Gender-based violence is a complicated and sensitive subject. Reporting on gender-based violence means discussing issues that are often considered ‘taboo,’ and talking publicly about intimate and distressing matters. This can be particularly challenging in countries where tradition and religion play an important role in everyday life.
Whilst effective reporting on gender-based violence requires a certain amount of extra effort to get it right, doing so involves building upon internationallyrecognised ethical principles which all journalists should be familiar with: accuracy, fairness, as well as respect for and protection of interviewees.
The handbook has been developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It sets out to examine some of the terminology,
ethical questions, and practical concerns associated with covering gender-based violence, and to provide an overview of some of the organisations involved in combating gender-based violence and providing support services for survivors.
A companion document, Nine Ethical Principles: Reporting Ethically on Gender-Based Violence in the Syria Crisis, is available here. An updated version of this handbook is available here.
Reporting on GBV means discussing issues that are often considered ‘taboo,’ and talking publicly about intimate and distressing matters. This can be particularly challenging in countries where tradition and religion play an important role in everyday life. There is often a difference between the way traditional practices are viewed by ‘the international community’ and by communities themselves; this can cause conflict.