The members of the European Partnership for Democracy welcome steps that are being taken to strengthen action against sexual harassment and sexual violence within the development community. We believe that harassment in all its forms holds no place in a healthy society. As organisations working to improve representation, accountability and participation we have a responsibility to combat harassment affecting our own staff or our partners.
All of our organisations have internal codes and processes to address these issues. However, we all recognise the need to ensure that these processes are followed and that any gaps in our procedures are closed. We know that we must keep learning from each other and from the experiences in other organisations. For this reason, we have come together to express our commitment to the code of conduct.
The challenge of combatting harassment is a challenge that faces our whole society and is far greater than our sector alone. Nevertheless, it is important for us all to speak out in order to encourage those who face harassment in the workplace or in private to speak up themselves knowing that we are ready to take the necessary steps to prevent it.