Measures to Address Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations

UNFPA continues to serve as the IASC-designated lead for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) within the Protection Cluster: 

• UNFPA has supported a wide network of actors at global and field levels. In line with its mandate as the GBV Provider of Last Resort (PoLR), UNFPA has worked with partners to deliver survivor-centered, multi-sectoral, life-saving services. These services provide assistance to GBV survivors, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). These efforts have resulted in increased access to essential life-saving services, support, and protection for vulnerable  individuals, particularly women and girls.
• In 2025, UNFPA  undertook a comprehensive review and update of its internal Guidance on Prevention, Mitigation and Response to Conflict-Related Sexual  Violence. The updated Guidance outlines UNFPA’s approach to addressing CRSV in humanitarian settings. While reinforcing the critical role of UNFPA in coordinating gender-based violence service providers, strengthening and maintaining safe referral pathways, and promoting survivor-centered standards across all humanitarian interventions, it also sets clear parameters to ensure that UNFPA uses information and trends of CRSV to inform programming, coordination, service delivery, and advocacy efforts, including in contexts where UNFPA coordinates the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA).
• In the DRC, UNFPA is the convening and administrative agency for a new joint UN Programme on the reparation of CRSV survivors financed by the DRC Government’s FONAREV fund.
• In 2025, UNFPA implemented for the first time a qualitative methodology (Voices) in the DRC that was previously used in Syria, Sudan, and Cameroon. Voices collected data on women and girls’ perceptions and experiences of GBV. The findings include CRSV elements, further informing prevention and protection strategies in these contexts. In addition, UNFPA in the DRC   also led the pillar on CRSV of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) protection advocacy strategy that was   adopted by the humanitarian country team.
• UNFPA continues to support MARA coordination and CRSV related work in Myanmar, Mali, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan and Ukraine.
• UNFPA Sudan leads GBV programs and   Area of Responsibility, coordinating a large-scale, survivor-centred response across all states, strengthening referral pathways, expanding Women and Girls Safe Spaces, and driving integrated GBV–SRH service delivery through mobile teams and one-stop centres, while also supporting local women-led organizations and frontline workforce capacity.
• UNFPA Yemen co-leads, despite severe funding constraints and access limitations, the GBV AoR and maintains a multisectoral response that combines case management, shelters, mental health services, and prevention interventions, alongside strong coordination with national actors and investment in social norms change and evidence generation.
• UNFPA Syria reached 488,000 people with GBV prevention and response services (94% Female) with a majority in the conflict related zones. This included timely access to WGSS, MHPSS, and integrated sexual reproductive health services.
• UNFPA Palestine sustained in 2025 a lifesaving GBV response despite extreme crisis conditions, providing services through safe spaces, shelters, and MHPSS centres while ensuring case management, psychosocial support, and referrals for survivors. UNFPA also played a key coordination role, maintaining survivor-centred services and protection standards even as needs far exceeded available resources. 

In 2025, the UN Trust Fund continued supporting women-led and women’s rights organizations operating in crisis, displacement and humanitarian settings, including through survivor-centred services, psychosocial support, legal aid, referrals and community-based prevention initiatives. Funded initiatives directly reached 12,727 refugee and internally displaced women and girls in 2025, while flexible and adaptive funding approaches enabled frontline organizations to sustain critical services amid escalating humanitarian and funding crises.

UN Women is a leading entity in the UN Action Network. In coordination with the other 25 member entities, UN Women actively engages in high-level Steering Committee meetings and monthly technical-level discussions on situations of concern, advocacy, and knowledge building. UN Women leads the workstream on understanding the application of a survivor-centered approach, as enshrined in Security Council resolution 2467 (2019), and is engaged in workstreams on technology-facilitated conflict-related sexual violence, the MARA, the nexus of terrorism/violent extremism and CRSV, advocacy, and preventing CRSV. UN Women played a vital role in the development and implementation of the Framework for the Prevention of CRSV (2022), including its pilot roll-out in Ukraine in July 2024. Since 2022, UN Women has chaired the Resource Management Committee for a two-year term. UN Women currently benefits from the Conflict-related Sexual Violence - Multi-Partner Trust Fund as one of six implementing agencies of a joint catalytic project in Ukraine. ROAP contributed guidance on strengthening GBV response in crisis-prone and emergency settings, supporting development actors through resources like the GBV Nexus Brief, and integrating VAWG into crisis planning and resilience efforts across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, with attention to climate change.

