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: Minority Women Deliberately Targeted for Rape: Report

Women from minority and indigenous communities are targeted for rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and killings specifically because of their ethnic, religious or indigenous identity, Minority Rights Group International says in its 2011 annual report launched Tuesday.

RWANDA: 17 Years Later, Rwandan Children Feel Effects of Genocide

The lingering effects of the 1994 Rwandan genocide continue to be felt among the country's children, particularly the one million orphans and vulnerable children living in the country.

While the 100-day killing spree that was the Rwandan genocide has been over for about seventeen years. The consequences of the ethnic violence in the spring of 1994 are still confronting children in Rwanda today.

DRC: Battling for Gender Equality in the Congo

"The soldiers were calling 'dinner, dinner, dinner'. And we women who were in the forest thought people were bringing dinner for them. It was not that.

LIBERIA: Liberia Tackles Sexual Violence Head On

Korlu, a young mother of two, lives on the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital here.

A high school dropout, Korlu, who declined to give her last name for safety reasons, says when she was a teen, she became pregnant.

"My parents put me out of their house because they couldn't bear the shame of me getting pregnant," she says.

INTERNATIONAL/UNITED STATES: The World's 5 Worst Places For Women -- And How U.S. Policy Helped Make Them That Way

When checking the nuclear ambitions of dictators or building “democracy” in Baghdad, politicians tend to justify foreign policy by touting America as an international “beacon” of freedom and equality. A new report on the world's five most dangerous countries for women is a predictable listing of places not yet reached by the light of America's democratic promise.

CYPRUS: US Places Cyprus On Sex-Trafficking 'Watch List'

CYPRUS has been placed on the US' sex trafficking watch list after failing to meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, failing to show evidence of increased efforts to do so and ‘woefully inadequate' punishments.

DRC: UN Renews Congo Peacekeepers in Light of Rape Epidemic

The United Nations Refugee Agency reported this month that 170 women were raped during a raid on a village by an armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Women between the ages of 17 and 90 were sexually assaulted. The paramilitary group also stole medicine, goats, motorcycles and cell phones.

SERBIA: National Conference "Response to Violence Against Women In Family and Partner Relations"

State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and National Director of project “Fight against sexual and gender-based violence” Snezana Lakicevic will open the National conference “Response to violence against women in family and partner relations” on 29 June at 9.30 at the Deputies' Club, Tolstojeva 2.

INTERNATIONAL: Malta put on Trafficking Watchlist

Malta, Cyprus and Estonia have been put on a watch list by the US for allegedly failing to stop high levels of human trafficking.

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