Policy paper

A theory of change for addressing conflict-related sexual violence

Published 28 November 2022

1. Executive summary

Gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict can take many forms, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). CRSV is an abuse of human rights and when perpetrated in the context of and associated with an armed conflict, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.

CRSV can lead to death and those who survive it experienced multiple forms of harm, such as serious and lifelong injuries, trauma, and distress. Survivors’ families and communities are also affected, including from the discrimination, stigma, and lack of access to quality services and support for survivors. CRSV undermines poverty reduction, gender equality, conflict prevention and resolution, and fuels conflict.

This theory of change was developed in recognition of the centrality of work in addressing CRSV to the UK’s conflict, humanitarian, development, and defence objectives. The overall intended impact is that women, men, girls, boys, and people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) are not at risk of conflict-related sexual violence and those who survive it are able to access quality support, services, and justice.

The theory of change provides an evidence-based conceptual framework for how the UK Government and other stakeholders can contribute to addressing CRSV through diplomatic, development, humanitarian, and defence interventions. Recognising that work to prevent and respond to CRSV is integral to meeting commitments set out in the UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, it is designed to be read alongside the Guidance note: Implementing Strategy Outcome 3: Gender-based violence.

The theory of change is structured around 5 pathways leading to the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: CRSV is understood as a violation of international criminal, human rights and humanitarian law and is unacceptable within communities, institutions, and society
• Outcome 2: An environment exists that reduces the risks, effects, and perpetration of CRSV
• Outcome 3: Survivors can access justice according to their needs and preferences
• Outcome 4: Survivors are able to demand their rights and access quality support and services
• Outcome 5: Increased data and evidence is available and used to inform efforts to address CRSV and strengthen standards and practice on prevention and response

The development of the theory of change also recognises that our understanding of both the drivers and impacts of CRSV and effective prevention and response strategies has grown significantly in recent years and this knowledge should be used to inform policy and programming and is reflected in the conceptual framework and pathways of change.

CRSV has been long associated as being a ‘weapon of war’, a tactic used to further strategic, military, and/or organisational objectives by State actors or non-state armed groups. By whom, when, and how CRSV is used is diverse and understanding the nature of CRSV is essential to designing effective strategies to stop it.

Historically, CRSV has been considered of lower importance than other atrocities committed in conflict and the response from Governments and multilateral organisations has not been commensurate with the severity of the acts. In all contexts, including those affected by conflict, the majority of perpetrators of GBV are known to survivors, who are predominately women and girls, and understanding the connections between sexual violence perpetrated during conflict and other forms of GBV perpetrated prior to, during, and after a conflict, is crucial to inform prevention interventions and survivor-centred responses. 

2. The challenge

This theory of change uses the UN definition of CRSV, which is “rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict”. ^{[footnote 1]}

Notably, this definition goes beyond sexual violence used by armed combatants for strategic objectives and encompasses broader forms of sexual violence, including opportunistic sexual violence by armed combatants, non-combatant perpetrated sexual violence as a consequence of breakdown of the rule of law and protective systems, and sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers.

The link between sexual violence and conflict may be evident in the profile of the perpetrator, who is often affiliated with a State or non-State armed group (which includes terrorist entities or networks); the profile of the victim or survivor, who may be a member of a persecuted political, ethnic or religious minority, or targeted on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity; the climate of impunity associated with State and institutional deterioration or collapse; forced displacement, which may be across international borders; and/or violations of a ceasefire or peace agreement. The term also encompasses trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation when committed in situations of conflict.

CRSV is a violation of international human rights law and many national laws. When perpetrated in the context of and associated with an armed conflict, rape and other forms of CRSV are a serious violation of international humanitarian law, including Common Article 3, the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as Additional Protocol I and Additional Protocol II. ^{[footnote 2]} International criminal law recognises rape and other forms of CRSV among the acts that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity if perpetrated as part of widespread or systematic attacks on civilians, and genocide when committed with the intent to destroy wholly or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. ^{[footnote 3]}

CRSV can be fatal, resulting in death from injuries or suicide. Survivors of CRSV as well as their families and communities experience short and long-term effects. Physical health impacts range from the consequences of immediate injuries to longer term disabilities and effects on sexual and reproductive health. Men, women, boys, and girls will be affected differently based on their gender and age, among other factors. Mental health impacts for survivors vary, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, and suicide. CRSV also has negative economic effects through loss of productivity, increased care work, costs of seeking and procuring services, and the effects on household consumption and poverty. ^{[footnote 4]}

This theory of change uses the term ‘survivor’ yet acknowledges that not everyone survives CRSV and that those who do have the right to choose the most appropriate language to express their individual experience and may identify as ‘victim’ or ‘survivor’ or use other terminology, depending on their context, experiences, and preferred language. Therefore, ‘survivor’ refers to any adult or child, whatever their gender identity, who has survived being subjected to CRSV. This includes children born as a result of pregnancy from CRSV who face unique challenges stemming from discrimination and intergenerational trauma as well as barriers to civil documentation and citizenship, health, education, and employment. ^{[footnote 5] [footnote 6]}

Discrimination and stigma exacerbate the impact of CRSV on individuals and their families. The Principles for Global Action: Preventing and Addressing Stigma Associated with Conflict-related Sexual Violence describe how CRSV-associated stigma is socially and culturally constructed around dominance and inequality, especially gender inequality and involves “penalising or placing blame on individual, groups, or communities for bringing shame or ‘transgressing’ from the standards of their community or society, resulting in marginalisation”. ^{[footnote 7]}

The harmful impacts of CRSV, including the barriers survivors face to recovery and reintegration, undermine poverty reduction, gender equality, conflict prevention and resolution, and fuel conflict. Violence also has long-term effects and research has demonstrated that the experience of violence as a child is correlated with becoming a perpetrator and a target of sexual and intimate partner violence as an adult. ^{[footnote 8]} Childhood exposure to violence can have intergenerational impacts that have yet to be fully understood in terms of CRSV.

This theory of change was developed in recognition of the centrality of work to prevent and respond to CRSV to the UK’s conflict, humanitarian, development, and defence objectives. It recognises that the evidence base, and our understanding of both the drivers of CRSV and effective prevention and response strategies, has grown significantly in recent years and the theory of change aims to inform policy and programming by providing a conceptual framework and pathways towards desired change.

CRSV is a form of gender-based violence (GBV) and where the evidence base or relevant examples refer to sexual violence, GBV, or violence against women and girls (VAWG), the theory of change reflects this in its use of terminology. The theory of change recognises the overlaps between sexual violence, GBV, VAWG, and CRSV and that in many cases, an act of violence can be categorised under more than one definition. Examples of how these concepts can overlap include:

• a soldier that uses violence against his wife in his home is perpetrating CRSV, GBV, VAWG, and intimate partner violence (IPV)
• military personnel deployed on a peacekeeping operation that trade sexual acts with adolescent girls for their protection are perpetrating CRSV, GBV, VAWG, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and violence against children
• a member of a non-State armed group is ordered by his commander to rape women and adolescent girls for the purpose of terrorising a community is perpetrating CRSV, GBV, VAWG, and violence against children

Importantly, the categorisation of CRSV may be irrelevant to survivors themselves or may not resonate with their experience of violence and should not become a barrier to survivors’ access to support, services, and justice.

