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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INTERNATIONAL: When the Numbers Don't Add Up: Researchers and Media Struggle with Stats on Sexualized Violence

In January 2011, The Economist published the number of women raped in six conflicts, including an estimate of 500,000 women raped in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Many readers may have taken these statistics at face value. In fact, however, estimates of rape in Rwanda range from 250,000 to 500,000 and are based on the number of reported pregnancies from rape, which underestimates prevalence.

INTERNATIONAL: Can we End Rape as Tool of War?

We first thought about starting this piece with the story of Saleha Begum, a survivor of Bangladesh's 1971 war in which, some reports say, as many as 400,000 women were raped. Begum had been tied to a banana tree and repeatedly gang raped and burned with cigarettes for months until she was shot and left for dead in a pile of women. She didn't die, though, and was able to return home, ravaged and five months pregnant.

ZIMBABWE: Rape at the Border: How Immigration Officials Are Abusing Women in Zimbabwe

As we were growing up, we used to hear a story about Nigerian immigration that best illustrated corruption in Africa: it was said when travelling into Nigeria, you had to pay a bribe to the immigration officials even if all your papers were in order. If you neglected to pay the mandatory bribe, the official would return your passport to you and say a page was missing from your passport.

SOUTH EAST ASIA: Burma's Rebels: Women Demand a Say

Generally speaking, women have not exactly been conspicuous among the leaders of the ethnic minorities that are at odds with the Burmese central government. But that may be changing.

BANGLADESH: Suffering Beyond a War

Scholar Yasmin Saikia talks about the untold stories from the 1971 Bangladesh war that led her to write Women, War and the Making of Bangladesh.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Using Performing Arts to End Violence Against Women in Papua New Guinea

Dramatizing violence! That's the motto of the community-based Seeds Theatre Group to address violence against women and girls in the densely populated communities of the Lae District in the Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

UGANDA: DRC Militia Raping Women in Kisoro

The government has expressed concerned about militia groups from the Democratic Republic of Congo who are on rampage in western Uganda.

The Minister of Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru says the militia groups infiltrated the country as part of the refugees fleeing renewed tension in DRC.

Musa Ecweru says there are militia reported in Kisoro district roaming gang raping women, killing, looting and causing insecurity.

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