The recent United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) briefing paper entitled “Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath: Realities, Responses, and Required Resources” provides a comprehensive examination of sexual violence during all stages of war and the international community’s response to it. Sexual violence in war has been receiving greater attention recently, and experts argue that statistics show the nature of war is changing which is causing it to create greater dangers for women and children. The paper gives concrete worldwide examples of the types of violence affecting women and children in war settings. These include 40,000 cases of reported war-related rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina by 1993 and the increased amount of prostitution and trafficking in the Balkans once the war ended.
The briefing paper addresses the history of violence against women in war-settings, including rape as a tool of war, prostitution, torture, sexual slavery, and trafficking. These atrocities take place in the location of the war, in flight to refugee camps, in refugee camps, and also in the surrounding areas after the war.
In addition, the paper also examines programs established to combat gender-based violence related to war; this includes a case study on Bosnia-Herzegovina. It finds that the violence must be addressed in four sectors in order to be effective: health, psychosocial, legal/justice, and security.
The paper concludes with a thorough assessment of current measures being taken by the international community to address war-related gender-based violence.
Compiled from: “Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath: Realities, Responses, and Required Resources” United Nations Population Fund, June 2006, www.unfpa.org, Accessed 20 June 2006.