Recognising that work to prevent and respond to CRSV is integral to meeting commitments set out in the UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), the theory of change is designed to be read in conjunction with the UK National Action Plan on WPS 2018-2022: Guidance note: Implementing Strategy Outcome 3: Gender-based violence.

3. Conceptualising conflict-related sexual violence

While the occurrence of inter and intra-State conflict affects the prevalence, forms, and patterns of CRSV, the drivers and dynamics of conflict are also affected by all forms of GBV committed prior to, during, and after a conflict. Research demonstrates a statistically significant relationship between levels of violence against women in society and the security of the state. ^{[footnote 9]} There is evidence that GBV and wider militarised violence often have common drivers, such as gendered social norms that condone violence within the home and community. ^{[footnote 10]}

Sexual violence committed during conflict may fuel or exacerbate inter-group political violence and conflict and the symbolism and stigma of sexual violence can have a catalytic effect on conflict. ^{[footnote 11]} Therefore, if the drivers of CRSV are addressed, wider conflict resolutions efforts could be strengthened.

The realities of sexual violence perpetrated by armed combatants are complex and dynamic. Kelly (2010) argues that parties may use sexual violence differently in the same conflict and the types and prevalence of CRSV may change both temporarily and geographically. ^{[footnote 12]} It is important to understand the unique characteristics of CRSV that can change over time and across contexts.

Our understanding of the differences in how CRSV is perpetrated, by whom, and its driving factors is evolving and has implications for policy and programming aimed at addressing CRSV. While we know that many countries are affected by the threat, occurrence, or legacy of CRSV, measuring the scale of sexual violence in conflict and fragile settings is complex and involves various challenges, including the ethics of collecting data in the absence of services for survivors. ^{[footnote 13] [footnote 14]} Importantly, due to underreporting or lack of reporting through formal channels, prevalence figures should be assumed to be estimates. ^{[footnote 15]}

CRSV may be purposefully committed to pursue strategic, military, and/or organisational objectives by State actors or non-State armed groups, as a ‘weapon of war’. ^{[footnote 16]} These objectives vary widely and include using CRSV as sexual torture of political prisoners, as collective punishment (for example, orders to terrorise civilians), or as a form of compensation or reward for armed actors. ^{[footnote 17]}

CRSV may be perpetrated strategically as an act of ethnic cleansing; the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) decision in 1998 to convict Jean-Paul Akayesu ruled for the first time that rape, if committed with the intention to destroy a protected group, could be considered a component of genocide. ^{[footnote 18] [footnote 19]} More recently in 2019, an independent investigation mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in Myanmar found that sexual violence perpetrated by the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military, against the Rohingya population was “part of a deliberate, well-planned strategy to intimidate, terrorise and punish a civilian population” and showed genocidal intent. ^{[footnote 20] [footnote 21]}

Targeting children with CRSV has been a tactic used to terrorise civilian populations by instilling fear and fracturing families and communities and sexual violence against children is a one of the six grave violations affecting children in conflict. [reference: i] Armed groups have used CRSV against children to pursue their political goals of ethnic cleansing, displacement, or humiliating an ethnic group by fracturing families and communities. ^{[footnote 22]}

Forced CRSV, where community members are forced to commit sexual violence, including against their own family members, is a particular form of terror with devastating consequences. Reports from the Tigray region of Ethiopia in 2020 include allegations that men have been forced to have sex with members of their families under the threat of violence and death. ^{[footnote 23]}

Forced marriage and sexual slavery, forms of CRSV, have been used by armed groups to manage the sexual and reproductive lives of combatants. ^{[footnote 24]} In Uganda, for example, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) forced many of the women and girls it abducted to marry combatants. ^{[footnote 25]} This institutionalisation of forced marriage and wider restrictions on sexual behaviour of members by the LRA was a means to socialise new recruits and enabled the leadership to maintain a high degree of command and control. ^{[footnote 26]}

Acts of CRSV can be used to foster group cohesion and loyalty among members of an armed group, particularly when the violence is carried out in public. ^{[footnote 27]} As a tactic to socialise recruits into an armed group, CRSV is used to establish social bonds and reinforce the expected norms of masculinity, brutality, and virility. ^{[footnote 28]} This is particularly the case when multiple perpetrator CRSV is committed and when armed groups rely on abduction and child recruitment and need to cultivate loyalty among conscripts. Research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) showed that across various State and non-State armed groups, rape as a socialisation tactic was more common in groups where the majority of recruits were abducted. ^{[footnote 29]} Similarly, Boko Haram, a non-State armed group operating in north eastern Nigeria, abducted girls and forced them into marriages with conscripted male combatants as a reward for their participation and to cultivate their loyalty. ^{[footnote 30]}

CRSV is not committed as a strategy or tactic by all groups of combatants, nor in all conflicts, and in some circumstances orders against the use of CRSV may be strategic, for instance when one armed group wants to demonstrate their moral superiority or their legitimacy, particularly for non-State armed groups. ^{[footnote 31]} This can be the case when CRSV is committed by one party to the conflict but not others or when armed groups target civilians with violence, but not with sexual violence. For example, this was the situation in Sri Lanka where the Tamil secessionist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), did not engage in CRSV, but did target civilians with other forms of violence. ^{[footnote 32]}

Wood (2014) argues that the conceptualisation of CRSV should go beyond its strategic use as it also occurs as a ‘practice.’ ^{[footnote 33]} Conflict-related rape can be understood as a practice when it is not ordered to further military goals, but is tolerated within an organisation. ^{[footnote 34]} It may be tolerated for a variety of reasons, including commanders perceiving prohibition as too costly or acceptance of CRSV as a form of consumption or entertainment underpinned by gendered social norms. ^{[footnote 35] [footnote 36]}

The perpetration of CRSV as a practice include instances when multiple perpetrator rape is orchestrated within armed groups to foster cohesion amongst recruits and when rape is a form of compensation or reward tolerated by commanders. ^{[footnote 37]} Research with 200 government soldiers in DRC revealed that many interviewees linked high rates of rape by military actors with frustration and anxiety derived from their failure to live up to masculine ideals providing for a family as salaries often go unpaid for extended periods of time. ^{[footnote 38]}

Importantly, the ways in which armed groups use CRSV should not be understood as mutually exclusive as CRSV can be perpetrated for multiple purposes in a particular conflict or among members of a single armed group. For instance, Revkin and Wood (2020) analysed the use of CRSV by Da’esh in Iraq and Syria and found examples of rape used as a policy of the organisation and as a practice of its members tolerated by their senior commanders. ^{[footnote 39]}

Trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation can be a form of CRSV and while research on the relationship between trafficking and conflict is in a nascent stage, the breakdown of rule of law, forced displacement, and loss of livelihoods, can increase the risk of trafficking, including for sexual exploitation. As the purpose of trafficking is financial gain, it may be a source of income for armed groups. For example, while their motivation for using CRSV was multipronged, Da’esh also financially profited from the sale of abducted Yazidi women and girls into situations of sexual servitude, which they used to fund their insurgent operations. ^{[footnote 40]}

CRSV is grounded in pre-existing harmful social norms that underpin gender inequality, patriarchal institutions, men and boys’ violence against women and girls, and violations of women’s human rights. Social norms shape the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours within armed groups and help explain why sexual violence, when perpetrated with military or political objectives, can be an effective strategy. ^{[footnote 41]}

