TO COMPLAIN OR NOT TO COMPLAIN: STILL THE QUESTION ...

12 HAP Humanitarian Accountability Parthership
Purpose and intent
of the beneficiary based
consultation (BBC)
BBC objectives were to ascertain beneficiaries’ perceptions of:
1. The extent to which mechanisms that prevent and/or respond to sexual exploitation and
abuse are in place and effective;
2. The extent to which NGOs include and consult with beneficiaries when developing
mechanisms to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse.
Ultimately, we hoped to get a sense of whether humanitarian beneficiaries feel safer as a
result of the many efforts to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. The intent behind the
BBC was not to collect information on specific cases of abuse. Nor was it about “naming or
shaming” specific organisations. Rather, the intent was to gather information that will better
define next courses of action.
Beneficiary—what do we mean?
The term beneficiary based consultation is a simple and perhaps less than eloquent way of
specifying that consultations were directly with humanitarian aid recipients, or ‘beneficiaries’.
The choice of language is not intended to diminish the dignity or resilience of consultation
participants. ‘Beneficiaries’ may connote a passive role which falls short in capturing what
was very active participation. We are profoundly grateful to the nearly three hundred
beneficiaries who participated in these consultations. Beneficiary insights and reflections
from these consultations will significantly influence HAP activities for years to come.
Why conduct consultations with beneficiaries?
Even where principles and commitments to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and
abuse have been put into practice, there is little information about their efficacy to reduce
the incidence or improve responses to reported cases, other than NGO self-reporting on
sexual exploitation and abuse efforts and exposés capturing the magnitude of misconduct
related to sexual exploitation and abuse. By initiating this beneficiary based consultation in
Kenya, Namibia and Thailand, we sought to directly engage humanitarian beneficiaries about
the magnitude of sexual exploitation and abuse and solicit their suggestions for improving
prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse. Beneficiaries’ reflections and
responses provide both a baseline and benchmark as to how they perceive effectiveness of
efforts and mechanisms currently in place.
Principles and commitments guiding prevention
and response to sexual exploitation and abuse
1. The Secretary General’s Bulletin on Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation
and sexual abuse, 15/10/2003 (SG’s Bulletin), which defines sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse as follows:
a. sexual exploitation: any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability,
differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting
monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.
b. sexual abuse: actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by
force or under unequal or coercive conditions.