Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) theme focuses on the incidence and prevalence of violence against women in conflict and post-conflict settings. Polarisation of gender roles, proliferation of weapons, militarisation, and the breakdown of law influence SGBV.

The risk of SGBV is heightened during conflict by aggravating factors, including the polarization of gender roles, the proliferation of arms, the militarization of society, and the breakdown of law and order. The subsequent long-term and complex impacts of SGBV continue to affect individuals and communities after conflict ends.

SGBV is addressed in all five resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. In SCR 1888, the Security Council expresses its intention to ensure peacekeeping mandate resolutions contain provisions on the prevention of, and response to, sexual violence, with corresponding reporting requirements to the Council (OP11). The resolutions deal with protecting women from violence (1820,OP3, 8-10; 1888,OP3,12); strengthening local and national institutions to assist victims of sexual violence (1820,OP13; 1888,OP13); and including strategies to address sexual violence in post-conflict peacebuilding processes (1820,OP11). SCR 1820 also calls for the participation of women in the development of mechanisms intended to protect women from violence (OP10).

Lastly, SCR 1960 creates institutional tools and teeth to combat impunity and outlines specific steps needed for both the prevention of and protection from conflict-related sexual violence. The new “naming and shaming,” listing mechanism mandated in the Resolution is a step forward in bringing justice for victims and a recognition that sexual violence is a serious violation of human rights and international law.

Addressing SGBV is an integral aspect of the overall Women, Peace and Security agenda. SGBV affects the health and safety of women, and also has significant impact on economic and social stability. The Security Council recognises that sexual violence can threaten international peace and security, and that it is frequently used as a tactic of war to dominate, humiliate, terrorise, and displace.

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ONLINE DIALOGUE/BLOG: Words alone won't end violence against women in armed conflict

Last year, as rebels captured the main towns in northern Mali, UN Women registered a sudden and dramatic increase in rapes, not least in Gao and Kidal, regions where most women never report such violence to anyone, not even health practitioners.

IMPLEMENTATION: Cambodia: Demanding Justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge

As the United Nations Security Council adopts a new resolution on conflict-related sexual violence today, we detail the efforts of a UN Trust Fund-supported programme that works to ensure that sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge during the 1974-1979 genocide in Cambodia is never forgotten.

ONLINE DIALOGUE/BLOG: Security Council Resolution on Sexual Violence: Ending Impunity and Affirming Women's Empowerment

In the lead up to the UN Security Council Open Debate and resolution on sexual violence in conflict June 24th, WILPF reminded states that sexual violence in conflict is a failure to implement all elements of the full Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Rather than provide Band Aid solutions, we urged them to address root causes of such violence in militarized inequality and take concrete steps to move from resolution to action.

ONLINE DIALOGUE/BLOG: Stand in Solidarity With the Women of Haiti

Take a moment to imagine life in constant fear of sexual violence.

Imagine trying to survive without police protection, without adequate housing, without the ability to petition the courts for justice. Contemplate life without access to medical care to meet your basic physical needs following an assault -- let alone your need to recover from the mental and emotional trauma.

COLOMBIA: Rape in Colombia's War Unearthed

Brigitte Carreño was only 12 when a warlord whose ­anti-guerrilla fighters had occupied this hamlet decided to make her his own.

So one night, he lured the tiny, effervescent schoolgirl to the dark and dank headquarters he used to plan operations against Marxist rebels.

And then he raped her.

INITIATIVE: Breaking the Silence: Confronting Rape in Post-War Libya

After thirty years abroad, Amal* returned to Libya in early 2011 to join the armed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, the country's former leader. On her first day on the front line she met a 17-year-old girl who had been gang-raped by Gaddafi soldiers.

CONFERENCE/MEETING: Women and Peacebuilding in the Great Lakes region

On 4th June 2013, the Permanent Mission of Ireland organized and hosted a High Level Panel discussion on Women and Peacebuilding in the Great Lakes region, with the participation of Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Mary Robinson; Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura; Development Minister of Ireland Joe Costello and women's civil society leader and Ugandan lawyer

STATEMENT: Lakshmi Puri's Remarks at TICAD V: "Women's Role in Sustainable Growth and Development, Peace and Security in Africa"

“Women's role in sustainable growth and development, peace and security in Africa,” Remarks by Lakshmi Puri, Acting Head of UN Women and Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, during the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, thematic session on “Driving Development through Gender Equality: Advancing Empowerment of Women” on 2 June, 2013, Tokyo, Japan.

DOCUMENTARY: Outlawed in Pakistan

When 13-year-old Kainat Soomro accused four men of gang rape, she risked everything: her reputation, her education and even her life. In Pakistan, just talking about rape and sexual violence is a cultural taboo. But bringing a case through the Pakistani courts and discerning truth from fiction is dangerous, complicated and, and as filmmakers Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann learned, fraught with challenges.

BLOG: The Women at the Forefront of Somalia's Future

For more than 20 years there has been a continuous stream of bad news where Somalia is concerned with images of war, famine and piracy. Now with Al Shabaaab driven out of Mogadishu, and the Somali Transitional Government and African Union in control of the capital, Somalia seems to have joined the Africa Rising tide, and interestingly the image of Somalia's new era of a peaceful future seems to be largely women.

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