State and non-State actors might use CRSV to further gendered ideological and political objectives. Conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Iraq, Nepal, Syria, and Uganda, have included public acts of sexual violence by armed actors against people who transgress norms of heterosexuality and binary gender expression as a means to promote a hegemonic vision of gender norms in political and social life and to assert their harmful beliefs of masculinity and femininity. ^{[footnote 42]}

Myrttinen and Daigle (2017) argue that violence perpetrated against sexual and gender minorities by armed actors in conflict be situated within the repression and violence against these populations outside of conflict and from non-armed actors. In other words, the violence experienced by individuals with diverse SOGEISC should not be understood as peculiar to a conflict, but as part of lived experiences prior to the conflict and in countries affected by protracted conflicts, recovering from conflict, or societies generally considered to be at peace. ^{[footnote 43]}

CRSV is used to deter and silence women’s rights activists and women human rights defenders (WHRD). [reference: ii] Women in public life are at particular risk due to their work promoting gender equality and because they often challenge traditional notions of family and gender roles. ^{[footnote 44]} For instance, attacks against Sudanese women protestors by parliamentary forces in 2019 were used to create a climate of fear and as a threat to women who do not comply with traditional gender roles. ^{[footnote 45]} Similarly, in Libya WHRDs promoting peace and negotiating with militia leaders face ongoing threats to their physical safety, underpinned by political rhetoric that narrowly defines women’s role in public life. ^{[footnote 46]}

CRSV and pre- and post-conflict GBV are related, but the relationship is dynamic and contextual. ^{[footnote 47]} Swaine (2018) has highlighted the continuities between pre-conflict GBV and its manifestation during conflict; her research from Indonesia, Northern Ireland, and Timor-Leste revealed how many of the patterns of pre-conflict violence, such as sexualised assault by men known to women, including IPV, are sustained during conflicts by many of the same actors. ^{[footnote 48]} However, some women may experience a reduction or disruption in their experience of violence during conflict, such as women whose violent husbands are away fighting, detained, or are killed in the conflict, pointing to the need for contextual analysis and understanding of who is most at risk of CRSV. ^{[footnote 49]}

Understanding the connections between sexual violence perpetrated during conflict, and different forms of GBV prior to, during, and after the conflict, is crucial to inform strategies for prevention and effective, survivor-centred response. Analysis by Davies and True (2015) shows a statistically significant relationship between measures of gender equality, using the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index and countries included in the UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on CRSV, including the lack of a law against domestic violence in a particular country and greater acceptance of IPV. ^{[footnote 50]}

IPV is likely to be the most common form of GBV in conflicts and it should be understood on a shifting continuum of violence that includes CRSV. ^{[footnote 51]} Gray (2019) argues that the omission of IPV from efforts to define and address CRSV does not reflect the realities of those living in conflict-affected communities. ^{[footnote 52]} For instance, IPV experienced by women and girls in their homes is often considered to occur in a private space that is separate from CRSV occurring in public spaces. However, such distinctions do not recognise the continuums of both violence and conflict-affected existences and instead make false delineations not reflective of the experiences of those affected by conflict, IPV, and CRSV. Gray suggests that IPV and CRSV are forms of violence that co-exist and reproduce one another and the boundaries between them are blurred and dynamic and that by omitting IPV from efforts to address CRSV, policy and programming to address both IPV and CRSV will fall short. ^{[footnote 53]}

As in non-conflict situations, the majority of perpetrators of GBV in conflicts are known to the survivor and women and girls are disproportionately the targets of this violence. IPV, which can include sexual violence, is the most common form of GBV that women and girls experience in conflict-affected contexts. ^{[footnote 54]} A 2017 study in South Sudan found that over 65% of women and girls had experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime and at one study site, 73% of women had experienced IPV in their lifetime. ^{[footnote 55]} In contrast, approximately 33% of women who participated in the research had experienced non-partner sexual violence, often linked to a raid, displacement, or abduction. ^{[footnote 56]} Similarly, sexual violence may be perpetrated against WHRDs because they are perceived to be transgressing gender norms, by both partners and non-partners. ^{[footnote 57]}

In conflict and post-conflict contexts existing forms of GBV can intensify, increasing in severity and frequency. ^{[footnote 58]} This includes IPV, early, forced and child marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) perpetrated by members of peace support operations and humanitarian aid workers, and trafficking in persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation. This is due to the continuity of drivers of GBV in conflict and post-conflict settings, including gender inequality and social norms that uphold patriarchal power structures, as well as the intensification of other drivers of GBV. ^{[footnote 59]} These drivers include the breakdown in law and order, erosion of community-based protection mechanisms, and the normalisation of more extreme forms of violence. Risk factors for GBV also tend to increase during conflicts, such as increases in alcohol and drug use and increased childhood experiences of violence. ^{[footnote 60]}

Despite emerging evidence, there are still gaps in our understanding of the drivers of CRSV and the variations in the use and effects of CRSV across conflicts. ^{[footnote 61]} However, by recognising the differences in how, when, and who perpetrates CRSV, we can better design interventions aimed at preventing CRSV and ensure responses to CRSV reflect the diverse needs and preferences of survivors, their families, and the communities.

4. Theory of change

The theory of change sets out five outcome areas which are essential for delivering the following intended impact: women, men, girls, boys, and people of diverse SOGIESC are not at risk of conflict-related sexual violence, and those who experience it are able to access quality support, services and justice.

This impact is integral to meeting international commitments set out in:

• UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)
• UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and subsequent Security Council Resolutions (including 1820, 1888, 2122, and 2467)
• UN Security Council Resolution 1612 on Children Affected by Armed Conflict and subsequent Security Council Resolutions (including 1882 and 2427)
• G8 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
• Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies

Recognising that work to prevent and respond to CRSV is integral to meeting commitments set out in the UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), the theory of change is designed to be read in conjunction with the UK National Action Plan on WPS 2018-2022: Guidance note: Implementing Strategy Outcome 3: Gender-based violence.

The problem statement underpinning the theory of change, is as follows:

CRSV perpetrated by individuals, communities, and institutions is a violation or abuse of human rights, a violation of international humanitarian law, and a deliberate act of power and control. CRSV can have both short- and long-term impacts on survivors’ physical and mental health and wellbeing as well as their ability to fulfil their potential and participate fully and freely in society. CRSV, as a form of GBV, can also intersect with other conflict drivers to enable and fuel armed conflict. CRSV is underpinned by social norms and power imbalances grounded in inequalities, including gender inequality. The harmful impacts of CRSV experienced by survivors, their families and communities, including the barriers survivors face to recovery, undermine poverty reduction, gender equality, conflict prevention and resolution, and fuel conflict. Historically, CRSV has been considered of lower importance than other atrocities committed in conflict and the response from Governments and multilateral organisations has not been commensurate with the severity of the acts, contributing to impunity for perpetrators.

4.1 Theory of change narrative

The theory of change is structured around five pathways to achievement of outcomes that lead to the intended impact that women, men, girls, boys, and people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) are not at risk of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and those that experience it are able to access quality support, services, and justice. The pathways are interdependent and require the participation of diverse stakeholders and multiple sectors to be effective at achieving the impact.

The theory of change provides a framework for HMG and other stakeholders to examine how the pathways can be pursued through diplomacy and influencing, policymaking, programming, and defence interventions. It is, by its nature, a theory, which should be adapted to the unique challenges, opportunities, and dynamics of each context where it is applied.

