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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COTE D'IVOIRE: Ivory Coast Marches on International Women's Day end in Bloodshed

Marches by thousands of women in protest at Ivory Coast's president Laurent Gbagbo have ended in bloodshed after his army killed four people.

The women made their stand on International Women's Day, less than a week after Gbagbo's soldiers killed seven women at a peaceful demonstration, earning worldwide condemnation.

NEPAL: Nepal Commits to Post-Conflict Support and Participation

The United Nations Security Council, in resolutions 1325 and 1820, recognized that women and girls need protection and support during and following all conflicts, and called for women's full participation in peacebuilding.

HAITI: Women Key to Haitian Rebuilding

Voters in Haiti go to the polls on Sunday, March 20, 2011 to elect a new president and a new Parliament. Those elected will face daunting challenges as Haiti rebuilds itself: quake-related devastation, systemic poverty, ongoing crises in the delivery of basic services such as health care and education, and violence.

PAKISTAN: Govt Committed to Empower Women, Girls: Sharmila

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Women Wing Sindh Information Secretary Ms Sharmila Farooqui left here on Sunday for the United States to attend the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day to be held next week in Washington under the aegis of the State Department and its programme `Year of Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges'.

INTERNATIONAL: Feminism's Global Challenge: With One Voice

In the western world the greatest triumph of spin in the last century is reflected in attitudes to feminism. Our struggle for emancipation and equality has been surreptitiously rewritten as a harpy bra-burning contest while elsewhere, in less affluent parts of the world, the response is altogether different.

ALBANIA: Albanians Divided On Women's International Day

While hundreds of women protested on International Women's Day against Albania's Prime Minister Sali Berisha, others joined him in a party to mark the occasion.

During the protests held in front of Berisha's office, which was organised by the opposition, on Tuesday, Socialist MPs accused Berisha of abusing their rights.

INTERNATIONAL: On 100th International Women's Day, UN Warns That Discrimination Still Endures

One hundred years after more than a million women poured out onto the streets around the world on the first International Women's Day, the United Nations used the anniversary today to warn that despite the gains made much remains to be done to eliminate gender discrimination.

EGYPT: New Egypt Inherits Old Egypt's Sexual Violence

The sexual assault on CBS news correspondent Lara Logan at the hands of 200 Egyptian men in Tahrir Square the night former president Hosni Mubarak resigned came as no surprise to any woman who has been to or lived in the country. Logan, who was in the heart of Tahrir Square in the midst of the frenzy of celebration, was sexually assaulted and beaten for almost 30 minutes.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ivory Coast Eyewitness: Women 'Saughtered by Soldiers'

The UN refugee agency says parts of Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, resemble a war zone. On Thursday, security forces shot dead at least six women marching in support of Alassane Ouattara, witnesses say. Mr Ouattara is recognised by the UN as the winner of November's presidential election, but Laurent Gbagbo has refused to concede power.

KASHMIR: Women Speak in Kashmir, Call for End to Violence

Perhaps for the first time since inception of armed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmiri women broke silence over the continued violence in the state of which the women folk has been the prime victim.

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