Community solutions for improving security (all groups) in La Piste
11%
15%
4%
15%
19%
7% 7% 7% 4%
11%
Simply being aware of the possibility of sexual abuse and violence, including abuse and violence perpetrated by those in the family and the community as well as those working in the humanitarian response sector, can help to protect girls both in emergencies and in ordinary life. This requires more training, and the establishment of mechanisms to monitor whether key humanitarian response interventions are gender and age aware. As we have seen, these include ensuring that in camps, toilets have separate spaces for women and men, are not too far away and are well lit at night; providing adequate shelters by family unit, making sure that there is space for adults and children to sleep separately, making communal sleeping spaces sex segregated; or ensuring that water points are located close by and in safe places. It also means that existing protection mechanisms need to be activated – for example, prevention and response services, and child-specific gender-based violence mechanisms. Keeping adolescent girls safe in such situations is not something that is up to girls themselves. It is the responsibility of service providers, but also of the entire community. For example, boys can play an important role in the protection of girls and women, provided that they are informed and know about abuses and how to report them. Boys
Install solar lighting/improve electricity supply Victims’ networks Neighbourhood watch Try to stay at home Close and secure house door Laughter Faith and respect Working together to protect Police response Reinforce site walls and limit access
and men, armed with the right information and committed to addressing gender-based violence, might be more likely to speak up for girls in their families and communities.118 It is also the responsibility of the humanitarian community. Ignorance is no longer an excuse; we know how and why adolescent girls are at risk, and what can be done about it. Girls themselves can only adopt a range of strategies that may help to protect them, such as travelling in groups, but many of the other options they have to survive are detrimental to their wellbeing.119 Research in two urban camps in Haiti found that all sections of the community, though they feared violence themselves, agreed that young women were the most vulnerable and that sexual violence was the most problematic.120 They came up with a range of solutions to the problem of violence, as shown in the pie chart above. In La Mairie, another site, the community also included ‘parental guidance activities’; ‘community issues and meetings’; and ‘do not leave the site alone’.121 Knowing who to contact in case of need is also important, so services like the freephone set up by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in Haiti (box page 82) can be life-saving for a girl who feels she cannot talk to her family – provided she has access to a phone. 81