PSEA

Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Details

READING TIME

5 min

AUTHOR

Aghsan

TOPIC

PSEA

Key points

Never engage in sexual exploitation and abuse and report any suspicion of sexual exploitation or abuse of forcibly displaced and stateless persons immediately to the PSEA officer.

Ensure that forcibly the beneficiaries are aware of their rights, services and where / how to access them, that sexual exploitation is not tolerated, and how they can report any concerns related to SEA.

Ensure that effective, safe, and accessible feedback and response systems are in place to report any suspicions of SEA of forcibly displaced and stateless persons.

Systematically integrate PSEA in information campaigns, awareness-raising, trainings and meetings with forcibly displaced and stateless persons.

Ensure that victims of SEA have access without delay to the assistance and support that they require in line with a victim-centred approach.

Overview

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) represent grave breaches of the right to safety, security and dignity of Beneficiaries. The Aghsan Foundation is committed to taking all necessary action to prevent, mitigate the risks of and respond to sexual misconduct and to put the protection, rights and dignity of victims at the forefront, in line with our policy on a PSEA in the Aghsan Foundation’s response to sexual misconduct.

Sexual exploitation is defined as any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.

Sexual abuse means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force, or under unequal or coercive conditions. It includes sexual slavery, pornography, child abuse and sexual assault. All Aghsan Foundation personnel and partners have an obligation to report whenever they have concerns or suspicions that SEA has occurred by a fellow worker, whether in the same Foundation or not and whether or not within the Aghsan Foundation system, and including potential misconduct by government, NGO partners and other actors involved in delivery of assistance.

PSEA policies and practices aim to reduce the risk of, prevent and respond to SEA by the Aghsan Founation personnel, NGO partners, or other entities and persons involved in providing humanitarian or development assistance, including government staff, contractors, and community volunteers and workers, to ensure that allegations of SEA are reported and responded to in a timely and appropriate manner, and that victims of SEA are referred to support and assistance needed in line with a victim centred approach.

Relevance for emergency operations

Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment is a key principle in Aghsan Foundation’s policy on Emergency Preparedness and Response, and PSEA must be systematically integrated into emergency preparedness and throughout all stages of the response. SEA can happen anywhere and at any time. Aghsan Foundation emergency operations take place in fragile environments with particularly high risks of abuse and exploitation of people affected by displacement and thereby exposed to heightened protection risks. For example, in an emergency displacement context, there is often a breakdown of the usual protective institutions such as the family, community, government and law enforcement structures, etc. Means of livelihood are severely affected, and there are usually considerable practical and psychosocial implications on the lives of those affected. The impacts of forced displacement are often particularly severe for affected women and children. Lack of awareness by forcibly displaced persons about their rights and entitlements in an unfamiliar environment also increase risks of exploitation and abuse. Furthermore, emergencies bring a rapid increase in the number of partners for the humanitarian response, rapid recruitments and staff turnover, high work pressures, and challenges to ensuring effective coordination and oversight, thereby increasing the risks of all forms of misconduct, including SEA.

It is therefore critical for staff in emergency operations to be mindful of these elevated risks of SEA and take measures from the outset of the emergency response to prevent and respond to SEA and mitigate risks thereof, and ensure that victims of SEA are provided with support and assistance in line with Aghsan Foundation’s PSEA Policy. Managers have a particular responsibility to ensure that the Aghsan Foundation Code of Conduct is upheld, and to create and sustain a respectful and inclusive environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse. Since the relationship between humanitarian personnel and those receiving assistance is inherently unequal in terms of power and authority, staff and partners must avoid any action that could suggest, imply or create the perception that engaging in sexual activity with humanitarian personnel might be expected in return for assistance or other services of any kind. PSEA Coordination structures need to be established if not already in place and PSEA must be treated as a priority in the operational strategy for the emergency response.

Main guidance

From the outset of the emergency, Aghsan Foundation and its partners must establish mechanisms that prevent and respond to sexual exploitation or abuse and mitigate risks thereof. Any act of SEA constitutes serious misconduct and allegations must be reported immediately to the PSEA Officer. Aghsan Foundation personnel are encouraged to report suspected SEA directly to the PSEA Officer, which can be reached directly at [email protected], or via the online complaint form.