Outcome 1: CRSV is understood as a violation of international criminal human rights and humanitarian law as well as national laws and is unacceptable within communities, institutions, and society

To achieve this requires shifts in social norms, which are the attitudes and behaviours that violent behaviour is both typical and appropriate. All forms of GBV perpetrated prior to, during, and after conflict are held in place by harmful social norms regarding gender, including what is considered typical and appropriate behaviour for men and women and boys and girls and the distribution of power between them. Social norms shape how members of a society see themselves and others, their social and intimate relationships, their sexuality, and how resources are allocated. ^{[footnote 62]} This outcome is essential to the achievement of other outcomes.

Whilst the evidence base largely relates to VAWG, perpetrators of sexual violence against men often seek to impose domination, power, and control through their acts, and prevailing and harmful social norms that underpin VAWG are also factors in CRSV, including when perpetrated against men and boys and people of diverse SOGIESC. ^{[footnote 63] [footnote 64]}

Promising practices have been developed, including through the What Works to Prevent Violence programme, on interventions that can contribute to shifting harmful social norms that underlie VAWG, including community activism, economic empowerment, workshops and curricula, public information campaigns, working with religious and community leaders, provision of counselling, and skills building. ^{[footnote 65]}

Social norms also have an impact on how survivors of CRSV are treated by their families, communities, justice actors, and service providers. The belief that perpetrators must be held to account and that survivors are not to blame for violence perpetrated against them is essential to reducing stigma, discrimination, and obstacles to recovery and ensuring barrier-free pathways to quality survivor-centred services exist (Outcomes 3 and 4).

Whilst violent behaviours are held in place by social norms, they are not fixed and can change. The pathway to Outcome 1 is scaling up interventions for societal-level changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours so communities collectively condemn and censure CRSV and other related forms of violence, exploitation, and abuse. ^{[footnote 66]}

Whilst most of the evidence on social norm change initiatives comes from non-conflict contexts, there are an increasing number of interventions that have been rigorously evaluated from fragile and conflict-affected contexts and have shown positive results. For an example from DRC, see Box 1.

Box 1: Transforming masculinities in DRC

Tearfund’s Transforming Masculinities intervention in DRC demonstrated that social norm and behaviour change was possible within a 24-month time frame. The approach engaged and equipped community members with leadership roles to speak out against VAWG from a faith perspective. ^{[footnote 67]}

An evaluation showed that IPV reported by women participants more than halved from 69% at baseline to 29% at end-line and the prevalence of non-partner sexual violence reported by women reduced from 24% to 4%. ^{[footnote 68]}

Survivors were more likely to seek help and less likely to feel guilt for the violence they experienced. There was also increased community willingness to support a family to accept a survivor of rape. At the project’s conclusion, an overwhelming majority of both men and women believed that rapists should be punished. ^{[footnote 69]}

Humanitarian settings present unique challenges to implementing social norm and behaviour change programming, including displacement, collective trauma and distress, restricted mobility, and disrupted livelihoods and networks. ^{[footnote 70]} Prevention programmes are, however, increasingly being adapted to these contexts and there is emerging evidence that points to the potential for humanitarian programming to leverage the social upheaval that frequently accompanies conflict to achieve meaningful social change. ^{[footnote 71]} See Box 2 for an example from Somalia.

Box 2: Changing harmful patriarchal norms in Somalia

The Communities Care programme in Mogadishu, Somalia, which combines both primary GBV prevention and multisectoral response, developed the first known social norms and beliefs scale regarding all forms of GBV in humanitarian settings. ^{[footnote 72]} An evaluation of the programme revealed that both male and female participants had significantly greater improvements in change in harmful social norms for all three of the subscales compared to participants in a control district: response to sexual violence, protecting family honour, and husband’s right to use violence. ^{[footnote 73]}

There is strong evidence that taking a socio-ecological approach and working at multiple levels (individual, relationships, community, society) is key for transformative change. ^{[footnote 74]} This includes facilitating change to support equitable gender roles and power relations within institutions, such as the health, security, and justice sectors, who play key roles in both CRSV prevention and response (Outcomes 2, 3 and 4).

Addressing SEA [reference: iii] as a form of CRSV, whether perpetrated by military actors or humanitarian aid sector personnel, necessitates addressing risk factors at individual, organisational, community, and structural levels. ^{[footnote 75]} A global evidence review on SEA and sexual harassment (SEAH) [reference: iv] in the aid sector found that social norms within organisations can have a significant impact on the risks of SEAH. ^{[footnote 76]} Similarly, a review of SEAH by military personnel found that rather than being the result of a ‘few bad apples,’ it is a result of insufficient senior buy-in and inconsistent leadership messaging on gender equality and SEAH. ^{[footnote 77]}

Examples of effective interventions targeting both attitude and social norm change within such institutions are limited. Learning to date reflects the need to initiate change at all levels, the potential to use role models and work with people in power, and the importance of working with both men and women. ^{[footnote 78]} Whilst training is a common approach, reviews have found that for sustainable impact training must be linked to institutional change; this includes embedding SEAH in policies, procedures, and manuals, and through standardising training by developing curriculum that is provided to new recruits and as part of in-service training. ^{[footnote 79]}

Change at the societal level includes amendments to legal frameworks that criminalise perpetrators of CRSV and protect survivors, their families, and those that advocate for change. Laws that discriminate against certain groups, particularly women, girls, widows, people with diverse SOGIESC, and minority and indigenous groups, can hinder efforts to address CRSV. Examples of discriminatory legal frameworks are laws that prohibit safe access to abortion, ban women from passing their nationality to children, including those born of sexual violence, or the absence of law banning marriage under the age of 18. ^{[footnote 80] [footnote 81]}

Supporting the development of an enabling normative environment through legal reform is one aspect of this pathway. Evidence demonstrates changes to VAWG legislation is best achieved through the signing and ratifying of international conventions and the presence of women’s rights organisations, feminist movements, and government bodies focused on women (such as Ministries, councils, or committees). ^{[footnote 82]}

The existence of a strong legal framework is insufficient to address CRSV unless it is accompanied with full implementation of laws. For instance, a review of the legal response to GBV and violence against children in refugee hosting areas of Uganda found that despite a robust legal framework, there remained many gaps in accessing justice for women and girls affected by violence. ^{[footnote 83]} Implementing the normative framework is facilitated by political will, dedicated budgets, capacity building of public officials (including law enforcement and the judiciary), specialised judicial processes for GBV, monitoring by civil society, and advocacy from women’s rights organisations on states’ obligations to fulfil their commitments to implement laws. ^{[footnote 84]}

Importantly, awareness of the law and ones’ rights is an essential component of the strengthening of the normative framework on CRSV. This can be done through training and awareness with survivors’ networks and other community-focused initiatives. For an example from Turkey, see Box 3.

Box 3: Improvement of legal literacy among refugee women in Turkey

Support to Life, a Turkish non-governmental organisation providing support to refugees in Turkey, used a community-based approach to improve the understanding of the legal system and protection and justice services among refugee women. By empowering volunteer refugee women to disseminate information on women’s rights and how to access justice in Turkey, refugee women were able to improve their legal literacy and confidence in asserting their rights and access justice. ^{[footnote 85]}

Outcome 2: An environment exists that reduces the risk, effects, and perpetration of CRSV

There are opportunities to create an environment that reduces the use of CRSV, thereby reducing the risk that men, women, boys, girls, and those with diverse SOGIESC will be subjected to CRSV. Outcome 1 is closely linked to creating such an environment, by establishing and implementing normative frameworks and changing the accepted norms that underpin gender inequality and sanction violence, exploitation, and abuse, and prevent survivors from reporting and accessing support.

