A Victim-centred Approach to Sexual Harassment for the United Nations

The document “Advancing a Common Understanding of a Victim-centred Approach to Sexual Harassment within the Organizations of the United Nations” includes a set of aspirational principles and intends to engender trust and confidence in victims/survivors to speak up when they experience sexual harassment. The seven core principles of a victim/survivor-centred approach set out are: respect; non-discrimination; safety; confidentiality; informed consent; support and prevention. These principles are designed to assist UN system organizations in adopting a victim-centred approach. United Nations system organizations will operationalize them in light of their regulations, rules and policies.

The document, approved by the High-Level Committee on Management in July 2021, builds on the UN System Model Policy on Sexual Harassment and the Investigators’ Manual for the Investigations of Sexual Harassment Complaints. Together these three documents constitute the cornerstone of a progressive UN-system approach to prevention and response to sexual harassment.