Sexual violence in the international development sector

The Women and Development Committee (CQFD) has developed a series of fact sheets aimed at strengthening the capacity of its members and supporting work on organizational policies and procedures in order to prevent and respond to sexual violence in the international development sector.

In May 2018, Minister Bibeau wrote to all active Canadian partners emphasizing the importance of preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse, and outlined her expectations of partners. Effective September 1, 2019, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) will require all partner organizations to have a code of conduct (CoC) that prevents and responds to sexual exploitation and abuse. The following template hopes to support organisation in the development of their own code of conduct.

Template of a Code of Conduct for Prevention and Response to SV

The risk of providing such a CoC template is that organization tick the boxes without going through strengthening capacity and commitment. While we wish to support organisations in meeting GAC requirements, our true goal is to better prevent and respond to sexual violence. The August 28th webinar outlining GAC’s requirements: « Code Of Conduct To Prevent And Respond To Sexual Violence, A Webinar For Small And Medium Organizations » is now available.

Ressources: Global Affairs Canada Sexual Exploitation and Abuse website. The Canadian Council for International Cooperation website on addressing and preventing sexual misconduct.

Ressources from Report the Abuse: Liste de vérification sur les politiques et les procédures de lutte contre les violences sexuelles Addressing Sexual Violence in Humanitarian Organisations: Good Practices for Improved Prevention Measures, Policies, and Procedures

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