Closing the protection gap for children born of war- Addressing the stigmatisation and intergenerational impact of sexual violence in conflict

The report examines gendered and intergenerational harms to these children and their mothers, in particular the stigma and discrimination they endure. In this regard the report complements the practical guidelines for raising awareness of and responding to stigma presented in the Principles for Global Action on tackling the stigma associated with Conflict Related Sexual Violence launched by the UK government in 2017. But it also makes an important contribution to existing scholarship on children born of war and the structural gender-based discrimination that underpins stigma by examining conceptual frameworks, drawing together interdisciplinary strands and testing them through fieldwork in Colombia and Uganda. It is grounded in international human rights law, notably the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. While acknowledging that a rights- based approach alone is insufficient to address the long lasting risks and harms faced by these children and their mothers, it nevertheless reminds us that women, peace and security is at its heart a human rights agenda. Its policy recommendations include endorsement of the call for the expert committees established under the human rights treaties, especially CEDAW and CROC, to engage on this issue from the perspective of women’s and children’s rights.