Joint Business Refugee Action Network (BRAN) statement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an important human rights concern and a pervasive issue affecting women and girls during times of conflict and humanitarian crisis. Over the last five years, the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls research programme, funded by UK Aid, has been conducting research to expand the international community’s knowledge around VAWG and the effectiveness of programmes that seek to prevent and respond to this violence. This new brief synthesises the key results of What Works studies as well as other findings from contemporaneous research efforts published since 2015. It aims to provide an up-to-date resource for practitioners, policymakers and researchers on the state of evidence on VAWG in conflict and humanitarian settings and makes recommendations for VAWG policy, programming, and future research priorities.

From years of experience working with refugees and asylum-seekers globally, we know that when given opportunity to thrive, forcibly displaced persons contribute to their host communities and boost local economies. However, third-country nationals living in the European Union face very specific challenges and barriers to integration stemming from their vulnerabilities as refugee populations, as well as structural issues and divergent asylum policies at the EU and national levels. As the EU transitions into a new mandate for the European Commission and Parliament, the International Rescue Committee outlines a set of recommendations for a renewed and improved EU Action Plan on Integration. We argue that only by supporting the transition of refugees and asylum-seekers into their new communities, the EU has a chance to prove its role as a credible champion of protection and inclusion.

The crisis in Venezuela and its regional impact are continuing unabated, driving displacement on a pace and scale that requires greater action from the international community.

This briefing illustrates the importance of interventions to expand access to justice mechanisms for Rohinya in Cox's Bazar.

Recommendations for a first step towards an ambitious, humanitarian and sustainable EU response to displacement

This report highlights some of the links between GBV and key SDGs to show where GBV prevention and response needs to be integrated across sectors to address the double disadvantage faced by women and girls in crisis.

In 2018, the IRC assisted over 120,000 Syrian refugees and low-income Jordanians to access healthcare, protection, education and income generation opportunities. One of the recent changes that IRC staff have noticed is that Syrian women are taking on more of an income earning role than was the norm back in Syria and that this is creating changes in household dynamics.

Women are more likely to live in poorer households globally than men. Countries where this is evident are predominantly fragile or conflict-affected. In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and ensure no one is left behind, women’s economic empowerment must be prioritised and resourced in crisis contexts. Choices, Chances and Safety in Crisis discusses the impact of crisis on women’s economic empowerment and the limitations of recent responses. It proposes a practical model for increasing women’s safety as well as their use and control of resources in crisis contexts. It outlines the preconditions that must be met to genuinely transform harmful gender norms and empower women economically along with examples from IRC’s work. It concludes with recommendations for governments, international actors and the humanitarian sector.

The war in Yemen has turned the country into the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. A crisis that is man-made and predictable, and therefore one for which solutions are within reach.