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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SUDAN: Women Stand Up For Their Rights in New Repuclic of South Sudan

Just a few days after independence was declared, the South Sudan Women Lawyers Association (SSWLA) issued a rallying call to supporters of women's rights, demanding greater equality and human rights for the women of South Sudan.

MEXICO: Women Targeted By Mexico Drug Violence

Many female migrants from Mexico to the U.S. have been displaced by violence, often linked to organized crime, with Mexican women targeted by sex traffickers, gender-based killings, and often recruited by criminal gangs themselves.

NEPAL: Women and Peace at Grassroots Level in Nepal

The ten year long armed conflict started by the Communist Party of Nepal -Maoist (CPN Maoist), with the objective of establishing a Republican state, claimed more than 13,000 lives and forced millions to live as internally displaced.

AFGHANISTAN: Women and Reconciliation: What are the Concerns?

Peace is not made with friends, it is made with enemies. Peace deals are then about finding a minimum common ground and making compromises: It comes at a cost, but the price is not necessarily equal for everybody. Sari Kouvo, AAN Senior Analyst, discusses some of the key themes that came up in her meetings with Afghan women about reconciliation and what is needed to make peace in Afghanistan.

DRC: Women Politicians

Political parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling to recruit women into their ranks to run for parliament, despite a legal requirement to do so and a belief that greater numbers of female parliamentarians are critical to advancing women's rights.

HORN OF AFRICA: Dadaab Refugees Face Sexual Violence on Camp Journey

Somali women who have escaped drought and war in their home country to Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp tell CBC News they faced desperate journeys where sexual violence is commonplace, but risk being marginalized by other refugees if their stories of abuse are heard.

INTERNATIONAL: No Peace Until Women Are Respected

Women are particularly good at building peace and creating social change. On August 9, 1956, 20 000 women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act of 1950 – the infamous apartheid-era “pass laws” that sought to restrict where people could live and work on the basis of race.

INTERNATIONAL: Peacekeepers' Sex Scandals Linger, On Screen and Off

On screen, two senior United Nations officials in Bosnia are arguing about firing Kathy Bolkovac, an American police officer battling to stop peacekeepers from both trafficking in young women and frequenting the brothels where they became indentured prostitutes. “It is a point of honor for me that the U.N.

LIBYA: Women Who Defied al-Gaddafi Regime Not Spared From Brutal Jails

One of the grimmest features of the armed conflict in Libya has been the spate of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of thousands of suspected opponents of Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi. Some are still missing, while those who have been freed bring back tales of torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.

IRAQ: Female Trafficking Soars in Iraq

Rania was 16 years old when officials raped her during Saddam Hussein's 1991 crackdown in Iraq's Shia south. "My brothers were sentenced to death, and the price to stop this was to offer my body," she says.

Cast out for bringing ‘shame' to her family, Rania ran away to Baghdad and soon fell into living and working in Baghdad's red light district.

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