Sexual Violence in Conflict

OHCHR’s home page featured a story focusing on Security Council resolution 1820. In December 2008, a story focused on the search for justice in post conflict situations. The story is based on two major OHCHR-commissioned studies on the effectiveness of international post-conflict accountability mechanisms in prosecuting sexual violence and on women’s economic, social and cultural rights.

In December 2008, a week-long consultation was convened that brought together staff from UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Legal Counsel to the Great Lakes Conference, MONUC and relevant units within the OHCHR, to develop a coherent strategy for 2009 to address sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, in collaboration with UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNIDO, UNICEF and UNDP, participates in the organization and support of the “International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security”, scheduled to take place in Monrovia, in Liberia, from 7 to 8 March 2009. OSAGI provided substantive contributions to the consultations organized by Member States and United Nations entities on the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo regarding the increase of sexual violence.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, continued to work on developing a common set of indicators for monitoring the implementation of resolution 1325 at the international and national levels, and participated in consultations with key United Nations system entities on the development of indicators on gender-based and sexual violence.

In collaboration with the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), OSAGI , now part of UN Women, organized a virtual dialogue on best practices in national implementation of resolution 1325, in regard to violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations. As part of its effort to create an online training course on development of national action plans on resolution 1325 for Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, OSAGI carried out research and analysis of gender-based violence in the relevant regions.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, prepared the annual report of the Secretary-General (S/2008/622) to the Security Council in follow-up to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). OSAGI continued to chair the Inter-Agency Task Force on women, peace and security, which supports the full implementation of resolution 1325. The Office serviced the open debate of the Security Council on 29 October 2008 and organized side events in partnership with other United Nations entities, Member States and NGOs.

OCHA’s Policy Development and Studies Branch organized an experts meeting to review current research on, and identify gaps in relation to: 1) Sexual violence in armed conflict: understanding the motivations; and 2) The nature, scope and motivation for sexual violence against men and boys in conflict. Key outputs of the meeting were: 1) Identification of research priorities in order to design more effective strategies for preventing sexual violence in armed conflict; and 2) Identification and agreement on next steps to build on the current knowledge-base and establish communities of practice.

OCHA is the co-chair of the Executive Committees on Humanitarian Affairs and Peace and Security (ECHC/ECPS) UN and NGO Taskforce on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. It led the development of field-guidance for the implementation of a victim’s assistance programme in accordance with GA resolution 62/214. Since 2008, 25 OCHA advisors have been deployed through GenCap to 18 humanitarian emergencies.

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, participates in the work of the task force responsible for preparation of the Secretary-General’s report on Security Council resolution 1820 (2008).

In DRC, the MONUSCO Sexual Violence Unit (Office of the DSRSG-Ro) created an inter-section forum on data collection and sharing with the aim to find a solution with respect to the collection of reliable data on sexual violence. Led by the UN Joint Human Rights Office, a common MONUSCO database was developed, in order to provide more accurate data on sexual violence cases, collected by the Mission’s Military and Civilian Sections.