National and international security and defence actors, including law enforcement and policing agencies, armed forces, and members of peace support operations, play a key role in promoting and demonstrating effective rule of law through reducing the risks of all forms of violence against civilians in conflict-affected contexts. Through understanding the gendered and context-specific risks of violence, including who perpetrates CRSV, where and when it is most likely to occur, who is most frequently targeted, and potential early warning indicators, security and defence actors can take actions to mitigate these risks. ^{[footnote 86]} For example, for national military and members of peace support operations, this may include changing the timing, location, and patterns of patrolling.

For the presence of security and defence actors to have a positive impact, the trust of the local population is required, which may be undermined by historic and current human rights violations or abuses and SEA perpetrated by these actors. Efforts to prevent these abuses, including through reforming institutional cultures and norms that underpin SEA (see Outcome 1) and address impunity, is critical to achieve Outcome 2.

There are emerging good practices on how facilitating collaboration between security and defence actors and civilian populations through community-based protection approaches can improve these relationships, empower conflict-affected populations, strengthen accountability, and result in more effective risk mitigation, including in north east Nigeria where the NGO Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) facilitated dialogue between community protection committees and security forces where civilians were able to advocate for improved protection. ^{[footnote 87]}

Through prioritising GBV risk mitigation as an integral part of humanitarian response in crises, humanitarian actors can reduce the risks of violence, exploitation, and abuse facing conflict-affected populations. All sectors of humanitarian response have a responsibility to identify and mitigate risks of GBV and SEA and prioritise and fund GBV services and child protection interventions as life-saving humanitarian aid (see Outcome 4). ^{[footnote 88]} In addition to mainstreaming GBV risk mitigation across all sectors, such as water, sanitation, and hygiene, food security and nutrition, shelter, education, livelihoods, and protection, there is emerging evidence around the potential of cash transfers in low and middle-income settings to prevent IPV by increasing economic security and emotional wellbeing, reducing household conflict, and increases in women’s empowerment. ^{[footnote 89]}

There is limited evidence on effective strategies for deterring state and non-state armed groups from perpetrating CRSV either as a strategy or a tolerated practice, including when committed by combatants against intimate partners. Prosecution of those in the chain of command has not been found to have a deterring or preventative effect, however this doesn’t negate the importance of supporting pathways to criminal prosecution for survivors who wish to pursue this avenue (see Outcome 3) or as part of implementing a legal framework (see Outcome 1). ^{[footnote 90]}

Efforts are required to engage with all parties to an armed conflict to abide by international humanitarian law, including on the protection of civilians and prohibition of CRSV. For example, central to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) approach, is urging parties to armed conflicts to integrate prohibition of sexual violence into domestic legislation, military codes and in training manuals of weapon bearers, and raise concerns about observed or alleged CRSV through ‘confidential dialogues.’ ^{[footnote 91]}

An emergent promising practice is influencing non-State armed groups to prohibit CRSV, including from the international NGO Geneva Call using a tool referred to as a Deed of Commitment. ^{[footnote 92]} (See Box 4).

Box 4: Engaging non-state armed groups to address CRSV

In 2012 Geneva Call launched a Deed of Commitment on the Prohibition of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict and towards the Elimination of Gender Discrimination. This is universal document accompanied by training tools that enables Geneva Call to inform, educate, and engage in dialogue with non-state armed groups to prevent and prohibit the perpetration of sexual violence and eliminate gender discrimination.

A number of non-State armed groups have made formal and public commitments to prohibiting CRSV although the impact of this is challenging to monitor. In South Sudan, for example, the Chairman/Commander in Chief of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) issued a command order in February 2019 prohibiting rape and other forms of CRSV by SPLA-IO members and committing to holding those who disobey to account. ^{[footnote 93]}

A vibrant civil society plays an important role in the creation and maintaining an environment that censures CRSV, including organisations advocating for the rights of those most vulnerable to CRSV. ^{[footnote 94]} However, human rights activists are often targeted with violence, threats, and intimidation for their advocacy. Civil society actors, including survivors’ networks, women’s rights organisations, children’s rights organisations, and LGBTI+ organisations, should be supported in their work and be protected from violent backlash. Ensuring a safe operating space for civil society includes providing flexible and long-term funding for their critical work as well as investing in coordination mechanisms and safe convening platforms to build momentum and strengthen their collective efforts. ^{[footnote 95]} The participation of survivors of CRSV, including through their informal networks, are integral to meaningful policies and programming that address their needs and are based on their lived experiences. Religious leaders are often well positioned, as trusted figures within their communities, to support the wellbeing of survivors and help to prevent CRSV.

Ensuring that specific measures to address CRSV are included in conflict resolution, transitional justice, and state and peacebuilding processes as part of applying a gender perspective, can create important entry points for ensuring support to survivors and reducing risks of future gendered harms. ^{[footnote 96]} Examples include the inclusion of indicators on VAWG as part of monitoring mechanisms established for ceasefires, peace agreements, and justice and truth mechanisms, inclusion of provisions to respond to women and girls associated with armed groups in disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) programmes, or efforts to document and address CRSV in transitional justice processes.

Ensuring that CRSV is addressed at the outset of mediation process to achieve a ceasefire or peace agreement can improve the durability of peace by mitigating security concerns and improve the transparency, accountability, and confidence among parties to the agreement. ^{[footnote 97]} Guidance issued by the UN is that ceasefire and peace agreements should ensure that CRSV is included as a prohibited act, monitoring for CRSV is included in agreements, CRSV is recognised as a conflict method if relevant, amnesties for crimes under international law are prohibited, and arrangements for transition justice are included in the agreement. ^{[footnote 98]}

Moreover, provisions should be made in peace agreements that exclude individuals credibly suspected of perpetrating or ordering CRSV from participation in Government and national security structures, including armed forces, police, intelligence services as well as related civilian entities. ^{[footnote 99]} Transitional justice mechanisms should specifically address CRSV and treat it equal to other international crimes as well as include expertise on CRSV in its design and oversight. ^{[footnote 100]}

Outcome 3: Survivors access justice and accountability according to their needs and preferences

Access to justice for survivors is an essential element of a multisectoral and holistic response to CRSV. ^{[footnote 101]} Accountability and justice should be defined by survivors and will vary ‘from country to country, province to province, and survivor to survivor’. ^{[footnote 102]} Pathways to justice should therefore be diverse and respond to survivors’ needs and preferences.

For some survivors this may involve pursuing justice via formal judicial systems, which includes law enforcement agencies (e.g. police forces and immigration agencies), the judiciary (e.g. courts and legal representation), correction systems (e.g. detention facilities), and human rights institutions (e.g. national human rights commissions). Research from DRC on why women survivors turned to domestic courts found that many expressed a sense of agency and empowerment at being able to seek symbolic and material redress. ^{[footnote 103]} Others were drawn to legal avenues because of the promise of reparations, cost-free healthcare or child support, or because pursuing criminal charges was viewed as the only way to access socio-economic support. ^{[footnote 104]}

The numerous barriers that survivors face in accessing formal justice systems may also mean that pursuing criminal justice is not a survivor’s preferred option. These include physically inaccessible police stations and courts, prohibitive cost of legal representation, fears of backlash, distrust in the legal system, corruption, and insufficient knowledge of one’s rights and the law. ^{[footnote 105]} In some instances, there are harmful norms that underpin barriers to justice, such as beliefs that men are the only rights-bearers and guardianship laws that require men to make reports on behalf of their female family members. ^{[footnote 106]}

In the case of forced displacement, survivors of CRSV may not have the identity documents required for making reports of CRSV and refugees and migrants may not be able to access the legal system in their host countries. ^{[footnote 107]} Restrictions on refugees’ movement can also prevent them from seeking services or making reports of violence, particularly in camp-based settings.

