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Responding to the needs of survivors of sexual violence: Do we know what works?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Doris Schopper
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Extract

During the past twelve months, the issue of sexual violence in conflict and emergencies has received an unprecedented amount of attention at the highest political and institutional levels. In 2013, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) launched a Call to Action to mobilize donors, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders on protecting women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, culminating in the high-level event “Protecting Girls and Women in Emergencies” in November 2013. As of August 2014, over forty partners (including governments, United Nations (UN) agencies and NGOs) had made commitments to the Call to Action. Furthermore, in June 2014 the “Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict”, co-chaired by the UK Foreign Secretary and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), gathered 1,700 delegates and 129 country delegations. In his summary, the chair of the Global Summit states: “We must apply the lessons we have learned and move from condemnation to concrete action. We must all live up to the commitments we have made.”1 In September 2014, the United States organized a Call to Action event in New York during the UN General Assembly with the purpose of sharing progress on commitments made in November 2013. It thus seems that efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence in conflict and emergencies and advocate for a much stronger commitment to action are well under way. But is this enough? Is there enough evidence from lessons learned to allow us to increase and improve our response?

Keywords

evidence-based programmingmedical carepsychosocial supporteffectivenessevaluationresearchsexual violence
Type
Addressing/Responding to sexual violence in armed conflict
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 96 , Issue 894: Sexual violence in armed conflict , June 2014 , pp. 585 - 600
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2015 

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References

1 “Chair's Summary – Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict”, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 13 June 2014, available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/chairs-summary-global-summit-to-end-sexual-violence-in-conflict/chairs-summary-global-summit-to-end-sexual-violence-in-conflict (all internet references were accessed in September 2014).

2 UNHCR, Guidelines for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons, May 2003, available at: www.unhcr.org/3f696bcc4.html.

3 The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises was established in March 2002. It provided guidelines for investigations and adopted six standards of behaviour to be included in UN and NGO codes of conduct. In October 2003, the Secretary-General issued a Bulletin entitled Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, ST/SGB/2003/13, available at: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N03/550/40/PDF/N0355040.pdf?OpenElement.

4 Interagency Standing Committee (IASC), Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings, September 2005, available at: www.unhcr.org/453492294.html

5 See, inter alia, World Health Organization (WHO), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Principles and Interventions, 2012, available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75179/1/WHO_RHR_HRP_12.18_eng.pdf; International Rescue Committee (IRC), UNICEF, Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Guidelines for Health and Psychosocial Service Providers in Humanitarian Settings, 2012, available at: www.unicef.org/protection/files/IRC_CCSGuide_FullGuide_lowres.pdf; UNHCR, Handbook for the Protection of Women and Girls, March 2008, available at: www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/47cfae612.html.

6 UNFPA offers an e-learning course entitled “Managing Gender-Based Violence Programmes in Emergencies”; see https://extranet.unfpa.org/Apps/GBVinEmergencies/intro/player.html. Johns Hopkins University has developed “Confronting Gender-Based Violence”, a course focusing on clinical and psychosocial care for women and men who are survivors and/or are at risk of gender-based violence; see http://moodle.ccghe.net/enrol/index.php?id=58.

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26 HIV seroconversion is the interval, after HIV infection, during which antibodies are first produced and rise to detectable levels. Seroconversion takes place within three weeks in most infected individuals.

27 V. Buard et al., above note 20.

28 A. Kohli et al., above note 23.

29 Ibid., p. 7.

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37 On efforts to prosecute sexual violence crimes at the national level, see, inter alia, the article by Kim Seelinger in this issue of the Review.

38 J. Spangaro et al., above note 25.

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51 WHO, above note 49, p. 15.

52 Ibid.

53 See the GBVIMS website at: www.gbvims.org.

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57 SVRI, above note 47.

58 Amnesty International, “Aftershocks: Women Speak Out against Sexual Violence in Haiti's Camps”, London, 2011, available at: www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR36/001/2011/en/57237fad-f97b-45ce-8fdb-68cb457a304c/amr360012011en.pdf.