The United Nations system organizations have made it their top priority to ensure a healthy and safe workplace free of sexual harassment. 

The United Nations Culture Change Innovation Challenge invited UN personnel to submit ideas to foster an inclusive workplace through leadership and culture change. 

In response, groups from nine UN organizations established new initiatives. 

One of these came from seven innovation-driven colleagues in the Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA), who developed UNA-IDEA. 

UNA-IDEA is an initiative for UN action to create a culture of (I)nclusion, (D)iversity, (E)quity, and (A)ccountability. 

It proposes three steps to prevent sexual harassment: 

• a community statement for all people entering UN premises 

• a series of voluntary “IDEA Coffees” among UN personnel 

• informal networking to provide mutual mentorship and support 

“Our idea aims to foster a culture of connectedness, care, concern for one another, and commitment to preventing every form of sexual misconduct,” said Soo Hyun Kim, project lead of UNA-IDEA and Acting Director of the Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific. 

“When we feel included within a community that is diverse, empathetic, and accountable, together, we can prevent sexual harassment from happening in the first place.” 

“UNA-IDEA invites all colleagues to play an active role in fostering an enabling, inclusive workplace,” said Thomas Markram, Director of ODA, and the Office’s representative on the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Task Force on Addressing Sexual Harassment within the Organizations of the UN System. 

“Such initiatives are essential for building a work environment where everyone feels safe, supported and a sense of belonging.” 

Other finalists came from IAEA, IFAD, IOM, ITU, UNAIDS, UNHCR, and UNV. The projects ranged from digital platforms to report incidents of sexual harassment to learning tools that encourage peer-to-peer accountability. 

The finalists have joined together to form an inter-agency working group to support the implementation of their projects across the UN. 

“Together, I hope our initiatives help colleagues feel safer and more comfortable in our UN community,” said Marykate, a member of UNA-IDEA with ODA colleagues Charlie, Damon, Diane, Erika, Frida, and Soo. 

The United Nations Culture Change Innovation Challenge is an initiative of the CEB Task Force on Addressing Sexual Harassment within the Organizations of the UN System and the World Food Programme (WFP). 

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Violence against women occurring in the private sphere is exercised by intimate partners, ex-partners and other family members or people living with them. The presence of firearms in the home increases the risks of VAW and its lethality, since not only can they be the means of committing feminicide, but they are also facilitators of other types of gender-based violence: physical, psychological and/or sexual. However, although firearms can be used to threaten, intimidate and coerce, there is usually not enough information regarding this matter.