Whilst addressing these barriers requires long term and multi-sectoral reform, there is evidence of the potential for gender-sensitive reparations programmes intended to redress human rights violations to provide justice and resources for recovery, while also publicly recognising the crime of CRSV. ^{[footnote 108]} Security Council Resolution 2467 (2019) called for a holistic and survivor-centred understanding of justice and accountability for survivors of CRSV, including the provision of reparations and inclusion of survivors of CRSV within reparations initiatives for survivors of conflict-related rights violations.

Box 5: Filling a gap in redress for CRSV survivors

Launched in 2019, the Global Survivors Fund is an initiative of the Mukwege Foundation with the support and guidance of the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Sexual Violence (SEMA). The fund addresses the gap in redress for survivors of CRSV by supporting efforts to establish programmes to support survivors and advocate for survivor-centred approaches in the design of accountability systems.

Lessons from the Western Balkans identified examples of good practice for reparations: taking a survivor-centred approach, guaranteeing confidentiality, tailoring reparations to the local context, recognising male survivors of CRSV, and ensuring reparations support transformative and egalitarian legal, judicial, security, and economic reform. ^{[footnote 109]} However, challenges still existed in this example, particularly around access, ongoing stigma, financing, and lack of urgency of reparations interventions. ^{[footnote 110]}

CRSV survivors should never be forced, coerced, or compelled to participate in judicial processes against perpetrators, their participation should always be voluntary and with informed consent. For survivors who wish to pursue formal pathways to justice, entry points should be available, accessible, and processes of criminal prosecutions should be effective. State and international justice systems should be responsive and capable of managing cases of CRSV by providing a legal framework that criminalises all forms of CRSV and establishes procedures for investigations, prosecutions, effective remedies, and reparations. ^{[footnote 111]}

Justice systems should be accountable to child survivors, which may require amendments to ensure best interest determinations are carried out to ensure no further harm will come to children who participate in judicial processes. ^{[footnote 112]} Children should be provided with opportunities to participate in decisions that affect them in developmentally and age appropriate ways and psychosocial support should be provided to children and their families that participate in judicial processes by providing testimony. ^{[footnote 113]} In some cases, family tracing and reintegration support may be required for children separated from their families due to their experiences of CRSV or alternative care arrangements put in place. ^{[footnote 114]}

If survivors of CRSV choose to pursue a formal route to justice, they should be supported by case managers and other service providers to do so. This can include offering legal counsel, chaperoning for medical or other forensic examinations, and psychosocial support throughout the process, which can be distressing and invoke past trauma. ^{[footnote 115]}

There is evidence from a small number of countries that fast-track and mobile courts can have a positive impact on increasing the speed and convictions of perpetrators of CRSV in conflict and post-conflict contexts. Fast-track and specialised courts aim to expediate cases of sexual violence while guaranteeing the right to a fair trial to the parties involved. Mobile courts, in particular, have been used in remote areas as a stop-gap mechanism; see Box 6 for an example from DRC.

Box 6: Mobile courts in Eastern DRC ^{[footnote 116]}

The establishment of mobile courts in eastern DRC intended to bring state criminal courts to remote areas and between 2009 and 2014 they heard more than a thousand cases, of which up to 75% were rape charges with conviction rates averaging between 60% to 78%. While this is a significant achievement and has brought a degree of justice to many survivors, the courts have been criticised as an internationally imposed structure that may have a determinantal effect on the institutional development of the Congolese justice sector.

Ensuring that formal, informal, and transitional justice systems are accountable to survivors and do not perpetuate discrimination or do further harm requires institutional and societal change that puts survivors’ rights at the centre of the judicial process and challenges the discriminatory gender norms within these institutions (see Outcome 1). See Box 7 for an example from Burundi of shifting norms in community justice systems.

Box 7: Inclusion of women leaders in community justice in Burundi

UNWomen has supported the inclusion of women into the circle of bashingantahe, traditional elders responsible for community conflict resolution and traditionally men. Through amendment of the bashingantahe charter and sensitising the leadership on women’s rights, women were accepted as part of the decision-making institution. At first hesitant, the male bashingantahe leaders became public champions of women’s rights. ^{[footnote 117]}

Survivors’ rights should inform how a survivor’s legal case is handled from the point of reporting or disclosing CRSV throughout the judicial process. One of the most common responses to improve women’s access to justice for GBV is the establishment of special women’s police units and stations. ^{[footnote 118]} These specialised desks can register complaints and help instigate legal action as well as refer to available services and there is some evidence that they can increase women’s confidence in reporting. ^{[footnote 119]}

Several conflict-affected countries have established specialised police units and courts for CRSV, such as the Joint Unit for Rapid Intervention and Eradication of Sexual Violence against Women and Children (Unité Mixte d’Intervention Rapide et de Répression des violences sexuelles faites aux femmes et aux enfants (UMIRR)), which despite its name has handled cases of CRSV against men, in Central African Republic (CAR). However, there is no evidence whether these specialised units increase the likelihood of reporting or satisfaction with UMIRR’s response.

There is a small but growing evidence base that police training can help improve knowledge of how to receive, investigate, and prosecute cases of GBV, as well as how to support survivors. ^{[footnote 120]} For an example in Pakistan, see Box 8.

Box 8: Police training on GBV in Pakistan

An evaluation of the Rabta programme implemented by the NGO Rozan in Sihala, Pakistan, a municipality outside of Islamabad, found that police who had received training on how to handle GBV cases effectively and sensitively had greater awareness of their own abusive behaviour, improved sensitivity towards cases of violence, and increased credibility among survivors. However, there was limited evidence of increasing the timeliness or rate of convictions and 67% of trainees still believed it was appropriate to solve cases of domestic violence within the family, demonstrating the perpetuation of harmful social norms that prevent women from enjoying a life free of violence. ^{[footnote 121]}

Training and capacity building efforts of actors within the justice system is a common intervention aimed at improving justice outcomes for survivors. However, studies show that the effectiveness of training programmes have been undermined by the perceived legitimacy of trainers, one-off efforts, and the lack of institutionalisation of training. ^{[footnote 122]}

Survivors may also face stigmatisation and discrimination at different points in the justice system, including from prosecutors and judges. Research from Bosnia and Herzegovina revealed that gender-based stereotypes pervade wartime sexual violence prosecutions, resulting in harmful practices that undermine access to justice. ^{[footnote 123]} These include inappropriate questions asked in court, the language used in verdicts, how crimes are characterised, and what evidence is admitted. ^{[footnote 124]}

There is promising practice from multi-pronged approaches to addressing gender bias within the judiciary and improving judicial response to GBV, including a programme led by the Association of Women Judges, the Atlantic Initiative, and DCAF: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ^{[footnote 125]} This included using research to demonstrate that gendered stereotypes can result in gender bias within the judiciary as well as training judicial professionals to train their peers and creating and supporting a group of motivated, competent, and mutually supportive judges and prosecutors, and developing guidance materials.

