Oslo SGBV Commitments 2020 Collective Progress Report

In May 2019, a conference on Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Humanitarian Crises was hosted by the governments of Norway, Iraq, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The objectives of the conference were to mobilise strong political commitment to prevent incidents of, and protect people at risk of, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and conflict-related sexual violence, and promote the needs, rights and dignity of survivors and those at risk; mobilise additional financial resources, especially for SGBV response through UN coordinated response plans and for the ICRC’s 2019 Special Appeal: the ICRC’s Response to Sexual Violence; and highlight best practices and lessons learned from efforts to prevent and respond to SGBV in humanitarian situations and help improve the evidence base in this field.

The conference brought together SGBV survivors and specialists, and representatives from 100 countries, global leaders and regional and international organisations. Participants included 167 members of national civil society organisations and 76 members of international civil society organisations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
At the event, governments and organisations were invited to make financial pledges and political, policy and good practice commitments to support efforts to end sexual and gender-based violence in humanitarian crises.

As a follow-up to the conference, the co-hosts commissioned Humanitarian Outcomes to design and implement a project to track the delivery of the Oslo SGBV commitments8 over three years from 2019 to 2022.

The project aims to:

•  Compile and systematise the commitments in a database framework;
• Track delivery on commitments made on a yearly basis;
• Provide recommendations on how OCHA can track SGBV in their financial tracking system;
• Provide action-oriented recommendations on how the other co-hosts should continue to ensure future delivery on the SGBV agenda;
• Identify opportunities for integration with other reporting mechanisms to ensure sustainability
• and avoid duplication of efforts.

This report provides a summary of the self-reported progress by commitment-makers against commitments made, which the researchers triangulated with the perceived changes experienced by implementing actors working on SGBV at field level. The report includes recommendations on priority areas for future delivery of the SGBV agenda, as well as how to improve the financial tracking of SGBV funding and opportunities for integration of Oslo SGBV commitment reporting within existing reporting mechanisms.