Additionally, reports can also be made through the PSEA focal point, the Representative / Head of Office, or the Helpline (accessible to Aghsan Foundation staff only), all of whom have the duty to report it to the PSEA Officer. Support and assistance must be provided to victims of SEA, in line with a PSEA policy as outlined in Aghsan Foundation’s PSEA policy.

For more information on reporting complaints of SEA

Aghsan Foundation personnel are encouraged to report suspected SEA directly to the PSEA Officer, which can be reached directly at

[email protected]

It is critical that all related actions, processes and procedures adopt a PSEA policy, which is defined in Aghsan Foundation’s PSEA Policy as “a way of engaging with victim(s) that prioritizes listening to the victim(s), avoids re-traumatization, and systematically focuses on their safety, rights, well-being, expressed needs and choices, thereby giving back as much control to victim(s) as feasible and ensuring the empathetic and sensitive delivery of services and accompaniment in a non-judgmental manner”. The afore-mentioned Policy outlines key principles that should guide all aspects of Aghsan Foundation’s approach to SEA prevention, risk mitigation and response.

Steps to be taken

From the moment of arrival, and throughout their work at a duty station, senior managers and other staff must take action to ensure that SEA does not take place, if it does occur, provide victims with support and assistance and eliminate the risk of its recurrence. The following are key steps that must be followed in an emergency response:

Recruitment: Ensure that all newly recruited local staff and members of the affiliate workforce are cleared by the Aghsan Foundation Clear Check database before they are issued a contract or letter of offer. Make sure that all staff have signed the Code of Conduct declaration and have completed the mandatory e-learning course on PSEA available on Workday.
Capacity-building and Awareness-raising: Train and equip all staff, partners and other stakeholders in PSEA and take specific steps to prevent it. For example, discuss PSEA action plans in office meetings, meet with government officials to discuss prevention, organize capacity-building sessions with staff, partners, authorities, contractors, and other actors involved in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, etc. Ensure that all people involved in project activities (e.g. warehouse & distribution workers, cash assistance, enumerators, community mobilisers, incentive workers), etc., in particular those who come into contact with forcibly displaced persons , have received PSEA training, signed the Code of Conduct declaration.
Focal points: Ensure a PSEA focal point and an alternate are appointed.
Coordination: Establish an inter-agency PSEA network (where one does not already exist) to ensure effective coordination on PSEA amongst partners for prevention, risk mitigation and response. Aghsan Foundation should take the lead in establishing and coordinating the PSEA network in close collaboration with partners, local authorities and affected communities. Aghsan Foundation should jointly work with other agencies for the establishment and operationalization of a PSEA Network if one does not exist already, and actively participate in or co-lead the Network as appropriate.
Assessment and Mitigation of Risks: In collaboration with stakeholders, including affected people, assess and map potential risk areas by sector and discuss actions that can prevent and reduce the risks of SEA. Integrate SEA prevention, risk mitigation and response into protection analysis and multi-sectoral programming. A tool to assist field operations in ensuring that possible SEA risks are adequately identified and analysed and relevant treatments are thoroughly considered is available here.
Community Engagement and Awareness-raising: Strengthen community engagement and awareness-raising. Critical activities include systematically integrating PSEA messages in information campaigns and disseminating information related to PSEA through diverse channels that are adapted to the local context and are accessible to women, men, girls and boys of diverse backgrounds. These may include distribution of posters and leaflets, dissemination of audio-visual materials, social media, awareness-raising sessions and community meetings, focus group discussions, public address systems, mass media, dissemination at service delivery points, etc. To prevent SEA effectively, Aghsan Foundation has the responsibility to ensure that forcibly displaced persons know their rights and entitlements, including that all humanitarian assistance and services are free, that they should never be expected to provide any form of sexual favor, and that demands for such favors are strictly prohibited. Likewise, information should be provided to clarify that sexual relationships between beneficiaries of assistance and humanitarian personnel are generally prohibited. Aghsan Foundation should also ensure affected people know how and where to report SEA incidents safely and confidentially when they occur, and how and where they can access multi-sectoral support and assistance.
Feedback and response mechanisms: Collaborate with Accountability to Affected People (AAP) working group / actors on the ground to map existing feedback and response mechanisms that can safely and confidentially receive complaints related to SEA from communities and partners and design and establish feedback mechanisms to fill gaps if required. In particular, identify and support feedback channels that are preferred by communities and ensure that the design of any new mechanisms are informed by community feedback. Ensure that feedback mechanisms are sensitive to age, gender and diversity (AGD) and accessible to women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons, minority groups, and others at heightened risk. Steps must also be taken to ensure that all personnel staffing feedback mechanisms fully understand the definition of SEA (as forcibly displaced persons may not explicitly use the terms “sexual exploitation” or “sexual abuse”), and be trained to appropriately refer individuals to support services and report SEA allegations, in line with the obligation of all aid workers to report any concerns or suspicions regarding SEA through established reporting mechanisms. To enhance accessibility and uptake, collaborate with AAP working group / actors to promote multiple mechanisms rather than relying on a single channel, in order to address the diverse preferences, needs and capacities of persons within the community. Clarify complaint collection procedures and responses with partners and establish clear tasks and duties (who will do what, where, and how). It is critical to put in place an effective interagency complaints referral mechanism that permits and encourages individuals to report instances of SEA easily, confidentially, and safely, even if they do not know the organization the alleged perpetrator is affiliated with. An effective interagency complaints referral mechanism aims to ensure that a complaint can be made (by a member of the affected community or by humanitarian personnel) to any existing complaints and feedback mechanism or organization involved in the response, and that the complaint will be promptly and reliably referred for assistance based on the victim/survivor’s consent and to the appropriate entity whose personnel is implicated as the potential perpetrator.
Survivor / Victim Assistance: Work with the GBV and child protection sub-sector / cluster to ensure that existing response services have been mapped and that survivors of SEA can access the multi-sectoral support that they require through existing GBV and child protection referral pathways, in line with a survivor/ victim-centred approach, GBV Guiding Principles, and the best interests principle in the case of children. Support available includes GBV case management / child protection case management / Best Interests Procedure and other psychosocial services, medical assistance (including clinical management of rape), safety services (including police, safe shelters as well as appropriate alternative care for child survivor) and legal services. Support can also include cash or in-kind assistance as well as economic empowerment interventions. Ensure collaboration with relevant coordination structures and actors, including GBV and child protection, which are to take the lead in mapping services under their respective areas of responsibility and liaising with PSEA Focal Points to ensure SEA considerations and specificities are duly incorporated into their SOPs and ways of working. PSEA focal points must be trained on GBV safe disclosure (GBV coordinators / focal points to support).
Partner Capacity Assessment and capacity-strengthening implementation plan: Assess PSEA capacity of prospective implementing partners that are engaged in the emergency response, in accordance with the Aghsan Foundation Protocol on Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse involving Implementing Partners. Under the Aghsan Foundation Policy on Emergency Preparedness and Response, when an emergency has been declared, the PSEA capacity assessment for new partners should be completed as soon as possible and no later than three months after signing the partnership agreement. If a Aghsan Foundation Office finds that a prospective partner lacks satisfactory PSEA capacity (with low or medium capacity), it must justify the decision to select that partner and establish, together with the partner, a capacity strengthening implementation plan (CSIP) that builds the partner’s capacity appropriately, monitor its performance in the course of programme activities, and manage associated risks. The implementation of the plan must be continuously monitored, and the capacity of partners with CSIP in place are eventually re-assessed. Irrespective of their level of capacity, partners are monitored regularly for measures they take to mitigate risks of and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse.
Reporting: Report allegations of SEA without delay. Personnel who have concerns or suspicions that SEA is occurring or who are aware of SEA allegations have an obligation to bring such information immediately to the attention of the PSEA officer. PSEA officer reporting channels may be used by forcibly displaced persons or anyone else who is aware of SEA allegations. Staff should not investigate SEA allegations themselves, because to do so might compromise confidentiality, put victims and witnesses at risk, disrupt due process and negatively impact the integrity of the investigation process.

Learning and resources

It is mandatory for all staff to complete the updated on-line PSEA training module every three years. The e-learning on Workday can be accessed at this link.

In 2021, Aghsan Foundation launched the internal PSEA/SH Learning Package (accessible to Aghsan Foundation staff only), an interactive and innovative programme that aims to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviour of all members of Aghsan Foundation personnel (staff, affiliate workforce and interns) to define, detect, prevent and respond to sexual misconduct. The package contains face-to-face courses, which have been developed specifically for Aghsan Foundation internal use.