Survivors may face threats, intimidation, retaliation, and re-traumatisation when pursuing formal justice. ^{[footnote 126]} Protective measures should be put in place through consultation with survivors and should address risks of harm within the justice system, which will be gendered and linked to other characteristics that affect vulnerability, such as age, ability, ethnicity, and SOGIESC. These include procedural or evidentiary rules to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of survivors, measures to protect their mental and emotional wellbeing, and to ensure their safety and security before, during, and after judicial processes. ^{[footnote 127]}

Other survivors may choose to access informal justice mechanisms. Models of informal justice are multiple and complex and can be broadly understood as those that operate outside of state apparatus, including conflict resolution practices derived from traditions and indigenous governance systems or religious doctrine and practices. ^{[footnote 128] [footnote 129]} Where there is a breakdown of security and justice systems due to conflict, informal justice mechanisms may be the only accessible option for survivors or are preferred due to the inaccessibility, ineffectiveness, or distrust of formal justice processes.

There are gaps in evidence on the effectiveness of interventions that work with informal justice mechanisms to respond to CRSV. ^{[footnote 130]} Challenges in the promotion of informal justice systems exist when these mechanisms place justice for the group ahead of justice for the individual and when informal justice is grounded in social norms that disadvantage survivors, do not recognise the power imbalances between survivors and perpetrators, or put the survivor in danger. ^{[footnote 131]}

Box 9: Women’s courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The establishment of Women’s Courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina provide an example of how informal women-led justice can potentially complement formal justice procedures to achieve a more holistic and survivor-focused response.

The court system was organised by a coalition of WROs and provided a platform where survivors were able to create their own narrative using their own words about their experiences of violence and injustice during and following the Yugoslav Wars. ^{[footnote 132]} While this was found to provide important recognition for survivors, reviews of this approach have cautioned that it should be seen as one component of justice that should act in tandem with other initiatives. ^{[footnote 133]}

To improve the accountability of informal justice systems, survivors should be empowered to understand the law and their rights and platforms and spaces for women to grow networks and amplify their collective voices should be supported as well as the work of WROs and survivor networks. For example, in Balkh and Badakhshan provinces in Afghanistan, locally respected women with basic legal training acted as gender focal points and advised women on their rights, formal and customary law, available support, and referral pathways. ^{[footnote 134]}

Outcome 4: Survivors are able to demand their rights and access quality support and services

Ensuring survivors can access comprehensive and survivor-centred GBV response services in conflict contexts is a lifesaving humanitarian intervention and is essential in reducing the risks of both short and long-term harm to survivors, their families, and communities. Available services should be holistic and include healthcare, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services [reference: v], mental healthcare and psychosocial support, options for economic and livelihood support, and access to justice (see Outcome 3).

Analysis demonstrates that humanitarian GBV response remains underfunded compared to other sectors and funds requests do not match the scale of the problem. ^{[footnote 135]} Similarly, in order for quality services to be available to those affected by CRSV, this must be prioritised by Governments and donors as well as humanitarian aid agencies. Multi-sector services in crises require effective coordination and include strong measures for safe and ethical information collection and management, including robust data protection measures when documentation efforts are undertaken for perpetrator accountability purposes, such as through the UN Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) on CRSV. ^{[footnote 136] [footnote 137]}

Survivors are not a homogeneous group and their needs, wishes, and support-seeking behaviours will be equally diverse and are often linked to gender, age, and ability. A survivor-centred approach involves recognising this diversity and offering choice in available services and support, ensuring that a survivor’s rights are respected, and that the person is treated with dignity and respect. ^{[footnote 138] [footnote 139]}

Due to insufficient resourcing, access constraints, and harmful social norms, many survivors do not receive the support they want or need, especially those who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, such as survivors with disabilities, of diverse SOGIESC, adolescents and children, older people, migrants and refugees, those in detention, and women from ethnic or religious minority groups. ^{[footnote 140]} These and other aspects of survivors’ identities should not, however, be seen as mutually exclusive or survivors viewed as distinct ‘vulnerable groups.’ Instead, the type of support and how it is delivered should be tailored to individuals’ unique capacities and vulnerabilities. ^{[footnote 141] [footnote 142] [footnote 143]}

Multi-sector services available to survivors of CRSV should be of sufficient quality and delivered in an ethical, safe, and dignified manner. Tools are available to ensure the quality of available services in humanitarian responses, such as the IASC Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming and the Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Guidelines for health and psychosocial service providers in humanitarian settings.

Barriers to safe reporting mechanisms for survivors of CRSV or those that witness its perpetration, are multiple, varied, and a chronic problem in conflict-affected contexts. ^{[footnote 144]} These range from issues of physical access to services and reporting mechanisms, fear of reprisals from perpetrators, family or community members, experiences of stigmatisation, and mandatory reporting requirements [reference: vi] that can obstruct access to healthcare and psychosocial support and expose survivors to secondary harm. ^{[footnote 145]}

Barriers can also exist within institutions, such as the police or other grievance mechanisms, where survivors may face secondary victimisation [reference: vii] upon disclosure of violence. In the absence of legal frameworks that criminalise CRSV and social norms that tolerate or condone CRSV within societies and institutions (see Outcome 1), reporting may not be safe for survivors. In some contexts, upon reporting survivors may be forced to ‘reconcile’ or marry their perpetrator or legal frameworks may not recognise men and boys as victims and survivors that are men, boys, and with diverse SOGIESC may face criminalisation or violence if they report their experience of sexual violence. ^{[footnote 146]}

To ensure survivors are able to demand their rights and access quality support and services, a context specific understanding of these barriers is required along with identification of entry points for change across advocacy and programmatic interventions, see Box 10 for an example from Iraq.

Box 10: Barriers to reporting GBV in Iraq

In Iraq a major barrier to reporting GBV, including CRSV, is the lack of a robust legal framework and provisions within the existing Iraqi Penal Code that state criminal actions against perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are void if the perpetrator ’lawfully marries the victim.’

The UK has worked to support the meaningful participation of WROs in drafting the Anti-Domestic Violence Bill in Iraq through its ongoing consultations with Iraqi WROs and receiving advice on useful and appropriate public advocacy and diplomatic dialogue. The UK’s diplomatic engagements, together with the work of gender champions in the international community and WROs, have contributed to building support for the Anti-Domestic Violence Bill and in passing the Yazidi Survivors Law.

For survivors to feel empowered, supported, and safe to report CRSV and access support, specialised GBV services must be available and of adequate quality. There is emerging good practice on the role of civil society actors, including WROs, children’s rights organisations, and LGBTI+ organisations, in providing accessible entry-points to services where survivors may feel safer to disclose their experiences of CRSV, see Box 11 for an example from DRC.

Box 11: GBV case management by women-led organisations in DRC

In DRC, women’s access to GBV services increased following the introduction of a case management system led by women’s community-based organisations, likely due to the fact these they are strongly anchored in their communities. This includes an increase in the percentage of rape cases reported within 72 hours [reference: viii] and increased reports of more forms of violence (such as psychological violence and denial of resources) and a wider range of perpetrators, such as intimate partners and other members of survivors’ families and communities. ^{[footnote 147]}

Entry points to services will vary for survivors, who may feel safer and more comfortable accessing services in different spaces. Therefore, services need to be tailored to survivors and should take into account the needs and preferences of women, girls, men, and boys, and people with diverse SOGIESC, including where and from whom they prefer to seek support. ^{[footnote 148]}

One group with particular needs are those that are forced to commit CRSV, including as children or against their own family members. Services developed for survivors of GBV may not be appropriate or able to respond to the unique needs of this population and those affected may also face barriers to accessing available services if they are not considered survivors themselves.

