Sexual Violence in Conflict

OSAGI, now part of UN Women, prepares regular annual reports of the Secretary-General on progress in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), which also addresses the question of violence against women. It coordinated the preparation, and now supports the implementation of a United Nations system-wide action plan for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). The plan includes steps to prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women in armed conflict.

As part of its work on women, peace and security, OSAGI, now part of UN Women, carries out research and analysis on gender-based violence against women in armed conflict, especially with a view to preparing reports for the Security Council. In collaboration with the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), OSAGI coordinated the preparation of the Secretary-General's Study on Women, Peace and Security (2002), which also covers violence against women.

UNICEF has played a major role in the new initiative UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, as co-chair of the advocacy working group. UNICEF also supports the provision of care and support for survivors of rape, especially in conflict situations. UNIFEM and UNFPA jointly hosted an expert meeting on sexual violence in humanitarian situations to strengthen inter-agency collaborative action to combat sexual violence in crisis. UNFPA also supports the Global Call to Action to End Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict.

UNDP’s 2006-2007 Plan of action for mainstreaming gender perspectives in crisis prevention and recovery addresses violence against women in the context of conflict and post-conflict situations.

DPKO works to ensure that adequate policies are in place to prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women in armed conflict, and to protect women against sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Gender-based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) in humanitarian and recovery settings, a joint effort of UNFPA, UNHCR and the IRC, is a first attempt to systematize management of reported data related to gender-based violence, with a focus on humanitarian and recovery contexts. A technical consultation was undertaken by the inter-agency team (UNFPA, the IRC and UNHCR) to pilot test the GBVIMS system in Uganda in May 2008.

UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector has undertaken a programme of research on women's rights for peace and security in post conflict democracies in Africa. Researchers from 11 countries of the Great Lake Region, Sierra Leone and South Africa submitted papers on violence against women and the relationship between women’s human rights, peace and security in post conflict context, as well as recommendations for the way forward to be addressed to policy- and decision-makers.

Under the United Nations System-wide Work Programme on Scaling-up HIV/AIDS Services for Populations of Humanitarian Concern (PHC), in 2008 FAO analyzed the results of the research undertaken in 2007 in Kenya on the linkages between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, and sexual and gender-based violence among populations of humanitarian concern (PHC) and refined the research tools to undertake a similar assessment in two provinces in Northern Uganda.

ECA collaborated in the organization of a seminar by the African Union Commission, held in April 2008 in Addis Ababa, to commemorate the fourteenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, on the theme “Ending violence against women in conflict situations: lessons drawn from the Rwandan Genocide”.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, facilitated the Wilton Park conference of May 2008 on the role of military peacekeepers in addressing sexual violence during armed conflict, and contributed to the dissemination of the results.