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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DRC: New Laws Have Little Impact on Sexual Violence in DRC

Five years after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) revised its laws against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), these crimes continue to go unpunished because of judicial inaction and a legal culture at odds with the changes. The laws, ignored and misinterpreted, have left escalating numbers of sexual violence survivors unprotected, and perpetrators free to violate again.

EL SALVADOR: Violence Against Women Rises in El Salvador

Non-governmental organization Salvadoran Women for Peace (Organizacion de Mujeres Salvadorenas por la Paz - ORMUSA), which tracks violence against women, reported that, according to police statistics, there were 160 such murders committed in the country in the first three months of the year.

RWANDA: Refugees Seek Ways to End their Predicament

Have you ever imagined what internally displaced persons go through? Imagine war breaks out and you flee but have no destination. Imagine the harsh reality of losing your child because of cholera outbreak necessitated by the inhuman conditions in which internally displaced persons live as they run away to safe-areas.

INTERNATIONAL: Ending Rape in War

After curving through miles of Quebec's countryside, the road to Montebello arrives at an enormous log cabin along the Ottawa River. Busloads of women pull up, from Rwanda, Colombia, the Congo, Mexico, Bosnia, Burma -- women who think they can change the world.

ZIMBABWE: Elections in 2011 Would Be Catastrophic

Civic society leaders in Mutare say holding elections this year would be a recipe for disaster.

LIBYA: Libya Mass Rape Claims: Using Viagra Would be a Horrific First

The international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague has previously launched investigations into the alleged use of systematic rape as a weapon against the civilian population by leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and militia groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

BANGLADESH: Dangerous Decline of Values

In recent times, Bangladesh has been witnessing a sharp and steep decline in social and moral values -- values that dignify and distinguish a society. Everyday newspapers carry series of harrowing, gruesome tales that were unheard of a few decades ago. What has happened that the Bangladeshi society is sadly sliding into such a social and moral depravity?

DRC: Congo Rape Victims See Glimmer of Justice

In early April, when 14-year-old Amina said her rapist had been arrested and would stand trial, the reporter interviewing her kept silent.

Congolese journalist Jack Kahorha later explained: Someone must have lied to Amina to make her feel safe. When rapists are arrested, he said, they usually get out of jail within a few days.

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