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Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground: Gender-based Violence in Conflict Zones
IRIN Web Special on violence against women and girls during and after conflict.
Links and references
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| Gender Based Violence: Advocacy and Policy |
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Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)
In view of the increasing incidence of gender-based violence (GBV) in emergency situations and the need to address these issues in a systematic and collective manner in the humanitarian response, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) mandated its subsidiary body, the IASC Reference Group on Gender and Humanitarian Assistance, to develop materials that give practical guidance to humanitarian actors on coordination and activities for the prevention and management of GBV in humanitarian crises.
This group has collated a list of resource documents/websites on GBV in emergencies and is currently developing a Matrix and Action Sheets outlining humanitarian actors' responsibilities in preventing and managing GBV in the different phases of an emergency.
For more information on the work of this group, please contact
- A Portal on Women, Peace and Security
Provided by the United Nations Development Fun for Women (UNIFEM).
- Women and War
Provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
- United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Resources on Women
- Stop the Violence Against Women
Launched by the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, in cooperation with UNIFEM, and contains resources on women and violence.
- "Making Violence Count - Facts and Figures"
Amnesty International
Fact sheet on violence against women (VAW) in different parts of the world.
- Addressing Gender-based Violence
The International Rescue Committee on addressing Gender-Based Violence.
- References on Violence against Women
Provided by PeaceWomen - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Resources on violence against women.
- Women, Peace and Security Resources: Human Rights Violations and Violence against Women
PeaceWomen - the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom provides civil society and NGO reports, journals and articles.
- Reproductive Health in Conflict Consortium
Resource on gender-based violence.
- RHRC Consortium
“Gender-based Violence Tools Manual For Assessment & Program Design, Monitoring & Evaluation in Conflict-Affected Settings”
February, 2004.
- ICRC
“Addressing the Needs of Women Affected by Armed Conflict”
Guidance Document, March 2004.
- Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen
“Women for UNIFEM”, in “Progress of the World’s Women”
Volume 1, 2002.
Covers many areas of concern, from the gender dimensions of violence and displacement during conflict to the role of peacekeepers and the need for women to play a central part during peace negotiations and reconstruction.
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| Sexual Violence in Times of War |
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- Rose-Marie Dubois and Ferroudja Nazef
Womens Rights in Conflict Situations
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development.
Bibliography spanning from May 1997 to February 1999.
- Carey, Hugh. F.
“Sexual Violence in Times of War, a New Challenge to Peace Operations?”
in L.Ohlsson and R.L. Tryggestad (eds) Women and International Peacekeeping, London: Frank Cass: 2001, 49-68.
- Skjelsbæk, Inger
“Sexual Violence and War: Mapping out a Complex Relationship”
European Journal of International Relations 7(2), 2001: 211-237.
This article attempts to understand the complex relationship between sexual violence and war by presenting three different conceptualisations based on a literature study of 140 scholarly texts published mainly during the 1990s.
- Amnesty International Publication
"Its in Our Hands: Stop the Violence against Women" 
Alden Press, Osney Mead, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2004.
Covers many aspects of violence against women, including conflict and violence against women, international human rights law and violence against women and the culture of impunity.
- Amnesty International Report
"Darfur: Rape as a Weapon of War: Sexual Violence and its Consequenses"
July 19, 2004.
The report indicates that rape and other forms of sexual violence are being used as a weapon of war in Darfur, in order to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear and displace women and their communities. Rape and other forms of sexual violence in Darfur are not just a consequence of the conflict or of the result of the conduct of undisciplined troops.
- Cockburn, Cynthia
"Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence"
World Bank Background Paper, 1999.
Covers gender, armed conflict and political violence.
- Conciliation Resources
"Gender and Conflict in Sierra Leone"
Occasional Paper. September/October 1997.
On the impact of war on women, women fighting with the Revolutionary United Front, and women and girls in conflict.
- Human Rights Watch/National Coalition for Haitian Refugees
“Rape in Haiti. A Weapon of Terror”
Vol.6, No.8. July. New York. 1994.
- Human Rights Watch/Africa, Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme
"Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath"
September 1996.
Provides background and recommendations on the issue of documenting gender-based crimes, the international and legal protection against gender based crimes, problems facing Rwandan women, and the national and international response.
- Human Rights Watch Report
Kosovo: Rape As a Weapon of “Ethnic Cleansing”,
2000.
An investigation of sexual abuse in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999.
- Human Rights Watch Report
“Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Gender-Based Violence Against Kosovar Albanian Women”
2000.
- Human Rights Watch Report
"The War within the War Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls In Eastern Congo"
June 2002.
Examines sexual violence as a weapon of war, its aftermath and the response from the international community.
- Human Rights Watch Report
“Well Kill You if Cry” - Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict
Vol. 15, No 1 (A), January 2003.
Provides background on the conflict, and examines sexual violence against women and girls during the conflict, its effects, legal protections, and international response.
- Lindsay, Charlotte
“Women Facing War”
International Committee on the Red Cross, Geneva, 2002.
- McDougall Gay J.
"Contemporary Forms of Slavery: Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery and Slavery-like Practices during Armed Conflict"
Final report of the Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 22 June 1998 session. Studies the response to the use of sexual violence in armed conflict, stresses the nature and extent of the harm suffered by raped women, and prosecutorial strategies for penalizing and preventing these international crimes.
- Schmeidl, Susanne and Piza-Lopez, Eugenia
“Gender and Conflict Early Warning: a framework for action”
International Alert and Swisspeace, 2002.
- Secretary-General pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1325
“Women, Peace and Security“
2000.
Analyzes the impact of armed conflict on women and girls; describes the relevant international legal framework and assesses its implementation; reviews the gender perspectives in peace processes as well as in peace operations, humanitarian operations, reconstruction and rehabilitation, including DDR processes.
