Gender-based Violence Programs

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious human rights and public health issue, one that disproportionately affects women and girls of all ages, from all cultures, countries and socio-economic backgrounds.

GBV takes many forms, including rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, exploitation and harassment, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, human trafficking,  and genital cutting. It impacts women and girls’ physical, emotional, psychological and social well-being.

Women and girls are particularly vulnerable during armed conflict, when rape is used by fighting forces to terrorize, destroy and humiliate communities. Women may be forced to exchange sex for their very survival. And when war forces them to flee their homes, the risk of rape follows them and the threat of domestic violence grows.

IRC’s GBV programs aim to meet the safety, health, psychosocial and legal needs of survivors of gender-based violence. IRC partners with communities and local institutions to promote and protect women and girls’ human rights and empower them to enjoy these rights.

IRC’s programs also strive to prevent GBV, in part through community education and action to change beliefs, attitudes and practices that condone and perpetuate violence against women, and in part through advocacy to ensure that the rights of women and girls are recognized and protected at the national and international levels.