1. TRIPLE JEOPARDY: Protecting
At-Risk Refugee Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
WORKING WITH BOY SURVIVORS
AND THEIR FAMILIES

2. Objectives By the end of the session, participants will understand:
Core principles for working with boy survivors of SGBV and their families
Challenges facing boy survivors of SGBV and their family members
Strategies to engage family members in SGBV prevention and response

3. Core Principles: Working with Boy Survivors of SGBV
The best interests of the child are paramount
Refer for “Best Interest Assessments” where possible
Communicate with boy survivors according to age, developmental stage, and experience
Differentiate between children and adolescents
Believe and validate the boy survivor’s experience
Provide compassionate, gender-sensitive care
Ensure full confidentiality
Advise when information must be shared with a third party and for what reasons
Obtain informed consent from boys and caregivers
Interview them separately to determine best interests
Do no harm

4. Common SGBV Experienced by Boys
Abusive sexual contact and acts, including rape
Sexual slavery, forced sex work, trafficking
Forced pornography or exposure to pornography
Forced recruitment into military, militia, rebel forces
Abusive initiation practices
Forced circumcision
Early marriage
Other forms of severe social pressure to conform to expected masculine gender roles
Homophobic and transphobic acts

5. Challenges Facing Boy Survivors
Social and cultural barriers to disclosure
Fear of disclosing abuse by family or caregivers
Rejection by family and community
Untrained service providers unable to support
Vulnerability to self-destructive behavior
Adolescent boys forcibly recruited face challenges to reintegration into the family and community
Physical, psychological, psychosocial consequences
Similar to adult male survivors
Depression, anxiety, aggression, social withdrawal, questioning of sexuality are all common

6. Quote by a Service Provider
‘You will even get a boy who has been sodomized for five years or two years or two weeks or three months and he is saying nothing because he is [thinking], “I’m a man. I’m supposed to be strong, you know… If this guy was able rape me, for example, there must be a problem with me.” He’s thinking, “I was not man enough to protect myself.”’
Service Provider, Nairobi, Kenya, 14 February 2014.

7. Challenges Faced by Families/Caregivers
Feelings of shock, disbelief, stress, guilt
Feelings of betrayal and anger towards perpetrators who are close friends or family
Tension between parents and other forms of dysfunction within the family
Fear of stigmatization and exclusion
Inability to provide emotional support, physical safety, economic stability necessary for recovery
Rejection of former family or caregivers by the boy
Unwillingness by boy survivor to reintegrate
Forced recruits may not be willing to resume a role as a child by, for example, going to school

8. Quote by the Mother of a Boy Survivor
‘I went to [name of agency omitted] to ask if they could help me to take him to school. They told me that they cannot take someone who is traumatized like him in school. As I have five children, I asked them to take others to the government school, but they refused. They are at home, not studying, with this one who I have to take everywhere I go. It gives me a headache. I don’t know what to do. That is the problem I have in Kampala. I fear for the others to be raped also because all of them are at home not doing anything.’
Mother of Refugee Boy Survivor, Kampala, Uganda, 27 February 2014.

9. Strategies to Engage Parents and Caregivers in SGBV Response
Involve families in the development of and fulfillment of Best Interest Assessment recommendations
Build connections between families of returning child military recruits with reintegration experts
“DDR” = disarmament, demobilization, reintegration
Identify community resources for support
Provide support groups for parents and caregivers of survivors
Strengthen family and caregivers’ psychological and economic resilience

10. Strategies to Engage Parents and Caregivers in SGBV Prevention
Include SGBV against boys and men in community SGBV trainings and outreach
Facilitate parents’/caregivers’ access to holistic community support mechanisms
For example, to ensure boys go to school and travel safely outside the home
Work with parents’/caregivers’ to mitigate risks of SGBV
Examine the living environment, neighborhood, school, broader community

11. Summary
The “Best Interest of the Child” is at the core of SGBV response for refugee boy survivors
Parents and caregivers need to take an active role in the recovery of boy survivors ensuring their safety, wellbeing and development
Younger and adolescent boys have different needs – e.g., boys returning from forced military recruitment may be resistant to reintegration
Many of the physical, psychological and psychosocial responses in boys are similar to those in adult male survivors
Both caregivers and boy survivors should benefit from SGBV prevention and response programs