- Seifert, Ruth
“The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars”
Women’s Studies International Forum, 19.1-2. 35-43
- Wareham, Rachel
"No Safe place: An Assessment on Violence against Women in Kosovo"
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Publication, 2000.
Highlights the issues faced by the Kosovar women in the unrightfully violence against them.
- WHO Task Force on Violence and Health
“Gender Based and Sexual Violence During Armed Conflict”
World Health Organization (WHO) Publishing. Geneva: 1997.
- Brownmiller, Susan and Stiglmayer, Alexandra
“Making Female Bodies the Battlefield. Mass Rape: the War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina”
University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln, 1994.
- Hague, Euan
“Rape, Power and Masculinity: the Construction of Gender and National Identity in the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” in “Gender and Catastrophe”, Ronit Lentin, ed.
Zed Books, Ltd. London: 1997.
- Nikolic-Ristanovic, Vesna
"War and Violence Against Women"
in Jennifer Turpin and Lois Ann Lorentzen, eds. “The Gendered New World Order: Militarism, Development, and the Environment
New York: Routledge, 1996, p.195-210.
- Moser, C. and Clerk, F. (eds)
“Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence”
London: Zed Books, 2001.
- Nordstrom, Carolyn
“Girls in War Zones: Troubling Questions”
Life and Peace Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, 1997.
- Turshen M.
”What Women Do in Wartime: gender and conflict in Africa”
London, New York: Zed Books: 1998.
- Mandy Jacobson, Karmen Jelincic, Directors
“Calling the Ghosts / A Story About Rape, War and Women”.
Bowery Productions, 1996.
Documentary describing the transformation of two women in their personal struggle for survival in a war that turns into a larger fight for justice.
- Shelley Saywell, Director
Gerry Flahive, Louis Lore, Silva Basmajian, Producers
”Rape a Crime of War”
National Film Board of Canada, 1996
Examines the complex social, legal, and political aspects of trying rape as a war crime.
- Radio Netherlands
“Their memories should be their punishment, War rape in Sierra Leone”
Documentary, March 6, 2000
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| Legal Protection for Women in Conflict |
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- Womens Human Rights Resources
Website of the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto.
- Women's Rights and Human Rights Law: Bibliography
Bibliography compiled by Jody Ranck, December, 1996.
- Chinkin, Christine
"Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women in International Law"
European Journal of International Law, Vol. 5 No. 3 (1994).
Examines the legal response to the incidence, impact and consequences of sexual abuse including rape during armed conflict.
- Dawn-Askin, Kelly
“War Crimes Against Women: Prosecution in International War Crimes Tribunals: The Hague”
Kluwer Law International, 1997.
- Owen, Margaret
“Abuse of Women Witnesses by the International War Crimes Tribunal of Rwanda”
Widows for Peace and Reconstruction, London, August, 2002.
- Thomas, Dorothy Q. and Regan, E. Ralph
"Rape in War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity"
published in SAIS Review (Vol) (1994), 82-99
Johns Hopkins University Press.
Examines the impunity of perpetrators of sexual violence, and the political and strategic perspectives in the reasons for rape during wartime.
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| Medical and Psychological Implications of Gender Based Violence in Conflict |
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- Swiss, S., P.J. Jennings, et al.
“Violence Against Women during the Liberian Civil Conflict”
Journal of American Medical Association, 279:8, 1998.
- Swiss, Shana, and Giller, Joan E.
"Rape as a Crime of War - a Medical Perspective"
Journal of the American Medical Association, August 4, 1993, Vol. 270, No. 5, pp. 612-615.
Highlights the role of health care professionals in the investigation and documentation of rape in wartime, as well as in the treatment of survivors.
- Physicians for Human Rights, with the support of the UN Assistance Mission
in Sierra Leone
"War-related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone"
Massachusetts, 2002.
Assesses the prevalence and impact of sexual violence and other human rights abuses among internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone.
- WHO Task Force on Violence and Health
“Gender Based and Sexual Violence During Armed Conflict”
World Health Organization (WHO) Publishing. Geneva: 1997.
- Brown, A. Widney
"Obstacles to Women Accessing Forensic Medical Exams in Cases of Sexual Violence"
WHO Background paper, Human Rights Watch Publication.
On the obstacles women being subjected to sexual violence face when trying to access medical examination.
- McKay, Susan
"The Effects of Armed Conflict on Girls and Women"
Journal of Peace Psychology 4 (4 1998): 381-92.
- Liebling, Helen and Kiziri-Mayengo, Rebecca
“The Psychological Effects of Gender-Based Violence Following Armed Conflict in Luwero District, Uganda”
Feminism and Psychology, 12, 4, 553-560, 2002.
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| Prevention and Response of Gender Based Violence in Conflict |
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- UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)/ United Nations (UN)
"Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: United Nations Response"
2000.
On the failure of the international community to address the issue of wartime sexual violence during the early years of the UN. Also covers the emergence of sexual violence during armed conflict. Highlights the role of women's NGOs in exerting pressure for change, and the UN's response.
- Shanks, Leslie, Schull, Michael J.
"Rape in War: the Humanitarian Response"
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
The Netherlands, 2000.
Provides an overview of the situation in the field, treatment of rape victims, obstacles to intervention, advocacy as a tool, international law and prevention of sexual violence.
- Lubbers, Ruud
"Sexual and Gender-based Violence Against Refugees, Internees and Internally Displaced Persons, Guidelines for Prevention and Response"
UNHCR Report May, 2003.
Practical guidelines on how to design strategies and carry out activities aimed at preventing and responding to sexual and gender based violence.
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