UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2007

This Humanitarian Action Report 2007 outlines UNICEF’s appeal for children and women in 33 emergencies around the world. In each country it looks at critical issues for children, key actions and achievements in 2006 and planned humanitarian action for 2007.

The report finds that:

• during a crisis women are even more likely to be burdened by dual roles as ‘providers’ and ‘carers,’ which disrupt infant feeding and compromise a mother’s ability to care for her young
• gender-based violence is a direct consequence of humanitarian crises (examples are given from Darfur, Northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo where girls and women are frequently forced to serve as sex slaves and ‘wives’ to military forces
• gender inequality has excluded millions of girls from school, or has condemned them to a pitiable education, a fact exacerbated in crises

The report also looks at the chances that emergencies can provide to change the lives of girls and women, and to shift traditions that have such a detrimental impact.

Strategies include:

• increasing the participation of women in the design of humanitarian intervention. Examples given are from Sierra Leone, Northern Uganda and Sudan
• supporting evidence-based studies, examples from Afghanistan
• increasing women’s decision-making within the household
• promoting education opportunities for all, examples are from Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya

Key messages are:

• crises have a debilitating impact on the lives of women and children, exacerbating existing prejudices that harm them both
• improvements can be achieved even in apparently dire situations
• a focus on strengthened and enhanced outreach of social services, combined with determined support to change policies and practices that inhibit the active participation of women and girls in development is required

In addition the authors suggest tackling the obstacles of gender inequality through service delivery and policy reform. Boosting women’s decision-making power, providing educational and economic opportunities and increasing women’s political participation can also lead to saving and improving the lives of children.