Introduction
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) refers to improper sexual behavior carried out by aid workers, including humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding personnel, against assistance recipients and community members. SEA constitutes a type of gender-based violence (GBV), with victims often targeted due to their vulnerable positions as women, girls, boys, or even men, particularly in situations where communities experience extreme hardship.
The term aid worker covers all individuals involved in delivering protection and/or assistance to communities and affected populations who maintain contractual relationships with participating organizations or partners. This includes staff, volunteers, contractors, incentive workers, vendors, interns, implementing partners, and anyone acting on behalf of any humanitarian or development agency or organization, irrespective of contract type or duration.
When aid organization personnel engage in sexual exploitation and abuse against the very population they are meant to serve and protect, they violate the core values and principles of humanitarianism, eroding trust in and credibility of the entire system. This represents a fundamental breakdown in accountability toward the people the aid system exists to safeguard.
Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) constitutes a shared duty for all humanitarian and non-humanitarian actors. By standard, incorporating PSEA should be regarded as an element of “quality programming” to attain protection objectives and adhere to the do no harm principle. Consequently, it is incumbent upon all agencies to conduct PSEA activities in a manner that is coherent, systematic, and integrated into the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) as well as programming in various non-humanitarian settings.