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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STATEMENT BY Ban Ki-moon, June 2, 2016.

Extract: 

Women and girls with children may need special medical and psycho-social support, and this must extend to the children themselves, who can suffer complete rejection.  
The shame and social stigma faced by these women and children should be redirected towards the brutal perpetrators of violence.

STATEMENT BY Ban Ki-moon, June 2, 2016.

Extract: 

The deployment of women protection advisors to peacekeeping and political missions has strengthened monitoring, analysis and reporting of conflict-related sexual violence and engagement with parties to conflict -- vital steps towards accountability.

Summer School of Women's Activism

AF3IRM’s annual Summer School of Women’s Activism (SSOWA) will soon usher in its sixth year on Saturday, July 16th. The sessions will be held over four Saturdays—July 16, 23, 30 + August 6th—from 11am to 4 pm. This year, the school will include interactive trainings, theory-building workshops, and interactive panels of women leaders representing different facets of feminism.

STATEMENT BY Ban Ki-moon (UN Secretary-General) AT THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL OPEN DEBATE ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY, 2 JUNE 2016

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Statements.pdf

Summer School of Women's Activism

AF3IRM Women's Activism Summer School.pdf

Statement by Lisa Davis, June 2, 2016

Extract: 

Women and girls face daily threats from both combatants and non-combatants, including rape, trafficking, and other rights violations as they flee conflict-related violence. They are at risk in displacements camps, and when leaving camps to conduct essential livelihood activities. In many of these settings, gender-based violence is also perpetrated by intimate partners, family members, and civilians including humanitarian aid staff. 

Statement by Lisa Davis, June 2, 2016

Extract: 

UN Member States must fulfill their obligations to those fleeing conflict-related violence. There is much talk today about strengthening international collaboration, on protection strategies and accountability mechanisms. At the same time, Member States are closing their borders to those fleeing violence. These contradictory actions cannot stand. 

Statement by Lisa Davis, June 2, 2016

Extract: 

Sexual violence and other gender-based crimes are a constant threat for many local women’s organizations, and activists working on the front lines of conflict, while survivors of this violence face immense obstacles accessing life-saving services. Impunity for these crimes remains the norm.

Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.

Extract: 

As the report notes, “counter-terrorism strategies can no longer be decoupled from efforts to protect and empower women and girls and to combat conflict-related sexual violence”

Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.

Extract: 

Sexual violence is still the only crime that stigmatizes the victim, rather than the perpetrator. We must not only “bring back our girls”; we must bring them back to an environment of support, equality and opportunity. Social and economic reintegration is imperative, and must become a more integral part of our programmatic response and post-conflict development frameworks.  

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