Every year since 2009 Refugee Law Project (RLP) has organized an Annual Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Persecution Awareness Week. Coordinated by our own Gender and Sexuality Program. The week generates advocacy, dialogue and awareness on pertinent SGBVP and related gender and sexuality issues in forced migration and refugee situations.
Reports by Gender and Sexuality
Aside from working papers and seminars the RLP produces a range of publications for multiple purposes. The research is targeted at a range of audiences (eg academia, government officials or the public) and aims to produce information quickly on time-sensitive issues. These result in special reports compiled either through individual consultancies or for external publications, including briefing notes that represent immediate but preliminary observations from the field, letters sent to the national newspapers or advocacy briefs that attempt to bring attention to specific thematic areas.
We are pleased to share with you a report on training of Police officers that we are conducting in Kampala on Prevention and Response to Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV). The training was conducted at Central Police Station, (CPS) Kampala from 18th to 20th February 2014.
The training was to enable police officials become knowledgeable on Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and be able to provide quality, compassionate, non-discriminatory and timely SGBVP prevention and response services to all survivors within urban refugee communities and to equip police officers with relevant laws and policies on SGBV and context relevant policy instruments. for details baout the training, please downnload the report from the link bellow.
An excerpt from Men of Hope’s Second Anniversary; a refugee led support group of male survivors of sexual violence in Kampala
On 30th January 2014, Men of Hope commemorated its second anniversary at Grand Global Hotel in Kampala. 140 participants attended the event; of whom 70 were male survivors of sexual violence. Other invited guests that attended the anniversary were representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and partner Civil Society Organizations. 16 leaders from other support groups from Kampala, Isingiro and Gulu district also took part.
This presentation titled “Identifying sexual violence and access to HIV service among male refugees in Uganda” was delivered in Bangkok in October 2013 during SVRI conference, and was jointly developed with our partners from Johns Hopkins University of Public Health.
In January 2013, the Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Refugee Law Project, School of Law, Makerere Universtiy started a collaborative research project on “Assessment Screening to Identify Survivors Toolkit for Gender Based Violence (ASIST-GBV) for Men and Boys in Uganda” funded by the United States Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration funded this project.
Refugee Law Project organized a roundtable discussion with Police officers and Police Surgeons that took place on Wednesday 19th April 2013. The roundtable was a result of key issues emerging from the various trainings, which suggested a need to conduct several follow-ups, including the roundtable, to maximize effective response to and prevention of Sexual Gender Based Violence and Persecution.
Refugee men and boys can be subjected to sexual and gender‑based violence (SGBV). Survivors have specific health, psychosocial, legal, and safety needs, but often find it hard to discuss their experience and access the support they need. It is important that UNHCR and its partners take steps to address these difficulties. The objectives of this note are to emphasise that programmes on sexual and gender‑based violence need to include men and boys, and to provide guidance on how to access survivors, facilitate reporting, provide protection and deliver essential medical, legal and social services.
