Sexual Violence in Conflict

In December 2010, OHCHR and UN Women were tasked by the Secretary-General’s Policy Committee to develop a Guidance Note on reparations for victims of conflict-related sexual violence. The Guidance Note, which was informed by a study jointly commissioned by OHCHR and UN Women, provides policy and operational guidance for Member States, UN agencies, development actors, and civil society organizations on the topic, and will be finalized in the first quarter of 2014.

OHCHR continued its specialised course on monitoring and investigating conflict- related sexual violence (CRSV) for human rights officers which was translated into French and delivered to the Human Rights Components of MONUSCO.

Four UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officers who are dedicated to SGBV prevention and response took up their posts in Dakar, Nairobi, Beirut and Panama with the responsibility to provide technical support to the development and implementation of country-level multi-sectorial strategies on SGBV prevention and response. As a result, an additional seventeen countries have begun developing and implementing SGBV strategies.

UNHCR conducted missions to emergency operations in order to strengthen SGBV response in several countries including Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo-as part of an interagency mission with UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Action- and Jordan in order to improve collection and analysis of SGBV data. UNHCR also conducted an assessment on SGBV in the Syria crisis-affected countries in 2013 such as Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq with a view to producing an action plan to respond to the needs identified.

In June 2013, UNHCR issued the policy paper “Understanding Community-Based Protection” on key lessons from the delivery of community-based protection. It continued to roll-out its global strategy “Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy” and assisted individual country operations to develop country-level strategies in 2013. In this regard, three regional workshops were held in Tunis, Amman and Dakar on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in 2013, aimed at strengthening the capacity of UNHCR and partner staff in the field.

In Nepal, UN Women in close collaboration with the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, supported the activation of 28 District Coordination Committees (DCCs) in the five development regions of the country to implement the NAP on 1325 and 1820. UN Women also supports proposal submissions to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund for implementation of the NAP on 1325 and 1820.

In Liberia: UNFPA through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare promoted the availability of services to Survivors of violence including sexual violence through the One Stop Centre; UNDP supported the Ministry of Justice through the SGBV Crimes unit to launch the In Camera Trial Mobile Partitions countrywide; WHO supported the establishment of a Referral List for Board Certified Mental Health Clinicians in Liberia by County and trained them to provide basic SGBV Psychosocial counselling in accordance to available guidelines; UNFPA continued to support the Government to establish 5 safe hom

OHCHR also supported field office work, including: activities to increase access to justice (mobile courts, legal clinics, training of judges); support on holding investigations; and support to the judicial data project. In the DRC, a five pilot initiative to provide support to over 1000 survivors of sexual violence in the areas of Bukavu and Shabunda was implemented.

Through the Multi-Partner Trust Fund of UN Action, OHCHR, in cooperation with DPKO, the Office of the SRSG on Sexual violence in conflict and other partners, obtained support for the deployment of Women Protection Advisors to the human rights components of DRC and Cote d’Ivoire. OHCHR also seconded a staff member to act as the Senior WPA in UNMISS (South Sudan) and assist the mission in the setting-up of the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA).

OHCHR developed a two-day specialised course on monitoring and investigating conflict related sexual violence; briefed the C.34 on its work on sexual violence, together with DPKO and the Office of the SRSG SVC; supported research to understand patterns and consequences of sexual violence during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo, including gaps in access to justice, institutional capacity needs, and perspectives of survivors with regard to reparations; and together with UN Women is finalizing a draft guidance note concerning reparations for victims of conflict-related sexual violence.