WHO ethical and safety recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies

What this guidance is for

Prevalence of sexual violence – including child and forced marriage or cohabitation – is generally underreported, and more so in emergency situations, where instability, insecurity, fear, dependence, loss of autonomy and the breakdown of support systems are additional barriers.

In some emergency settings, participating in sexual violence inquiries carries additional risks for survivors, community members and those collecting the information.

The sensitive nature of sexual violence brings unique challenges for data gathering. Various ethical and safety issues must be addressed to avoid harm to the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of those who participate in data gathering and sharing.

The primary ethical principles that should guide all inquiries involving human beings are:

1. Respect for persons – the autonomy and self-determination of participants, and protecting those who lack autonomy.
2. Beneficence – safeguarding the welfare of people/communities involved and ensuring benefits outweigh risks.
3. Justice – distributing the benefits and burdens fairly.

In emergencies, additional care is needed to understand how to apply these principles – this WHO document provides guidance on how to do this. Girls Not Brides has summarised the guidance into five pages, also downloadable below.

Need to consider: how information will be used, who will see it, how the information will be reported/to whom, for what purposes it will be reported, who will benefit from it and when. Is the information really needed? Avoid duplication, and therefore additional harm to girls and women.

Who this guidance is for

Only those with appropriate training should engage in the collection of information on sexual violence in emergencies. This document is designed to inform those involved in planning, conducting, funding, reviewing protocols for, approving or supporting information collection on sexual violence in humanitarian settings. This includes researchers, programme planners, funders, ethics review committees ethicists, those working in humanitarian and human rights organisations, all teams involved in sexual violence inquiries.

Eight safety and ethical recommendations

1. The benefits to respondents or communities of documenting sexual violence must be greater than the risks to respondents and communities.
2. Information gathering and documentation must be done in a manner that presents the least risk to respondents, is methodologically sound, and builds on current experience and good practice.
3. Basic care and support for survivors/victims must be available locally before commencing any activity that may involve individuals disclosing information about their experiences of sexual violence.
4. The safety and security of all those involved in information gathering about sexual violence is of paramount concern and in emergency settings in particular should be continuously monitored.
5. The confidentiality of individuals who provide information about sexual violence must be protected at all times. This covers how the data are collected, stored and shared.
6. Anyone providing information about sexual violence must give informed consent before participating in the data gathering activity. The process is key.
7. All members of the data collection team must be carefully selected and receive relevant and sufficient specialised training and ongoing support.
8. Additional safeguards must be put into place if children (i.e. those under 18 years) are to be the subject of information gathering.

Key terms