“Together We Say No”: United Nations in Indonesia ramps up its effort to prevent sexual exploitation and assault among frontline workers

22 February 2023, Jakarta – The United Nations (UN) in Indonesia through the UN Agency for Migration (IOM), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) recently launched “Together We Say No” – an initiative in mainstreaming the effort to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse among frontline workers in Indonesia.

First developed in 2022, this global initiative was developed by IOM, UNHCR, and Translators Without Borders (TWB) to better identify, respond to, and report sexual exploitation, and abuse, as well as become strategic allies in its prevention in the form of a communications/advocacy package. The initiative targets frontline workers who provide humanitarian assistance and interact with beneficiaries and community populations on a daily basis – such as drivers, security guards, enumerators, translators, aid distributors and financial service providers. The materials are in the form of illustrated print materials, audio messages and multimedia resources which have been made available in 22 languages, including Indonesian, and are ready to be distributed to frontline workers, and to other UN agencies and partners to use.

Speaking at the launch, the UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia, Valerie Julliand, complemented this initiative for its relevance to the overall Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Harassment (PSEAH) Network and its work plan for 2023:  “Parallel to the launch today, the PSEAH Network is implementing a robust annual work plan which, similar to this campaign, prioritizes further strengthening of coordination, capacity building, establishing an inter-agency community-based complaints mechanism prioritizing a victim-centred approach, and cross-cutting awareness-raising among UN personnel, implementing partners, and the wider communities we serve.”

The UN team in Indonesia has already taken concrete steps at the country level to uphold its commitment to zero tolerance for all forms of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. In 2022, IOM conducted a training of trainers and cascade training for its staff and implementing partners/ vendors. Awareness-raising sessions were also conducted at IOM-managed refugee accommodations. Aasavri Rai, Programme Officer at IOM in Indonesia stated  IOM has a zero-tolerance policy to sexual exploitation and abuse and the launch of the Together We Say No campaign is part of IOM Indonesia's commitment to continue prevention and response efforts through raising awareness, capacity building, and collaboration with our partners and vendors.

The launch was supported by the United States Government in Indonesia including @America. It brought frontline workers and IOM’s refugee focal points together to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the PSEAH approach in Indonesia. A talk show was conducted following a brief presentation on the campaign materials by IOM. Speakers at the event included IOM, WFP Acting Country Director (Jennifer Rosenzweig), Resident Legal Advisor of the U.S. Embassy Jakarta (Kavitha J. Babu), and representative from the Indonesian Society for Disaster Management (Indah Putri).

With the campaign launched, the agencies will now move to adopting and implementing the resources in their respective organisations and tracking inter-agency, collective progress towards PSEAH across the country.

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Contact:

IOM: Aasavri Rai, arai@iom.int

WFP: Patricia Norimarna, patricia.norimarna@wfp.org

For further information about PSEA, please contact Aasavri Rai at IOM Indonesia arai@IOM.int.