Gender Based Violence is an acknowledged human rights abuse and is a violation of numerous international human rights instruments that place responsibility on host governments and other players to protect human rights of affected populations.¹

Mary Robinson, Advisor to the Joint Consortium

In 2004, a group of Irish human rights, humanitarian and development agencies, together with Irish Aid² joined forces to discuss how best to respond to reports of very high levels of rape in the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. During those discussions, it was recognised that responses to gender based violence (GBV) by the international community were, for the most part, isolated and ad-hoc and that there was a pressing need for the issue to be addressed in a more comprehensive and systematic manner.

Subsequently, these organisations and others joined together to establish the Irish Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence with a view to promoting the adoption of a coherent and coordinated response to GBV.

The objectives of the consortium are:

1. To ensure that actions to prevent and respond to gender based violence are visible and systematically addressed in the policies, procedures and programmes of all member agencies.
2. To develop and strengthen skills and capacities of member organisations for more effective prevention of, and response to, gender based violence, at programme level.
3. To inform, effect and monitor policy implementation to improve actions on prevention of and response to gender based violence.

The current members of the consortium are:

• Action Aid Ireland
• Christian Aid
• DTalk
• Irish Red Cross³
• Plan Ireland
• World Vision Ireland

• Amnesty International Ireland
• Concern Worldwide
• GOAL
• Kimmage Open & Distance Education
• Self Help Africa

• ChildFund Ireland
• Defence Forces
• Irish Aid
  (Department of Foreign Affairs)
• Oxfam Ireland
• Trócaire

The Consortium has undertaken various projects since its official launch in 2005. Among these have been: producing publications on gender based violence, documenting the situation in a number of countries affected by conflict, identifying generic steps that each agency should follow to respond effectively and systematically to GBV and providing guidance on institutionalising GBV prevention and response within organisations. It has also instigated gender awareness training for personnel who travel overseas, including members of the Irish Defence Forces who serve with UN mandated missions or on secondment to international organisations.

Consortium Structure

The Consortium is led by a steering committee of representatives of each member agency. A chairperson is elected and one agency takes responsibility for administration on an annual basis. The chairperson for 2012 is Jim Clarken, CEO of Oxfam Ireland. Member agencies share the costs involved in the various projects the Consortium undertakes.

The Consortium focuses on two areas: Learning and Practice, led by the Learning and Practice Working Group and Advocacy, which is the responsibility of all member agencies.

The Learning and Practice Working Group focuses on identifying and sharing best practice in terms of responses to GBV at organisational and programme level.

Through its advocacy work, the Consortium takes a pro-active role in raising awareness of the problem of GBV and highlighting GBV abuses in order to bring about real improvement and change.

A number of gender consultants are contracted on an occasional basis to assist with specific Consortium projects.

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is Advisor to the Consortium and reviews its progress on an annual basis.

In addition to the bulk of its work with member agencies, the Consortium has also undertaken a number of public and inter-organizational initiatives to raise awareness of GBV. These have included producing publications, hosting exhibitions, participating in international campaigns, organizing workshops and training sessions and making available an extensive resource library on GBV.

1. Foreword by Mary Robinson, ‘Gender Based Violence: A Failure to Protect, A Challenge to Action’, report issued by the Joint Consortium on on Gender Based Violence, 2006. [↩]
2. within the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Irish government [↩]
3. The Irish Red Cross participates with the Consortium solely within the parameters of its mandate to prevent and alleviate human suffering without discrimination, to protect human dignity and to promote international humanitarian law and the protection provided therein. The Irish Red Cross is a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and is guided by the seven Fundamental Principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. [↩]