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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TURKEY: Lawlessness Sweeps Kurdish Town

Hundreds of security forces have been deployed in the Kurdish town of Chamchamal after a wave of unsolved murders moved residents to demand government intervention.

Locals claim a bloody tribal vendetta has spilled onto the streets, making revenge killings and rapes a common occurrence in this community some 20 kilometres from the disputed town of Kirkuk.

MEXICO: "Get Your Rosaries out of Our Ovaries!" War on Mexican Women

"Sacan Sus Rosarios De Nuestras Ovarios!" The women, some of them bare-breasted, linked arms and chanted at the men in suits who were dashing towards the barricaded doors of the colonial edifice that houses the local congress in the central Mexican city of Queretero.

EAST AFRICA: Sexual Abuse Highest in East Africa

Cases of gender-based sexual violence are higher in the Great Lakes region than any other part of the world, regional security officials have disclosed.

The disclosure was made on Wednesday during a security meeting of officials from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Angola and Zambia in Kampala.

DRC: Sexual Violence Prevention and Re-integration Funding

While medical and psychological care are being provided to survivors of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where 7,000 women and girls have been raped this year alone, UN and aid workers on the ground say the funding response has been too narrow, leaving key issues inadequately addressed.

UGANDA: Female Circumcision Still a Vote Winner

Over three decades ago a 14-year-old girl, her sister and a group of young teenagers from Bukwo headed to the River Amana for a ceremony that would change their lives forever.

Since her childhood, Gertrude Chebet had been told of the day she would become a woman. She was led to believe it would be a great moment of change and it was something to look forward to with much joy.

PAKISTAN: Empowering women

Finally the National Assembly passed the Protection Against Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2009 after the Criminal Law Amendment Bill was adopted by the Senate. The latter was part of the comprehensive bill passed by the National Assembly on workplace harassment and had been passed there in November 2009 but due to the opposition of the religious parties in the Senate, it faced some delay.

HONDURAS: Honduran Military Coup Reverses Women's Gains In Human Rights

The military coup d'état in Honduras on June 28 has seriously eroded democratic institutions and hard-fought gains in women's human rights and human rights in general.

DRC: Congolese "brutally deported" from Angola

Thousands of Congolese citizens are being deported from Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under alarming circumstances, say humanitarian workers.

"The deportees have nothing with them, everything was taken; there are cases of violence, rape and sexual abuse," said Severine Flores, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

PAKISTAN: Violence Against Women Eclipses Liberation in 2009

While women in Pakistan are being liberated in the world of today, violence against them is still alarmingly high, and those living in hostels or on there own are particularly vulnerable, said rights activists.

COLOMBIA: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War

Sexual violence is used as a weapon of war in Colombia by all parties in the country's longstanding armed conflict, and its main victims are women and girls, states a report recently released by Intermón Oxfam, backing up claims made repeatedly by national and international human rights groups.

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