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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Power, Empowerment and Violence against Women, Study Violence as backlash against womens activism

How best can international development agencies and indigenous NGOs support the efforts of women in the countries where they work to challenge the violence against them? What is development, who are the intended beneficiaries, and at what cost? The next section will argue that violence against women has often been framed as a concern for development agencies in narrowly economic terms.

SYRIA: Women and Children Among Dead in Syrian Alawite Village: Monitors

The death toll from an alleged massacre in an Alawite village in central Syria has risen to 22, including women, children and elderly men, a rights monitoring group said on Thursday.

HAITI: Haiti PM Seeks Legislation to Protect Privacy of Rape Victims

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) - On Tuesday, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said he would be supporting the drafting of laws to protect the identity of victims of rape in Haiti. Currently in Haiti, no laws are in place to compel law enforcement to keep undisclosed the identity of persons who bring complaints of sexual violence.

COLOMBIA: Breaking Colombia's Silence Over Its War Rape Victims

Preyed on by armed men at beauty pageants and at school gates and then raped. Forced into sex slavery. Gang-raped as a punishment.

Colombian academic Maria Emma Wills has spent years collecting such testimonies from women and girls across the country in an effort to document the impact of sexual violence and other war crimes on civilians carried out by warring factions during the country's 50-year-old war.

Power, Empowerment and Violence against Women, Study

In the context of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and of the genocide in Rwanda, reports of sexual violence appeared regularly in the global media.

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia Passes Law Against Domestic Violence

Saudi Arabia has passed legislation aimed at protecting women, children and domestic staff against domestic abuse, a human rights official said on Thursday.

The protection from abuse law is the first of its kind in a country that has often been criticised for lacking legislation that protects women and domestic workers against abuse.

SOMALIA: Displaced Women,Somali Camps

Rape and sexual violence pose a “constant threat” to women and children living in camps for displaced people in Somalia, Amnesty International said on Friday.

COLOMBIA: Colombia's Peace Process: Implications for Displaced Populations Are Overlooked

Media coverage of the Colombian peace process has focused on the politics surrounding the talks in Havana. Some have accused representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) of using stall tactics, and President Santos has signaled a willingness to adjust his self-imposed timeline, indicating that a peace agreement is unlikely to materialize before the original deadline of November 2013.

AFGHANISTAN: Karzai: A Legacy of Failure on Afghan Women's Rights?

As the departure of the international security forces approaches, each day turns every bit of hope into desperation for advocates of Afghan women's rights. In 2010, soon after the United States announced the planned withdrawal of NATO and international forces at the end of 2014, Afghan women leaders communicated to SRSG Estefan de Mistura their concrete agenda for sustainable peace.

RWANDA: RDF Officers Acquire Skills to Respond to Sexual Violence

Fifty Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) officers yesterday concluded a two-day course on "prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence in peacekeeping theatres."

The training took place at Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District.

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