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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LEBANON: Media Key to Empowering Women: Experts

Media must play a larger role in empowering women in Lebanon and the wider the Middle East and North Africa region, a chorus of United Nations experts said Tuesday.

The collection of regional experts assembled at the U.N.'s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia headquarters in Downtown Beirut for a two-day conference on improving gender-based equality and promoting regional female participation.

LEBANON: Most Physical Abuse of Women Occurs at Home, Report Shows

Domestic violence accounts for around half of all reported cases of physical abuse in Lebanon, according to a report released Tuesday.

The “Women's complaints between the Penal Code and the Protection Law,” study was conducted by KAFA (Enough Violence and Discrimination) in the Mount Lebanon region during 2009 and 2010.

SIERRA LEONE: Appeal: Raped by the Enemy, Shunned by Friends

Saidata Forna is not sure of her exact age. But she was less than 15 when she was captured by rebel soldiers during Sierra Leone's civil war in the dusty town of Makeni in the centre of the country – and turned into a sex slave.

SOUTH AFRICA: Violence, Exploitation Fail to Dissuade Female Migrants

Since arriving in Cape Town five years ago, Erina Manyene (not her real name) has eked out a meagre living picking up shifts doing laundry and cleaning other people's homes in the city's leafy southern suburbs.

ZIMBABWE: Gender Violence Under Spotlight

THIRTY-TWO year-old Chipo Banda (not her real name) has lost count of the number of times she has had to lie to explain to workmates how she periodically spots swollen eyes, scars and bruises that have become constant features on her face. None of her friends know that her disfigured face is a result of beatings from her husband for what she described as “silliest of reasons”.

SOMALIA: Rapists Stalk Women in Somali Refugee Camps

The three masked gunmen burst into Asha Muse Ali's tent at night and grabbed every item of value they could find: $85 in cash, a cell phone and a gold ring.

Then the attackers embarked on a crime that carries a severe social stigma in this conservative Muslim country: They raped Ali and her aunt.

DRC: Women's Bodies 'Battleground' in Nation

Maria Malele, 20, looks down at her hands while she explains in her native Swahili how she was gang-raped by rebels in her home in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), six months ago.

SOMALIA: Women at Risk in Conservative Somalia: Refugees Face Rape Attacks from Gangs of Men

GALKAYO, Somalia - Aid workers in Somalia say they are seeing an alarming number of rapes in refugee camps housing those who fled violence in Mogadishu.

The Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development said it has documented 51 cases of rape against women in camps in the Somali town of Galkayo this year. Last year the centre documented 104 cases. Many cases go unreported.

DRC: Colonel on UN Blacklist for Alleged Rapes and Murders

A UN Security Council committee has placed four people from the Great Lakes on the UN sanctions list, including Democratic Republic of Congo Lieutenant Colonel Innocent Zimurinda. The US, UK and French permanent missions to the UN issued the statement, saying that those on the list will be subject to a worldwide travel ban and asset freeze.

DRC: MCC Supports Congolese Women Calling for an End to the Violence Against Women

In solidarity with thousands of women who have been sexually assaulted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, five Mennonite Congolese women joined an international rally of women calling for peace, demilitarization and the end of violence against women.

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