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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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Refugee Women Launch Musical Campaign Against Violence Against Women

Four musical sisters are launching a campaign to raise awareness about violence against women. It's called “That Could Be Me” and asks Winnipeggers to imagine what it's like to live in fear.


“You take yourself into the position that those people are going through, and you feel their pain and the situation they're going through. So that is why we're doing this,” says Sylvie Bahati.

MALI: Malian Lawyer Builds Peace and Hope

The stories of gang-rape, forced marriage and fathers being forced to rape their own daughters at gunpoint keep her awake at night. Saran Keïta Diakité has listened to countless women recount the atrocities that the people of her war-torn country (Mali) have endured at the hands of armed groups since a military coup d'état in March 2012.

SOUTH SUDAN: Sexual Violence Soars in South Sudan

JUBA, 13 May 2014 (IRIN) - Sexual and gender-based violence might not be a new phenomenon in South Sudan, but the current crisis and the near absence of protection for civilians has exacerbated it, analysts say.

INDIA: India Politics So Dangerous to Women They Keep Out

NEW DELHI (WOMENSENEWS)--The alleged gang rape of a 32-year-old Muslim woman, associated with the predominantly Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, by members of her own community last month reportedly as punishment for her political affiliation drew international and national attention, and safety activists are waiting to learn more.

INDONESIA: Aceh Rape Victim Caning Prompts Soul Searching in Indonesia

Jakarta. The order by authorities in Aceh to have a woman and her married lover caned for adultery, even after she had been gang-raped by vigilante enforcers of Shariah, has spurred a maelstrom of criticism and soul-searching about the place of Islamic jurisprudence in Muslim-majority but secular Indonesia.

CAMBODIA: Request to Investigate Khmer Rouge Sexual Violence Echoes Higher Global Profile

The Khmer Rouge have been blamed for many horrors in Cambodia, but until relatively recently the regime's use of sexual violence has not been well known.

Now the UN-backed war crimes tribunal has been asked to examine a range of allegations covering their period in power in the second half of the 1970s.

SOUTH SUDAN: Scores of Women Raped, Killed in Wave of Sexual Violence in South Sudan

Both parties in the war in South Sudan have used rape and extreme sexual violence resulting in the death of girls and women, according to a report based on eyewitness accounts by Amnesty International.

NEPAL: Law Minister Pledges Justice for VAW Victims

Minister for Law and Justice Narahari Acharya today met women' rights activists, who are staging a sit-in protest at Bhadrakali to press for the fulfilment of a 10-point charter of demands.

NIGERIA: Coalition Calls for Release of Abducted Schoolgirls

A coalition of civil society groups, human rights activists and other good spirited Nigerians led by Women for Peace and Justice, yesterday held a one million-man march in Lagos to call for the release of the kidnapped Chibok girls.

AFGHANISTAN: In Spite of the Law, Afghan 'Honor Killings' of Women Continue

An 18-year-old runaway named Amina agreed two weeks ago to leave the women's shelter in which she had taken refuge in northern Afghanistan and go home with her brother and her uncle.

What happened next is a cautionary tale for two young people from Bamian Province who eloped and are still in hiding, even as some activists are trying to persuade them to turn themselves in.

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