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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EGYPT: HRW: Prosecute Sexual Assaults On Protesters

There is an escalating pattern of physical attacks by Egyptian military and police officers against women and male protesters, journalists, and activists in Cairo, some of which are sexual in nature, Human Rights Watch said today. News reports and images of protestors in Cairo being stripped, beaten, and dragged through the street in the past several days are just the latest incidents.

SUDAN: Government and SLM Blame Each Other for Murder of Two Women

The bodies of two women who had been raped and murdered in Gerud locality were found in the region of Kara, South Darfur on Sunday.

Speaking to a local radio station in Nyala on Monday, the government accused the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdul Wahid of carrying out the attack.

INTERNATIONAL: The Courage of Human Rights Defenders: Women Protesting Violence Are Often Met With Violence

Leymah Gbowee of Liberia was one of three women to be honored with the 2011 Nobel Prize. As a human rights defender, Gbowee identifies herself as a social worker and her community organizer focused on protesting the use war rape and child soldiers in Liberia's civil war.

GUATEMALA: Officials Working to Stop Violence Against Women

Six hundred fifty-one women in Guatemala have been killed so far this year, with 22% of them losing their lives in gang-related violence, often triggered by the victim's rejecting the killer's advances, according to the Presidential Commission against Femicide.

SWEDEN: Nobel Peace Prize Laureats: "You Have to Believe in Something"

Sharp statements about religion, powerful calls for international commmitments and resounding applause, marked the crowded seminar with the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Stockholm 12 December.

HONDURAS: Trials and Tenacity in Honduran Women's Struggle for Land Rights

Despite being denied, again, title to the land on which they have labored, there is no quit in this group of women from El Estribo.

Hurricanes, coups, fire and political manipulation are not stopping Blanca, Helia, Sofia, Narcisa and Maria from working the land left fallow by the Honduran state university and seeking legal title to it.

PERU: Women Fight for Justice on Forced Sterilisation

Peru's government has reopened an investigation into a controversial birth control programme of sterilisation. The announcement has brought fresh hope to the many women and men who feel their rights were violated.

"You give birth like pigs or hamsters!"

Aurelia Paccohuanca remembers those words uttered by nurses when she opposed what was being presented as a solution to Peru's extreme poverty.

NICARAGUA: Ignoring Sexual Violence in Nicaragua

Dominique Strauss-Kahn would not have lost his job if he was President of Nicaragua. He would have been re-elected. At least, that is what happened to the former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. Accusations that he sexually abused his stepdaughter did not seriously hurt his political career. Shielded by the judiciary and increasingly popular for his social programmes, Ortega went on to be re-elected President of Nicaragua this month.

CAMBODIA: Women Victims of Khmer Rouge Demand Transparency

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA: Net Saveoun was 18 when she was gang raped by Khmer Rouge soldiers. She was one of 30 women selected to “carry salt” and taken to the forest in Pursat province, western Cambodia in 1978. Each of them was beaten, brutalised and had their throat slit before being tossed into an open grave.

EGYPT: Women March Against Military Violence Against Them

CAIRO: Egyptian women, angered by the recent violence used against them in clashes between police and protesters that has left at least 14 dead and over 700 injured in Cairo over the past five days, marched towards Tahrir Square from different venues around the city on Tuesday.

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