities has been problematic even in the most advanced of countries.  [T]he very idea of gender equality, let alone protection [for refugees] under the law for sexual minorities, is elusive, unrealistic, and potentially risky.

Dale Buscher, senior director for programs, writes about issues faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersex refugees and the responsibilities of the international community to protect this marginalized group.

Dale Buscher, director of protection at the Women's Refugee Commission, has an article in Refugee Survey Quarterly (Vol. 29, No. 2). The edition is devoted to gender equality and refugee women. In the lead article, “Refugee Women: Twenty Years On,” Buscher describes progress made since UNHCR released its first Policy on Refugee Women in 1990, including in the areas of reproductive health and gender-based violence, and outlines issues that require further attention, such as the gap between knowledge and practice, and the protection risks women continue to face in camps.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security: High Hopes, Unmet Expectations, our reflections on the 10th anniversary of Resolution 1325

As violence against women has become epidemic, and with the increasing feminization of poverty, migration and HIV/AIDS, it is vital to reinvigorate the fight for gender equality. No longer is gender equality simply a women's right issue. It is a crucial social justice issue necessary for the longer-term well-being of humankind and the planet.

Women's Commission, UNHCR, July 2006

Women's Commission, UNHCR, Sonke Gender Justice Network, December 2008. A report from a workshop held in Cape Town, South Africa in September 2008.