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.

For more resources on this Critical Issue, visit PeaceWomen Resource Center >>

BURMA : Kachin Raped, Killed by Burmese Troops


Seven Kachin women have been raped in separate attacks by Burmese troops in the country's north, four of whom were subsequently murdered, a rights group has told DVB.

All incidents occurred in or close to Bhamo district in Kachin state, where additional battalions of Burmese soldiers have been deployed in the past fortnight to fight the insurgent Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

PAKISTAN: Pakistan Militants Force Girl to Wear Suicide Vest

An eight-year-old Pakistani girl was kidnapped by Islamist militants who forced her to wear a suicide vest to attack security forces, police said on Monday.

Police produced the girl, identified as Sohana Javaid, before a news conference broadcast on Pakistani television channels.

The girl recalled how she was kidnapped from her hometown of Peshawar and brought to the Lower Dir district in the northwest.

DRC: Hillary's Broken Vow to Congo Women

On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returned from a whirlwind tour through Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania, on which she sat down with national leaders and spoke on the benefits of fair crossborder trade and the importance of ending relations with Moammar Khadafy's Libya.

LIBYA: Clinton Accuses Kadhafi of Using Rape as a Tool

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the forces of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Thursday of using rape and violence against women as "tools of war."

Clinton said the United States was "deeply concerned" by reports of widescale rape in Libya and "troubled" by reports that governments across the Middle East and North Africa were using sexual violence to punish protesters.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Oral Statement to the Human Rights Council On Cote d'Ivoire - Delivered On June 15, 2011 by Human Rights Watch

The Cote d'Ivoire Commission of Inquiry has rightly highlighted the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by armed forces loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo and President Alassane Ouattara. The Commission's mandate should be extended until September to publish a longer report that includes the breadth of its fieldwork.

BURMA: Oral Statement Delivered by Ms. Mariana Duarte on Behalf of Conectas Direitos Humanos

17th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Item 6: Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Plenary on Burma/Myanmar
Oral Statement Delivered by Ms. Mariana Duarte on Behalf of
Conectas Direitos Humanos

INTERNATIONAL : Peace Laureates Take on the War on Women


Members of the Nobel Women's Initiative are marshaling their collective wisdom and experience to tackle the challenge of ending rape as a weapon of war.

"Violence starts in the mind, so we have to start by changing the minds of men and women all over the world." Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, democracy leader in Burma, participated in the conference by video.

SOUTH ASIA: South Asia's Growing Modernity Masks Women's Plight

South Asia may boast a number of women leaders and be home to cultures that revere motherhood and worship female deities, but many women live with the threat of appalling violence and without many basic rights.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: The Worst Places in the World for Women: Congo

The price of womanhood came brutally to Odette, born in a wartorn country often dubbed "the rape capital of the world".

The 18-year-old from Minova recalls the day that members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), came to her village in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and scarred her life for ever.

SOMALIA: Interview - Somalia 'Worst Place to be a Woman', says Minister

A Thomson Reuters Foundation poll may have found that Afghanistan is the most dangerous place to be a woman, but Somalia's women's minister is astonished any country could be worse than her own.

"I'm completely surprised because I thought Somalia would be first on the list, not fifth," said Maryan Qasim.

Pages