Advocacy and Outreach
The Office of the Victims’ Rights Advocates shares updates and information on its Twitter page @UN_OVRA
Academic Outreach
The Victims’ Rights Advocate has delivered webinars at leading academic institutions or civil society organizations to speak about the UN’s victim-centred approach with students, academics and practitioners. Video recordings of some of these events are available below.
17 November 2021 – Following a webinar on the theme of ‘Advocating for Victims’ Rights in the UN’, the Victims’ Rights Advocate was interviewed by students of the Institute for International Humanitarian Studies of the University of Aix-Marseille.
29 September 2021 – The Victims’ Rights Advocate’s keynote address at CHS Alliance webinar.
23 September 2020 – The Victims’ Rights Advocate delivered a webinar at the Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs.
13 July 2020 – The Victims’ Rights Advocate animated a conversation with the students of the Oxford Law Faculty.
Articles
Humanitarian Practice Network: "Advocating for the rights of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse"
The Victims’ Rights Advocate describes how the presence of a dedicated UN advocate on the ground tasked with prioritizing victims’ rights – someone they trust and to whom they can turn for assistance, confident they will advocate on their behalf – makes a real difference to victims.
The Australian Journal of Human Rights
The Victims’ Rights Advocate authored an article for the Australian Journal of Human Rights to set out the broad principles of the victim-centred approach, and the work of the Office of the Victims’ Rights Advocate.
See Jane Connors, ‘A victims’ rights approach to the prevention of, and response to, sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel’ (2020)
UN Chronicle: “Upholding Our Values: Putting Victims at the Centre”
In a 2017 article for the UN Chronicle Jane Connors writes: “Sexual exploitation and abuse damage the reputation and credibility of the Organization and its personnel, but for victims this abhorrent conduct has life-changing impact. There is much more we can do together to support them. Broadening our focus beyond the perpetrators and their conduct to encompass those who have been hurt, and whose rights must be protected and needs met, is a crucial first step.”
Podcast
Chatham House Undercurrents Podcast
In 2018, Jane Connors talked to Agnes Frimston and Ben Horton of Chatham House’s Undercurrents Podcast about the Secretary-General’s strategy to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse within the UN system and her role as Victims’ Rights Advocate. She talked about the importance prioritizing the dignity and rights of victims in the UN response: “Often our prevention measures don’t make it clear that this conduct hurts a person, harms a person, strikes at their very dignity.”