Recognising the shadow pandemic in the humanitarian sector: ending violence against women in the aftermath of COVID-19

Abstract

In all domains of society, from health to the economy, security, and human rights, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are amplified for women and girls simply due to the issues associated with gender-based violence. This article will, therefore, explore international organisations and non-governmental organisations’ commitment to ending violence against women in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. To analyse this phenomenon, this article will first focus on the current necessity to make more efforts towards implementing a gender perspective in the field of humanitarian action. This would allow for women’s needs to be better targeted and could also enable them to be better included as actors in this process. Then, this article will highlight the involvement of different organisations in the fight against gender-based violence in parallel to the different programmes put forward in the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5. Consequently, after assessing the current actions made in the aftermath of the pandemic, this article will conclude by putting forth potential prospects for future progress.