Gender-based violence is a horrifying reality and human rights violation for women and girls globally. During emergencies, the risk of violence, exploitation and abuse is heightened. Humanitarian actors have an ethical imperative to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.

This resource presents 16 Minimum Standards for the prevention of and response to gender-based violence in emergencies. As a whole, the 16 Minimum Standards define what agencies working on specialized gender-based violence programming need to achieve to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, and deliver multisectoral services. The objective of the Minimum Standards is to establish a common understanding of what constitutes minimum prevention and response programming in emergencies.

Each Standard in this resource represents common agreement on what needs to be achieved for that specific programmatic element to be of adequate quality. The standards are universal; they are relevant for all emergency contexts.