Measures to Address Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations

DPO’s Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) Team has been dedicated to supporting five UN peacekeeping operations in implementing and strengthening the delivery of conflict-related sexual violence mandates.

Notable achievements since February 2020 include the development and launch of the first UN Policy and Handbook for UN Field Missions on CRSV prevention and response. The Team also provided ongoing specialized advice to peacekeeping operations and DPO Headquarters divisions on the mainstreaming of the CRSV mandate within missions, facilitated inter-mission learning, and ensured CRSV was systematically integrated in mission mandate renewal and budgetary processes. In order to raise awareness about the CRSV mandate and promote best practice sharing, in June 2020, DPO published a first of its kind annual summary of activities and good practices in Preventing and Responding to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence by United Nations Peacekeeping Missions.

https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/dpo_2020_crsv_annual_summaries_report-signed.pdf

In the framework of the EU-funded GLO.ACT project, UNODC launched the UNODC Toolkit for Mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender Equality into Criminal Justice Interventions to Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants.

In Iraq, UNODC supported the Women’s Network Advisory Board and a webinar on the ‘control methods of traffickers', which discussed how perpetrators engage in sexual violence and exploitation.

UNODC continued providing capacity building support to Nigeria and launched support to Mozambique to address sexual and gender-based violence committed by terrorist groups, providing training during the period to Nigerian and Mozambican investigators, prosecutors, and judges to support them to bring perpetrators to justice while respecting human rights. These activities were carried out in cooperation with the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict.

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. 

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.  

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. 

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

GBV is increasingly a characteristic of conflict and is often perpetrated against women and girls; and, in some instances, has been used as a tactic of war, UNFPA collaborates with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and is a member of the Steering Committee as well as the Expert Advisory Group. UNFPA contributions are to ensure the particular needs of adolescent girls and women as a result of sexual violence are factored in efforts of the Special Representative to address reintegration. UNFPA contributed to the development of high-level papers and to the SG Reports.

DPPA addresses the issue of conflict-related sexual violence as part of its overall efforts to ensure that gender relevant issues and perspectives are fully integrated into the Department’s daily work to promote inclusive conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding. This includes operational support, capacity building, gender mainstreaming, and reporting and outreach across the work of DPPA. 

In resolutions 2331 (2016) and 2388 (2017) on trafficking in persons in conflict situations, the Security Council requested the Secretary-General to increase the capacity of relevant personnel of UN field missions to identify, respond to and report on situations of trafficking in persons. The Security Council has also underlined the need for Member States to combat crimes, such as the smuggling of migrants and related forms of organized crime, in areas affected by armed conflict. In response, UNODC, through its Global Programme against Trafficking in Persons, engaged with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO) and developed a training module covering trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants, with a strong gender dimension, for the in-mission induction training of United Nations Police Personnel (UNPOL). A tailored version of the training module was piloted with the Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and then later integrated into their induction training session for new officers. In addition to training of MINUSMA UNPOL trainers, UNODC supported the delivery of a specialized training to Malian Law enforcement officers in Gao.