The purpose of these Guidelines is to assist humanitarian actors and communities affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions for the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence (GBV) across all sectors of humanitarian response.

GBV is a widespread international public health and human rights issue. During a humanitarian crisis, many factors can exacerbate GBV-related risks. These include—but are not limited to—increased militarization, lack of community and State protections, displacement, scarcity of essential resources, disruption of community services, changing cultural and gender norms, disrupted relationships and weakened infrastructure.

These guidelines are organized into three parts. The first part is and introduction and overview of GBV and provides and explanation for why GBV is a protection concern for all humanitarian actors and outlines recommendations for ensuring implementation of the Guidelines.

Part two provides background information on the thematic areas presented in part three. This section also presents the guiding principles and approaches that are the foundation for all planning and implementation of GBV-related programming.

The third and final part constitutes the bulk of the guidelines. It provides specific guidance, organized into thirteen thematic area sections. Each section focuses on a different sector of humanitarian response.

To find out more about the Guidelines and get access to each section individually, visit the homepage.