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Addressing Sexual Violence
Employing widespread acts of sexual violence to terrorize and demoralize the enemy is a practice as old as war itself. However, in the past decade public awareness of sexual violence in conflict settings has steadily increased. Numerous voices have called for immediate steps to quell a human rights abuse that traumatizes and often physically damages women, undermines their psychophysical health, breaks down communities and retards or reverses societal development. The United Nations Secretary-General, for instance, has issued an in-depth report on the subject.
Sexual violence occurs at every stage of a conflict and may increase in the wake of a natural disaster. The victims are usually women and adolescents, who have often been separated from their families and communities.
In the aftermath of natural disasters, women and young people may be left unaccompanied – out in the open or in temporary shelters – at the same time that chaos and a breakdown in policing lead to increased lawlessness and attack. And in many conflicts, women’s bodies become battlegrounds, with rape used as a weapon of war to humiliate, dominate or disrupt social ties among the enemy.
Adolescent girls and young women are at particular risk. Armed groups often prowl refugee camps in search of children to abduct and recruit as combatants, sexual slaves, cooks and ‘bush wives’. Where social mores are under siege, even community members and peers can pose a threat. Domestic violence and marital rape may also rise among crisis-affected populations, as many men who have lost jobs, status and stability take out their frustrations on their partners.
The impact of violence, especially rape, can be devastating. Physical consequences may include injuries, unwanted pregnancies, and HIV. Damage to mental health may
lead to anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicide.
Survivors who fail to receive appropriate treatment and counselling can suffer these effects for years, greatly diminishing their ability to care for themselves or their
families. The families and communities of survivors may be traumatized as well.
Widespread sexual violence is also endemic in many post-conflict situations, where it can perpetuate a cycle of anxiety and fear that may impede recovery and reconstruction.
UNFPA in action
UNFPA makes medical kits available to emergency settings that contain all the medical supplies needed to treat survivors of rape. Care for survivors includes documentation of the attack, a full medical examination, treatment for injuries and possible infection, emergency contraception or post-exposure prophylaxis with anti-retroviral drugs where appropriate, and follow-up medical examinations.
UNFPA, in collaboration with UNHCR, trained close to 400 medical workers in over 10 countries affected by conflict and disasters on clinical management of rape survivors. This training is based on the WHO/UNFPA/UNHCR guidelines Clinical Management of Rape Survivors.
In Sierra Leone, UNFPA as worked with governments, local organizations and other humanitarian partners to provide medical care and social support for the survivors of sexual violence. |
In Liberia, the Fund is working on an advocacy campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence and new legislation increasing the penalties for rape. |
| In Kabul, where violence against women and children has become a serious public health concern, UNFPA supports the Family Response Unit, which provides support to female victims of crime. |
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