Sure.
Unfortunately, we're dealing with communities that are the most vulnerable, and of the most vulnerable communities globally, the most vulnerable segments are women and girls. Their exposure to domestic, gender-based violence is unfortunately quite high. You can attribute that to many different factors. Amongst them is idleness, the fact that the family members, whoever is with them, have nothing to do. Along with that there's the tension and stress. There are a bunch of factors, so they're more vulnerable.
There is also access to sexual and health-based rights, which is, unfortunately, even more restricted. Women and girls in a normal society like ours here in Canada have access to all the hygiene equipment they need. It's accessible. They have access to planning their families, when and how they will have children, or whether they will have children. They have so many choices. Many of those choices, unfortunately, do not exist. They simply aren't available for many women and girls. All of these things compounded make this segment the most vulnerable group in the refugee context. That means that as humanitarian actors we have to be conscious of these high vulnerabilities and be responsive in our interventions to ensure that the most vulnerable segments in that community are serviced in the best way possible.
One of the ways to do that is through a needs assessment. That was part of the research we were planning to do this year. We wanted to see how bad this situation is and what can be done by humanitarian organizations like ours, especially since we bring unique value to the table in our shared faith values. How can we leverage that shared faith to educate men about the harmful effects of violence against women and girls and make sure that women and girls have access to sexual and reproductive health rights as a community?
The short answer is that it's a dire situation. It's very difficult, but humanitarian agencies like ours are aware that this is the most vulnerable group and a large portion of our efforts are targeting that segment as well as young children.