The rights of women and girls cannot be compromised in emergencies as they are inalienable and indivisible according to human rights law and the Sustainable Development Goals. Crisis management must not only ensure that recovery and resilience efforts are sustainable, but also that they include the compounded needs of women during a crisis. However, given that women are very rarely represented on crisis response teams, their specific situation and needs seldom make it into stabilizing efforts; out of sight is out of mind. 

The 2020 Vienna Discussion Forum 2020 will focus on how crisis preparedness, response and recovery efforts need to be gender-responsive to ensure that we do not reinforce inequalities but rather strengthen  the principles of human rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the commitments of the 2030 Agenda. The Forum will look at crisis management through the lenses of the mandates of UNODC and UNIDO to identify how these organizations can contribute to post-pandemic reconstruction and beyond.

Themes:

• Crisis preparedness: Gender mainstreaming crisis prevention from the perspective of the mandates of UNODC and UNIDO
• Crisis response and recovery: Tackling the increase of gender-based and sexual violence, as well as economic hardships for women during a crisis 
• Equal representation: Ensuring that women are part of decision-making in preparedness, response and recovery efforts 
• Way forward: Developing policy recommendations on gender-responsive crisis preparedness, response and recovery and awareness-raising