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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:11 am
Time: 2:11 am
Results for conflict-related sexual violence
3 results foundAuthor: Security Council Report Title: Women, Peace and Security: Sexual Violence in Conflict and Sanctions Summary: Security Council Report’s third Cross-Cutting Report on Women, Peace and Security analyses statistical information on women, peace and security in country-specific decisions of the Security Council and developments in 2012, with a particular focus in the case study on the nexus between sexual violence in conflict and sanctions imposed by the Security Council. The report also examines the Council’s inconsistency in including language on the UN’s zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse for UN personnel in resolutions establishing or renewing mandates for peace missions. The report will also briefly touch on key developments on the women, peace and security agenda in early 2013. Since our first Cross-Cutting Report on Women, Peace and Security in 2010, there has been significant growth in the UN system’s focus on this thematic issue. The first Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict was appointed in February 2010, and in January 2011 a system-wide entity on women’s equality and empowerment, UN Women, was established. Both the head of UN Women and the Special Representative have briefed the Security Council regularly since taking up their respective positions. Three years since the start of these institutional processes, it seems appropriate to examine how the establishment of these offices at UN headquarters, the continued deployment of gender expertise in the field as well as gender expertise supplementing the work of various sanctions committees’ experts groups have complemented the Security Council’s own approach to the women, peace and security agenda. This report will assess whether a more robust women, peace and security infrastructure has improved the flow of information to the Security Council and, if so, whether such improvement, in turn, has translated into an enhanced focus on these matters in Council decision-making, and in particular, in the work of its sanctions committees. Specifically, this report examines the Council’s follow-through on its own intention expressed in resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1960 (2010) to consider including designation criteria for the imposition of sanctions pertaining to acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence. To examine the nexus between sexual violence and activity by the Security Council and its sanctions committees, this report reviews the mandates of relevant sanctions regimes, the application of sanctions and relevant listing and designation criteria and reporting by associated expert groups on sexual and gender-based violence. The report will consider the sanctions regimes imposed on Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Somalia and Sudan as examples of the Security Council’s approach to women, peace and security issues—in particular whether such tools have been used to enhance accountability for sexual violence in armed conflict. In addressing the issue of accountability for perpetrators of sexual violence, the case study will also briefly touch on parallel international justice mechanisms where they exist. The past two years have been a time of particular division in the Council, with significant push-back by several permanent and elected Council members on the key thematic issues including on women, peace and security, children and armed conflict and protection of civilians. There has been repeated criticism by some Council members that the reporting on women, peace and security, particularly on sexual violence, has gone beyond its mandate by including countries that are not on the Security Council’s agenda. However, the overarching observation of this study is that this push-back has largely played itself out in difficult and protracted negotiations at the thematic level but has not negatively impacted the integrity of the Council’s women, peace and security normative framework. Interestingly, despite this controversy at the thematic level, the women, peace and security agenda continued to be substantively applied in the Council’s country-specific resolutions, the Council expanded its work at the committee-level when considering sexual violence or rape as designation criteria in various sanctions regimes and there has been regular interaction between the Council and UN Women and the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. The Council’s interaction with the Special Representative has been especially notable at both the Council level—insofar as she has briefed not only on her broader mandate but also on several country-specific situations—and her office’s interactions with several expert groups of the Council’s sanctions committees. However, the study did reveal one area of concern regarding the Council’s inclusion of the UN’s zero-tolerance policy in its relevant resolutions. In a review of the resolutions in effect in 2012 for 12 peacekeeping operations and seven political and peacebuilding missions, only eight had mandates that included a reference to the zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse for UN personnel. In practice, the Council has not been involved in the matter and the issue has been left to the discretion of the Secretariat and troop-contributing countries. Details: New York: Security Council Report, 2013. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 5, 2013 at: http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/cross_cutting_report_2_women_peace_security_2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/cross_cutting_report_2_women_peace_security_2013.pdf Shelf Number: 129516 Keywords: Conflict-Related Sexual ViolenceRapeSexual ViolenceViolence Against Women |
