Advisory Group on Gender, Forced Displacement and Protection

UNHCR has established an Advisory Group on Gender, Forced Displacement, and Protection to provide a cross-disciplinary forum to advance gender equality, prevent and respond effectively to sexual and gender-based violence, and empower women and girls to assume leadership roles in their communities.

The specific aims of the Advisory Group are to: engage experts from outside the humanitarian field to serve as a consultative group on a range of issues relating to gender and protection in forced displacement contexts; strategize with UNHCR on developing innovative ways to mitigate protection risks, bolster capacity, and improve protection programming; and advise UNHCR on principled yet practical solutions to specific protection challenges, which will be identified as the focus for discussion at each annual meeting.

The Advisory Group is comprised of twenty-one social visionaries, change-makers, and civil society leaders from around the world. The distinguished group reflect broad geographic experience and draw from such diverse fields as anthropology, development economics, education, gender studies, health, human rights, justice, religion, and sociology. Through their work with communities, members have addressed challenging issues such as domestic violence, homophobia, xenophobia, and the marginalization of women. Members serve on this high-level Advisory Group for a period of two years, with the possibility of extension.

UNHCR’s Advisory Group held its inaugural meeting on Friday, 12 February 2016. Advisors will be engaged in various aspects of UNHCR’s work, including through participation in key events and working with UNHCR to support initiatives on issues where the members have a particular interest and expertise.