leaders' pledge on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse
The Cooperation Canada Leaders’ Pledge on Preventing and Addressing Sexual Misconduct represents our shared commitment as Canada’s global development and humanitarian leaders to ensure the full implementation of practices and policies that will protect and respond to our own staff, volunteers and the communities we serve.
We are committed to creating safe
and respectful workplaces and programs that promote gender equality and are free from gender-based violence, including by addressing and responding to all abuse of power, holding people to account, and
protecting the vulnerable.
While standards and legal frames already exist, this pledge is our promise to take additional steps to improve policy and practice with respect to sexual misconduct (including sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and sexual harassment), including within our organizations and throughout our interactions with the partners, communities, and people with whom we work.
AS THE LEADERS OF ORGANIZATIONS WE COMMIT TO:
- Establish a culture of zero tolerance to all forms of sexual misconduct in all the work that we do;
- Improve our collective ability to recognize and tackle power imbalances and gender inequalities that can enable sexual misconduct, including intersecting forms of discrimination;
- Strengthen existing organizational policies and practices to prevent and address sexual misconduct;
- Aim to create work environments free from sexual misconduct by and of civil society organization (CSO) staff and volunteers within our organizations and the countries in which we operate;
- Support survivors/victims of sexual misconduct;
- Ensure all allegations are investigated, and that perpetrators are held to account, including through prosecution and/or dismissal where appropriate;
- Encourage greater sectoral cooperation and transparency on the development of measures aimed to prevent perpetrators of sexual misconduct from gaining re-employment within the sector;
- Benefit from each other’s experiences and strengths, and identify joint solutions, including by sharing and building knowledge and capacity around survivor/victim-centred approaches; and
- Promote this pledge and provide support to ensure that its commitments are met by the entire sector.
JOIN THE SIGNATORY ORGANIZATIONS THAT COMMITTED TO PROTECT AND RESPOND TO THEIR STAFF, VOLUNTEERS AND THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE:
