Sexual and Gender-Based Violence During Armed Conf
Monday, June 18, 2007
Situations of armed conflict and displacement serve as fertile ground for sexual violence against women. Sexual assault, forced impregnation, trafficking and sexual slavery are all forms of gender-based violence. Countries which have reported this kind of abuse include Sudan, Uganda, India and the Russian Federation.
Women become targets of gender-based violence during war and are often raped and dishonored by members of opposing armed groups. Displaced women fall victim to sexual abuse when they have to venture outside their camps in search of food or water for their families.
Recently the Democratic Republic of Congo passed legislation on the subject of gender-based violence and Liberia passed a Rape Amendment Act. In 2006 the Great Lakes Region of Africa accepted a set of rules on the Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence against Women and Children in an effort to protect internally displaced women.
Compiled from: "Internally Displaced Women," Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), 8 June 2007.
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