Sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in armed conflicts

Abstract

The purpose of this review paper is to point out the problem of conflict related sexual violence, which is often misrepresented as a "women issue". Namely, most surveys, official reports and academic publications deal exclusively with sexual violence committed against women and girls, while violence against men and boys is largely excluded from the discourse on sexual and gender-based violence. The reasons for this are many, starting from the already existing gender inequality and marginalization of women in society and the fact that conflicts and violence disproportionately affect women and girls, to the fact that men because of stigma and fear being accused for homosexual activity, do not report violence. Therefore, the largest numbers of international legal instruments deal with the protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence, providing adequate assistance and reparation, while the protection of men and boys, as well as the response of transitional justice institutions to this violence, are often omitted. Without intent to criticize the existing discourse on gender equality, or sexual and gender-based violence, as well as to re-examine the efforts of the international community in tackling this problem, this paper aims to show that victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts can not be viewed in the context belonging to a particular gender. Victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts may be all, regardless of gender, therefore protection of victims, assistance and reparations should be available for all.

Keywords

• gender/based violence
• sexual violence
• armed conflict
• conflictrelated violence