On 23 June 2022, the UN Connecting Business Initiative #CBI outlined humanitarian principles, engaging with local communities and how to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) of people affected by crises. These are my slides, which gives an idea of the PSEA efforts. My introductory remarks: Thank you for inviting me and for putting the need for safe humanitarian operations for all on the agenda today. I feel for everyone who suffers the consequences of war in your country. It is impressive how people, businesses, authorities and civil society in Ukraine have stepped up to assist victims and to adapt their activities to a new and challenging reality. This is my second time to work in beautiful Ukraine. I was election observer in Cherkasy during two months in 2015 and fell for your people and country. Last week I arrived in Lviv and my job is coordinate efforts of national and international entities to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse of people seeking humanitarian assistance, committed by those who are tasked to assist. Helpers abusing those they are meant to help sounds like a contradiction of terms, and it is. Yet it happens, and more often than we know, because globally, around 80 percent of survivors of gender-based violence do not report the acts. Aid workers, whether they are from an international organization, civil society, private companies or government entities, are expected to show the highest standards of behavior. We have job contracts, staff rules and codes of conduct that everyone must sign in order to be taken on. Abuse of power is a no-no. Aid workers meet people who might be destitute, or who have lost family members, who have health issues such as a disability after attacks or disasters, or they have lost their homes, their jobs, access to school or studies or the support of their family and community networks. Media have covered how some aid workers take advantage of their position distributing assistance or recruiting staff to demand sex from particularly women and children under 18. Most of the perpetrators are men, but there are examples of women who take advantage of vulnerable groups as well. In 2016, a Norwegian woman in her 50s who worked at a centre for asylum seekers demanded sex in return for helping a male Syrian refugee who was 22 years old with job applications and money for clothes and trips. She offered him a room at her house where she lived with her husband and cajoled the young man to have sex with her when her husband was not home. The refugee and other male asylum seekers told journalists and showed text messages that proved that several female employees and volunteers at emergency shelters for refugees had propositioned them. I feel sick to my stomach when I read about such exploitation, no matter who commits it. We can all learn from the Ukrainian writer, feminist, activist and polyglot Nataliya Kobrynska. She was born in 1851 in Beleluia.

1. Humanitarian
Principles and
Standards for the
Private Sector
Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
(PSEA)
Tina Tinde, Inter-Agency PSEA Coordinator, Ukraine
Webinar 23 June 2022

2. Procurement clause
• Sexual exploitation and abuse violate universally
recognized international legal norms and
standards and have always been unacceptable
behaviour and prohibited conduct for the UN.
• Prior to entering into agreements with the UN,
suppliers are informed of the standards of
conduct with respect to the prohibition of sexual
exploitation and abuse, expected by the UN.

3. Prohibitions
• Such standards include, but are not limited to, the
prohibition of:
• engaging in any sexual activity with any person under the
age of 18, regardless of any laws of majority or consent.
• exchanging any money, employment, goods, services, or
other things of value, for sex, and/or
• engaging in any sexual activity that is exploitive or
degrading to any person.

4. Expectations
➢ The UN expects its suppliers to take all
appropriate measures to prohibit their
employees or other persons engaged by the
suppliers, from engaging in sexual exploitation
and abuse.
➢ The UN also expects its suppliers to create and
maintain an environment that prevents sexual
exploitation and abuse.

5. Partnerships
Partners must apply the same prohibitions and
practices as the UN:
1. Leadership
2. Policy
3. HR system
4. Training
5. Reporting
6. Assistance and Referrals
7. Investigations
8. Disciplinary process

6. Awareness and trust
➢ Awareness of the duties of aid workers and their
business partners and of survivor rights is key
➢ Some people abuse their power
➢ Persons facing emergencies need to trust aid
workers, their business partners and the
organisations and companies they work for
➢ Sexual exploitation and abuse cause harm to
people’s health and lives
➢ Sexual exploitation and abuse can jeopardize
humanitarian operations including public health
campaigns (ref the troubles of the Ebola response)

7. Trust and reporting
mechanisms
• Survivors of gender-based violence globally, including of
sexual exploitation and abuse, hesitate to formally report the
acts
• Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo told journalists
about male aid workers’ demands for sex for work
• The women did not want to report the misconduct to the
employers of the offenders, saying they worried about bias
• Ukrainian internally displaced women in Lviv told UN agencies
in June 2022 in a focus group discussion that they would not
feel comfortable reporting sexual exploitation and abuse by
aid workers to aid agencies. They would prefer reporting to
local social services or perhaps the human rights
ombudsperson in Ukraine

8. Displaced women
need work
• An April 2022 Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) in Ukraine
by CARE and UN Women signaled a deepening of pre-
existing inequalities, where older women and single
mothers comprise the majority of Ukraine’s poor.
• Women’s employment in Ukraine was already low (51
per cent, compared to 62 per cent for men in 2020,
according to national statistics), but the RGA predicts
the war will increase unemployment and further push
women into unprotected informal sectors of the
economy.
• According to Ukraine’s 2020 National Action Plan for the
Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution
1325, only 43 per cent of internally displaced women
had found employment, as opposed to 58 per cent of
men.

9. Example: Private security
companies
The UN and partners hire private security services
when needed. Such companies have a crucial role
regarding protection from sexual exploitation and
abuse:
➢ Abstain from sexual misconduct
➢ Map risks of gender-based violence together with
UN & partner agency security teams and national
police
➢ Make individual safety plans for survivors of sexual
exploitation and abuse and of sexual harassment
(including rape) at the workplace

10. Private security companies
Private security companies can benefit from developing a policy
on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. The
International Code of Conduct Association (for private security
companies) provides guidance and training. Private security
companies have a crucial role regarding protection from sexual
exploitation and abuse:
➢ Map risks of gender-based violence locally together with UN
& partner agency security teams and national police
➢ Make individual safety plans for survivors/victims of sexual
exploitation and abuse and of sexual harassment (including
rape) at the workplace
➢ The UN has a protocol on the provision of assistance to
victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. It says an individual
safety plan should be made immediately for survivors.

11. Example: International Code of
Conduct Association (ICoCA)
• ICoCA brings together private security
providers. In 2019 it adopted its policy on
preventing and addressing sexual exploitation
and abuse. It is here.
• It includes UN principles and prohibitions
• It takes a practical approach and can be
useful for any company providing security
services
• It includes a survivor-centred approach

12. Survivor-centred
approach
Guiding principles for a survivor-
centred approach:
1) Safety, 2) Confidentiality, 3) Respect
4) Non-discrimination 5) Informed
consent
In addition: Child protection
considerations, accountability, and
participation of people in the
communities affected by decisions
being made.

13. Questions?
Contact me by e-mail: tinde@unfpa.org