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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KENYA: Girls Ask Court to Force Police to Prosecute Rape Cases

Hundreds of Kenyan girls, including some as young as three years old, filed a petition in the High Court on Thursday to try to force the police to investigate and prosecute rape cases they say have been ignored.

The group of more than 240 girls accuse police of demanding bribes to investigate rape, refusing to record rapes unless the victims produced witnesses, and claiming victims had consented.

CAMBODIA: Cambodia Acid Attack Law Raises Hopes, Concerns

The attack, in September 2011, left the 50-year-old mother of three with no right eye, 50 percent vision in the left and many disfiguring scars. With no income, she has had to rely on the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) for the seven operations she has undergone. She faces a precarious future.

CAMBODIA: Sexual Violence Recounted During KR Regime

Sok Samith told of her Vietnamese friend impregnated by rape, forced to work in shackles and then sent to prison where she gave birth before being executed. And Kim Thavy, now a slight 80-year-old, outlived more than 600 women held in a detention center who were taken away in large groups by guards “to be played with.” None ever returned, but Ms.

GUATEMALA: Army's Former Sex Slaves Testify in Guatemala

“In the garrison they had rooms where they would rape us; sometimes there were three, four or five soldiers,” Rosa Pérez*, one of the women used by the Guatemalan army as a sex slave during this country's civil war, testified in court.

MALI: Women Primary Victims of Violence in Northern Mali, Says UN Rights Official

Concluding a four-day visit to Mali, a top United Nations human rights official today cited ongoing abuses in the northern part of the country, and highlighted the plight of women, whose rights have been particularly restricted.

PAKISTAN: Violence Behind High Suicide Ratio in Chitral Women

Legal Awareness Programme for Human Rights (LAPH) organised the workshop to sensitise journalists to the issue and ways to address it.

The speakers apprised participants of different manifestations of gender-based violence and said women in the district were vulnerable to violence at home, workplace and educational institutions.

IRAQ: Salbi Discusses Iraqi Women's Rights

Zainab Salbi, the founder of the nonprofit humanitarian organization Women for Women International and author of “The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope,” criticized the United States for contributing to Iraqi women's diminishing social position in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq in a lecture in Filene Auditorium on Thursday.

INTERNATIONAL: New Film Debut Shows Secret Tragedy of 'Honour' Based Violence

The Honour Based Violence Awareness Network says today the UNFPA – United Nations Population Fund statistics estimates that 5,000 “so-called honour” killings are committed around the world every year. Across the Western world there are rising levels of ‘honour' violence.

NICARAGUA: Nicaraguan Rights Groups Call Sexual Abuse an 'Epidemic'

Last month saw two major stories involving sexual abuse in the headlines of Nicaraguan newspapers. First came the account of a mentally and physically disabled 12-year-old girl allegedly raped by four policemen and a security guard 30 meters from the presidential compound in the capital. Three policemen were arrested, but not the guard, who local media reported works for a company with political ties to a top Sandinista leader.

INTERNATIONAL: U.N. Women Demands End to Impunity for Wartime Rape and Violence

“The fact remains that women's bodies remain a battleground, and impunity remains the norm rather than the exception,” said Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile and the current executive director of U.N. Women. “The experience of women during and after conflict continues to be one of violence and insecurity.”

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