Desk Review: Gender-based Violence Cross-Border Referral Systems along the Humanitarian-Development Nexus in the Mekong Region (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN Women, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), implemented the ‘Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region’ programme. The programme’s overriding objective is ensuring that labour migration is safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. Extensive research, programming and partnerships with multilevel stakeholders under the Safe and Fair programme have led to the increasing recognition of the need to improve coordination among service providers and to establish efficient and safe GBV referral pathways that respond to the needs of migrant and displaced GBV survivors in development and humanitarian contexts.

To address needs raised by multiple agencies and organizations, SAF proposed the development of a desk review; a practical, basic inter-agency regional guidance note; and a training tool. The desk review compiles existing information and identifies key gaps and opportunities to strengthen GBV referral systems will inform the development of the guidance note. The Safe and Fair programme identified civil society and community-based organizations as the main stakeholders and target audience for this undertaking because they make up the majority of front-line GBV service responders for women migrant workers and women who have escaped from or become victims of human trafficking. While the nature and scope of response services depend on the individual case, the desk review examines available gender-based violence service mechanisms that are either already responding to cross-border cases or are able to. The geographical focus is on the Mekong region, more specifically Cambodia, Lao PDR, the border areas of Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.