Author: Spangaro, Jo Title: What is the Evidence of the Impact of Initiatives to Reduce Risk and Iincidence of Sexual Violence in Conflict and Post-Conflict Zones and other Humanitarian Crises in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries? A Systematic Review Summary: What evidence exists for the impact of initiatives to reduce risk and incidence of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict zones and other humanitarian crises in lower and middle-income countries? Who wants to know and why? Sexual violence in the context of conflict and other humanitarian crises is widespread, with at least one in four women in conflict situations affected. Men and children are also at heightened risk. In these settings, sexual violence may be committed i) as a tactic of armed conflict, ii) opportunistically due to situational vulnerability, iii) as a form of sexual exploitation by peacekeepers or humanitarian staff, or iv) as a form of familial or community violence exacerbated by weakened social or legal structures. Since 2000, the United Nations (UN) Security Council has passed five resolutions that addressed this problem among others, prompting the issue of various guidelines and training packages. No previous systematic reviews of evidence for reducing risk and incidence of sexual violence in conflict or other crisis have been undertaken to date. There is now a need to gauge the impact of interventions undertaken to address this problem. Methods of the review A realist approach was adopted, suited to complex problems as it enables analysis of contextual factors and underlying program mechanisms. An extensive literature search employed 23 bibliographic databases, 26 websites, and a hand search of three journals. Included studies were those containing primary empirical data describing implementation or impact of interventions aimed at reducing risk or incidence, or addressing harm from sexual violence occurring in conflict, postconflict or other humanitarian crisis settings in lower or middle-income countries. Studies included were published from 1 January 1990 to 1 September 2011. A total of 2,656 studies was identified, after removal of duplicates. Following the application of exclusion criteria, 49 studies were selected as being in scope for the review and were mapped. Nine studies which reported on overarching policy responses were excluded, leaving 40 studies in the full review. Although much of the broader literature refers to militarised sexual violence committed by combatants, the majority of studies found addressed sexual violence committed opportunistically or within the family/community. Twenty studies reported outcomes and the other twenty reported only on the implementation of interventions (see Appendix 3.1 for a map of the studies). The majority of the studies identified in the review described interventions for sexual violence in post-conflict settings, with few addressing prevention or the conflict context. Most interventions were provided by multilateral agencies, international non-government organisations (NGOs) or national governments, with a few provided by local NGOs or community groups. Seven strategy types were identified: i) survivor care interventions (10 studies); ii) livelihood initiatives (2 studies); iii) community mobilisation initiatives (3 studies); iv) personnel initiatives, e.g. recruitment or training (3 studies); v) systems and security, predominantly firewood patrols or fuel alternatives (3 studies); vi) interventions using a combination of these strategies (13 studies); and vii) legal interventions (6 studies). Most interventions targeted women or were non-specific. Two interventions targeted young people specifically, both were disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) interventions, but neither found reduced risk/incidence (Amone-P'Olak 2006; Denov 2006). No studies were found which targeted men specifically as victims. Details: London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, 2013. 170p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2013 at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Conflict_zones_2013Spangaro_report.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 131642 Keywords: Conflict-Related Sexual ViolenceGender-Based ViolenceSexual ViolenceViolence Against WomenViolence Prevention |
Author: International Alert Title: 'Bad Blood': Perceptions of children born of conflict-related sexual violence and women and girls associated with Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria Summary: This research found that girls and women kidnapped by Nigeria's insurgent group, Jama'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-da'wa wal-Jihad (JAS), commonly known as Boko Haram, face mistrust and persecution upon their return to society. International Alert and UNICEF carried out the research in Borno in northeast Nigeria to understand the impact of communities' and authorities' perceptions of these women, girls and their children on safety, rehabilitation and reintegration opportunities. The report provides policy and programming recommendations to ensure that reintegration and relocation plans are conflict sensitive and support child protection and peace-building outcomes. Details: London: International Alert; Abuja, Nigeria, UNICEF Nigeria, 2016. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 29, 2016 at: http://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/Nigeria_BadBlood_EN_2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Nigeria URL: Shelf Number: 137996 Keywords: Boko HaramConflict-Related Sexual ViolenceRapeSexual ViolenceViolence Against Women, Girls |