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Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) is one of the most depraved crimes against humanity. When carried out by peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers, it depicts a catastrophic failure of protection bringing harm to the very people the United Nations and international organizations vow to protect. This paper has highlighted the various allegations and incidents of SEA repeatedly happening in conflict-affected countries. Allegations of SEA have since surfaced related to operations in Bosnia, Cambodia, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kosovo, Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti, Sudan, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The symptoms of abuse survivors generally resemble those of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and SEA has significant health consequences and poses a severe threat to public health advancement. Based on the literature review, we propose that international and humanitarian organizations must ensure that these offences do not happen in the future by taking appropriate measures. These organizations must prioritize rigorous training on gender equality and values and include a basic mandatory test on gender equality before joining humanitarian missions. Since humanitarian diplomacy encompasses actions carried out by the humanitarian organizations to acquire space from military and political authorities within to function with integrity, we emphasize that strengthening humanitarian diplomacy can play a pivotal role to train the humanitarian workforce on best practices to reduce SEA. Besides, we further propose that women should be allowed to lead from the front; otherwise, true gender equality and issues relevant to gender, including SEA, will be challenging to attain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender-based violence (GBV) or violence against women and girls (VAWG), is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime and VAWG is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. The high level of investment going into the COVID-19 recovery plan is a unique opportunity to reshape our patriarchal society, to coordinate across sectors and institutions and to take measures to reduce gender inequalities. Relief efforts to combat the pandemic should take the needs of the vulnerable population, particularly women and girls afflicted by GBV into consideration, as their needs were mostly ignored in the recovery plan of Ebola. GBV is linked to dominance, power and abuse of authority or because any calamity, be it a pandemic, conflict or a disaster. This will further exacerbate pre-existing gendered structural inequalities and power hierarchies as protective mechanisms fail leaves women and girls more vulnerable, fueling impunity for the perpetrators. There is a need for international and domestic violence prevention policies to not only focus on narrowly defined economic or political 'empowerment' because that is insufficient when it comes to challenging existing gender inequalities. Incorporating an individual's religious beliefs and community of faith (mosque, church, temple or synagogue) can offer a support system for an individual and her/his family amid a public health crisis. There is a need to engage men and boys by tailoring messages to challenge gender stereotypes and unequal gender roles to overcome patriarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]