13 Agency and Affect in PSEA: Understanding Agency through a Transnational Intersectional Lens
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Nof Nasser-Eddin
Abstract
This chapter analyses safeguarding and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse practices within international organizations. The author argues that there is a need to decentralize northern understandings of victim-centred approaches. International approaches assume that the needs of victims and survivors revolve around material requirements such as legal, psychosocial, medical and monetary support. In contrast, research shows that many victims and survivors demand reparations beyond the material and have more restorative visions for the justice they seek. Although policy makers speak to the importance of centring the victim in traditional safeguarding systems, they often assume that survivors have uniform material needs. Little attention is paid to the fact that individuals are affected by abusive practices in myriad ways and to varying degrees, and that the their needs are also different. I propose transnationalism as a tool to shift power and decentre dominant and hegemonic understandings of agency and victim-centred approaches. I adopt an intersectional transnational lens to unravel people’s different agencies and move beyond universalizing victims’ and survivors’ experiences. I explore how agency can be understood and centralized through ‘affect’ and emotions, thereby decentring universalized approaches to SEA. This is particularly important to be able to build just accountability frameworks which do not stereotype and overlook victims’ experiences.
Abstract
This chapter analyses safeguarding and preventing sexual exploitation and abuse practices within international organizations. The author argues that there is a need to decentralize northern understandings of victim-centred approaches. International approaches assume that the needs of victims and survivors revolve around material requirements such as legal, psychosocial, medical and monetary support. In contrast, research shows that many victims and survivors demand reparations beyond the material and have more restorative visions for the justice they seek. Although policy makers speak to the importance of centring the victim in traditional safeguarding systems, they often assume that survivors have uniform material needs. Little attention is paid to the fact that individuals are affected by abusive practices in myriad ways and to varying degrees, and that the their needs are also different. I propose transnationalism as a tool to shift power and decentre dominant and hegemonic understandings of agency and victim-centred approaches. I adopt an intersectional transnational lens to unravel people’s different agencies and move beyond universalizing victims’ and survivors’ experiences. I explore how agency can be understood and centralized through ‘affect’ and emotions, thereby decentring universalized approaches to SEA. This is particularly important to be able to build just accountability frameworks which do not stereotype and overlook victims’ experiences.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- List of Abbreviations vi
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Two Decades of Dealing with Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping and Aid 1
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Where We’ve Been: The Origins and Scope of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Reflections on 20-Plus Years of Protection from SEA Work 19
- United Nations Police as a Double-Edged Sword for SEA Accountability 34
- Victims’ Rights and Remedial Action 46
- Sexual Violence against Peacekeepers and Aid Workers 62
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How It’s Going: Implementing and Institutionalizing Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Missing the Mark in PSEA 79
- The Imperative of Prioritizing Victims’ Rights 93
- United Nations Victims’ Rights Statement 108
- Accountability Advocates: Representing Victims 114
- Masculinities and Institutional Blind Spots 130
- Power, Consent and Peacekeeping Economies 143
- Gender, Race, Sexuality and PSEA 156
- ‘We Don’t Have a Word for That’: Issues in Translating PSEA Communication 169
- From ‘Cultural Sensitivity’ to ‘Structural Sensitivity’ 184
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Looking Forward: Where to from Here?
- Agency and Affect in PSEA: Understanding Agency through a Transnational Intersectional Lens 195
- Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid 207
- Rethinking PSEA: Reflections for Policy Makers 221
- Notes 226
- Index 231
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- List of Abbreviations vi
- Notes on Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xiv
- Introduction: Two Decades of Dealing with Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Peacekeeping and Aid 1
-
Where We’ve Been: The Origins and Scope of Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Reflections on 20-Plus Years of Protection from SEA Work 19
- United Nations Police as a Double-Edged Sword for SEA Accountability 34
- Victims’ Rights and Remedial Action 46
- Sexual Violence against Peacekeepers and Aid Workers 62
-
How It’s Going: Implementing and Institutionalizing Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
- Missing the Mark in PSEA 79
- The Imperative of Prioritizing Victims’ Rights 93
- United Nations Victims’ Rights Statement 108
- Accountability Advocates: Representing Victims 114
- Masculinities and Institutional Blind Spots 130
- Power, Consent and Peacekeeping Economies 143
- Gender, Race, Sexuality and PSEA 156
- ‘We Don’t Have a Word for That’: Issues in Translating PSEA Communication 169
- From ‘Cultural Sensitivity’ to ‘Structural Sensitivity’ 184
-
Looking Forward: Where to from Here?
- Agency and Affect in PSEA: Understanding Agency through a Transnational Intersectional Lens 195
- Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Distribution of Humanitarian Aid 207
- Rethinking PSEA: Reflections for Policy Makers 221
- Notes 226
- Index 231