Sexual violence in conflict is a grave human rights violation with devastating consequences for survivors, their families, and entire communities. It is often used as a weapon of war, reinforcing gender inequalities and deepening cycles of violence and instability. Recognizing the urgent need for action, Spotlight Initiative worked across legal reform, service provision, prevention, and advocacy to strengthen national and community-level responses, ensuring that survivors received support while also addressing the structural drivers of violence. 

In conflict and post-conflict settings, ensuring the safety and security of personnel, partners, and rights holders remained a priority, with the Do No Harm principle guiding programme planning and implementation. In fragile environments, Spotlight Initiative conducted programme criticality assessments to determine feasibility and adapt activities accordingly. Coordination with national stakeholders, European Union delegations, United Nations agency headquarters, and the Spotlight Initiative Secretariat ensured that interventions could advance even in challenging contexts. 

For example, in Haiti, where violence has prevented access to certain communities by humanitarian and development actors, Spotlight Initiative supported networks built by civil society partners that collected and shared information and facilitated assistance for survivors. This included remote support services through WhatsApp and other technological platforms, ensuring that women in hard-to-reach areas could still access essential services. At the same time, the Initiative worked with nearly 130 civil society organizations to reach thousands of adolescents with critical information on GBV, strengthening knowledge and prevention efforts. Community education programmes improved awareness, while campaigns to promote positive social norms and combat stereotypes further extended outreach. 

In Afghanistan, given the complex and rapidly evolving operating environment, Spotlight Initiative adapted interventions to continue providing support to women’s rights organizations and survivors of gender-based violence. The Initiative worked closely with local civil society organizations to ensure that, despite restrictions, advocacy for gender-based violence services and access to essential services could continue. Capacity-building training enabled implementing partners to maintain engagement with local authorities while ensuring that survivors remained connected to available services. 

In Liberia, where the effects of past conflict continue to shape gendered violence, Spotlight Initiative partnered with civil society organizations to strengthen community-led peacebuilding initiatives. Through this work, hundreds of young women were supported to advocate for conflict prevention, response to violence, and the broader rights of women and girls. These initiatives included outreach in violence-prone areas, empowering local actors to mediate conflicts, support survivors, and challenge gender norms that perpetuate violence. 

In Papua New Guinea, where conflict-related violence against women is compounded by institutional challenges, the Initiative strengthened the work of local organizations advocating for gender justice and violence prevention. Institutional funding helped expand awareness-raising sessions and trainings with government and non-government representatives, contributing to increased monitoring of gender-based violence and stronger accountability mechanisms. 

In Niger, the Initiative supported advocacy efforts during the country’s democratic transition, working with civil society coalitions and women’s movements to develop common policy recommendations for the prevention of violence, including conflict-related sexual violence. Through these partnerships, the Initiative reinforced the role of women’s rights organizations in peace and security processes, bridging the humanitarian-development-peace divide and ensuring that gender-based violence prevention remained central to broader governance and stability efforts. 

Spotlight Initiative’s work in conflict-affected settings demonstrated the importance of a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach to preventing and responding to sexual violence. By integrating legal reform, institutional capacity-building, survivor services, and social norm change, the Initiative strengthened national and regional responses while ensuring that local women’s organizations remained at the forefront of efforts to address gender-based violence in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. 

UNFPA plays a pivotal role in addressing sexual violence in conflict by adopting a comprehensive approach focused on prevention, response, and survivor support, ensuring that survivors’ needs are met and their rights upheld. UNFPA collaborates with governments, humanitarian organizations, and civil society to provide essential services to women and girls affected by conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). 

As the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) mandated agency for GBV prevention and response, UNFPA leads and supports multi-sectoral responses to GBV, including CRSV, coordinating efforts across health, legal, protection, and psychosocial sectors. This includes establishing GBV Sub-Clusters in humanitarian settings to coordinate responses, share information, and prevent duplication of efforts. 

