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 >>

DRC: A Congolese Woman's Journey of Survival and Triumph

Suffering through the atrocities of war affects people in different ways. Some become crippled by anger, others by fear. Some become violent and want only revenge. And some, like Rose Mapendo, an inspiring survivor of the war and ethnic cleansing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, come out with a strong commitment to work for peace and reconciliation.

NEPAL: Women Raped by Security Personnel During Conflict Demand Compensation

Women who were raped by "security personnel" during the insurgency period have demanded that the government provide them compensation, state-owned news agency RSS reported Tuesday. They put forth the demand before the local Peace Committee which was collecting the details of conflict victims.

HAITI: Basics for Haiti

The list of what needs to be fixed in Haiti is distressingly long, and progress has been frustratingly slow. But two areas require urgent attention from the Haitian government and its main international backers, the United Nations and the United States:

COLOMBIA: Angelina Jolie Returns to Ecuador to Highlight Challenges Facing Refugees

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has returned to northern Ecuador to see how the situation has changed since she was last in the country eight years ago and to raise awareness about unaccompanied minors and violence against female refugees.

SIERRA LEONE: Impunity in Rape Cases Thrives

Police records in Sierra Leone show that after months of court appearances, Janice*, 35, dropped charges against the four men she said gang-raped her and then filled her vagina with sand. This is one of nearly 1,000 cases of sexual assault filed in 2009 in which the perpetrators were never punished.

PALESTINE: Volunteer in Palestine

Since 2002, the International Women's Peace Service in Palestine (IWPS-Palestine) has been documenting and non-violently intervening in human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli military and Israeli settlers in the Occupied West Bank against the Palestinian civilian population.

CHECHNYA: Paintball Attacks on Chechen Women Prompt Outrage

Women in Russia's volatile Muslim Chechnya region said on Friday that police had targeted them with paintball pellets for not wearing headscarves, outraging rights activists.

The attacks highlight tension over efforts by Chechnya's firebrand Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, to enforce Muslim-inspired rules that in some cases violate Russia's constitution.

HAITI: UVa Law Clinic Turns Attention to Haitian Rape Victims

On a quest to find a new project for the University of Virginia School of Law's International Human Rights Clinic, clinic director and law professor Deena Hurwitz headed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in early May with a delegation of lawyers to research gender-based violence. The group got a look at post-disaster Port-au-Prince from the perspective of displaced women and girls who had been raped in tent camps.

AFRICA: Women Do 'So much,' But Still Need Our Help

Men are many things, but there is at least one thing they are not. They are not women.

For Nonhlanhla (“Call me Noni”) Dlamini, that is a problem. “At the end of the day, men do not fetch water,” the high-spirited and dauntingly articulate African politician declared “Men do not do the cooking.”

KURDISTAN: Iraqi Kurdistan: Girls and Women Suffer the Consequences of Female Genital Mutilation

A significant number of girls and women in Iraqi Kurdistan suffer female genital mutilation (FGM) and its destructive after-effects, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. The Kurdistan Regional Government should take immediate action to end FGM and develop a long term plan for its eradication, including passing a law to ban the practice, Human Rights Watch said.

Pages