As a member of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict and other global initiatives, UNFPA works to strengthen system-wide responses, supporting UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security (1325, 1820, 1888, 1960) and collaborating with UNICEF, UN Women, and UNHCR to ensure a comprehensive approach to sexual violence in conflict. 

In 2024, UNFPA, with funding from the UN Action Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF), directly supported CRSV survivors in Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Mali. Data collected through the GBVIMS on CRSV is shared with the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA), adhering to strict safety and ethical protocols in countries such as South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Somalia, and Iraq. UNFPA also co-leads MARA Working Groups in Myanmar, Mali, and the Central African Republic, strengthening responses through a survivor-centered approach. 

2024 highlights:  

• ASRO provides tailored support to seven crisis-affected countries (Sudan, Palestine, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Libya), offering essential medical supplies, GBV survivor assistance, MHPSS, and safe spaces for women and girls. It also supported 42 women-led organizations and enhanced GBV coordination in humanitarian contexts. 
• In Palestine, ASRO partnered with OHCHR for training on CRSV and safe referral processes. 
• WCARO worked with WHO to strengthen clinical management of rape (CMR) capacities, conducting ToT sessions in Côte d'Ivoire and Chad, and planning cascade training in Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, and Mali. 
• UNFPA Nigeria piloted a national CMR ToT focused on testing the new CMR-IPV inter-agency toolkit. 

All of UN Action’s work focuses on preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence and addressing its root causes.  

Through a partnership with UN Women and Justice Rapid Response, OHCHR has deployed gender experts to United Nations investigation bodies and mechanisms such as Commissions of Inquiry (COI) and Fact-Finding Missions (FFM). Their role is instrumental to integrate a gender perspective into their methodologies and analyses, enhancing the visibility of the impact of human rights violations on women and girls, especially conflict-related sexual violence, and providing reliable data to inform legal advocacy and policy. 

Under the framework of the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) project in Ukraine, UNODC is working to improve conflict-related sexual violence responses at the national and local level. UNODC is working to ensure that the Ukrainian legislative and regulatory framework is survivor friendly. This includes, for example, the set-up of a Survivor Advisory Board that will advise Ukraine on integrating survivor perspectives and survivors’ lived experiences into the national response to prevent and respond to CRSV. UNODC is also working with other stakeholders in Ukraine including the National and Migration Police and the Offices of the Prosecutor General to put in place institutional mechanisms to ensure rights-based and effective investigations and prosecutions of Trafficking in Persons with a focus on victims of sexual exploitation. 

UNODC, in partnership with the UN Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, leads the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network. Together, they are working to enhance collaboration in preventing and addressing sexual violence within the context of terrorism and violent extremism. In 2022, the network hosted two expert-led discussions and webinars to better understand the challenges and good practices in judicial response, and in improve support and services for survivors of CRSV committed in the context of terrorism and violent extremism.

 IOM continued to be committed and proactive partner of the UN Action Network on Sexual Violence in Conflict, demonstrating its engagement through work on survivor reparations, the intersection of trafficking and CRSV, and, more recently, its intellectual and practical contributions to the nexus between terrorism, CVE, and CRSV. As the key lead within the Network on Reparations for CRSV, IOM played a central role in both civil society and government engagement, particularly in supporting the reintegration of female ex-associate survivors of sexual violence linked to violent extremism. In 2024, IOM contributed to the CRSV Prevention Framework launched by the SRSG, which seeks to enhance structural and operational prevention, including tackling gender inequality as a root cause of sexual violence. Through its Land, Property, and Reparations (LPR) technical unit, IOM also provided governments with specialized training for professionals and promoted non-stigmatizing services to aid survivor rehabilitation. Additionally, IOM reviewed the SG Annual Reports on CRSV, providing critical input on its positioning and contributions to addressing CRSV globally. 

FAO has been actively working to assess the gendered impacts of conflict, including GBV, to enhance the effectiveness of response strategies and ensure the needs of women and girls are met in crisis situations. In 2024, FAO published the briefing note “Understanding the gender-related impact of the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank”  emphasizing the importance of identifying gender-based constraints and vulnerabilities for an inclusive and accountable response. Similarly, in 2022, FAO published the “Complementary Information Note on Gender-Related Impacts of the Ukraine Conflict,” which examined how the war increased risks of sexual violence, exploitation, and other forms of GBV for women and girls.