A recent review found limited evidence on the effectiveness of different health and psychosocial interventions for male survivors of CRSV and no evidence on the effectiveness of responses for LGBT survivors, pointing to the need for ongoing investment in this field. ^{[footnote 149]} However, support groups for male refugees in Uganda have been found to improve recovery, resilience, and provide peer support for survivors of CRSV. ^{[footnote 150]}

Children born of sexual violence and their mothers often require unique support to address issues of paternity, justice, and redress and to address the effects of intergenerational trauma. ^{[footnote 151]} Research has shown that ‘forced mothers’ and their children born of CRSV in Colombia, Rwanda, and Uganda have unique risks of harm that require tailored support responses. ^{[footnote 152]} One participatory approach in Uganda, where an estimated 8,000 children have been born to women and girls who survived conflict-related forced marriages and rape, is an organisation called The Women’ Advocacy Network that brings together survivors to transform complex and sometimes painful relationships and advocate for justice and reconciliation for survivors and to secure more positive futures for their children. ^{[footnote 153]}

Another area of support often required and desired by survivors of CRSV is social and economic integration to live as active members of their communities. Thus far, there have been few instances where cash transfers in emergencies have been used for protective outcomes, including for survivors of violence, but there are increasing calls for the inclusion of economic responses to GBV. ^{[footnote 154]} However, a recent example of the use of cash in response to GBV is among crisis-affected populations was undertaken in Ecuador where the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and CARE worked with Fundación Quimera and The Latin American Platform of Sex Workers (PLAPERTS) to include cash distribution as a part of a holistic GBV service delivery package. ^{[footnote 155]}

While immediate assistance and support should be provided to survivors of CRSV as lifesaving interventions in humanitarian responses, this should be provided alongside the development and continual improvement of protective systems, including child protection systems, to recognise the complexity involved in a multi-sector response to holistically address the effects of experiences of violence, exploitation, and abuse, including the importance of capacity of the actors within the system. ^{[footnote 156]}

There is emerging evidence that through accessing support, individuals can be empowered to take collective action against CRSV. This can play an important role in challenging the norms of tolerance and silence on CRSV and contribute to Outcome 1. For instance, a recent systematic review of the effectiveness of safe space programming in humanitarian contexts has shown that while safe spaces do not appear to reduce women and girls’ exposure to violence, they can lead to psychosocial wellbeing and be a source of social support. ^{[footnote 157]}

Outcome 5: Increased data and evidence is available and used to inform efforts to address CRSV and strengthen standards and practice on prevention and response

Efforts to address CSRV, including policymaking and programming, should be informed by evidence of what works, but there are gaps in available data and analysis, particularly on the most effective responses to CRSV.

While research continues and evidence emerges on how to prevent and respond to CRSV, additional data and analysis is required to identify effective approaches to risk mitigation, prevention, and response to CRSV. This includes more sophisticated understanding of actions and interventions that prevent and deter perpetrators of CRSV, for example the effects of sanctions, asset freezes, travel bans, international condemnation, and high-level prosecutions, and the necessary conditions for their effective use.

Examination is necessary of the factors that contribute to transparent judicial processes with meaningful participation of CRSV survivors that do no harm and reach satisfactory conclusions. More analysis is needed on if and how the adoption of a survivor-centred approach to judicial processes can contribute to successful prosecutions of perpetrators of CRSV within national or international justice systems. For instance, one research question could be: does obtaining and maintaining survivors’ consent and willingness to participate in judicial processes by providing testimony improve the outcome of prosecutions?

Evidence and analysis should come from both traditional sources of research, such as academia, but also non-traditional sources such as WROs, LGBTI+ organisations, disabled persons organisations (DPOs), and survivors’ networks. To reflect a survivor-centred approach, survivors should be meaningfully and ethically engaged in the design and delivery of interventions intended to measure and monitor CRSV. Similarly, practitioners should be given opportunities to contribute to research and provide contextual perspective to conclusions and recommendations emanating from research. For an example of a partnership between academics and practitioners, see Box 12.

Box 12: Collaborative research on child marriage in conflicts

Save the Children has partnered with the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, in efforts to enhance the understanding of the practice of child marriage in conflicts through a multi-country study. The research aims to uncover the drivers of child marriage in conflicts and identify what works to effective address child marriage. The project includes an intervention co-designed with girls that will be piloted in a humanitarian contexts. ^{[footnote 158]}

To improve the evidence base, existing accountability efforts regarding CRSV should be monitored and measured, particularly their capacity to have a deterrent or preventative effect on the use of CRSV. This is particularly important as legal precedent continues to be set; 2021 saw the first conviction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crime of forced pregnancy in the trial of Dominic Ongwen, a former member of the LRA in Uganda. ^{[footnote 159]}

The Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Conflict-related Sexual Violence is an important tool for accountability and a useful information source, which should be used to target political influencing, programmatic interventions, and advocacy. However, improved monitoring, documentation, and reporting on CRSV is needed to contribute to deeper analysis of when, how, and why CRSV is committed and when it is not committed. This can only be considered useful if it is done in a safe and ethical manner, using available best practices and minimum standards developed by GBV service providers, WROs, LGBTI+ organisations, DPOs, and survivor networks. One example of minimum standards that should be used in all humanitarian responses to reduce risks of all forms of GBV is the Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) (2015) Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action.

Recent efforts have been undertaken to improve the documentation of CRSV, including the Global Code of Conduct for the Documentation and Investigation of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (the ‘Murad Code’), which complements existing efforts in to improve GBV-related data collection and use in humanitarian contexts, such as the GBV Information Management System (GBVIMS)and the WHO (2007) Ethical and safety guidance for researching and documenting sexual violence in conflict. Fundamental to any data collection efforts, whether to contribute to research and analysis or documentation for use in judicial processes, must be collection of data and information safely and ethically and in a manner that does no harm to survivors, their families, or their communities.

The use of CRSV is dynamic and will have peculiarities in every conflict where it occurs. Research should investigate the changing nature of CRSV, including how it occupies new domains and takes different forms, such as online violence. ^{[footnote 160]}

Another area for investigative exploration is the long-term and lifetime effects of CRSV on survivors and their families, including intergenerational impacts of experiencing, witnessing, or being forced to commit CRSV.

As the amount of evidence increases and its quality improves, it should be disseminated widely and used wherever possible to inform interventions undertaken towards achievement of the outcomes in the theory of change. This may include translating academic research and evidence into practical tools and materials for the purposes of implementation and capacity building or into multiple languages for wider use.
Where actions are taken towards the achievement of the outcomes of this theory of change, interventions should be reviewed and evaluated to determine their effectiveness and impact and should be documented and shared for systemic uptake and continue to inform the pursuit of Outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the theory of change.

5. Glossary of terms

Term	Definition
Child/early marriage	Any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV)	Rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict
Domestic violence	Encompasses violence toward others sharing a living space, including intimate partners, children, siblings, or grandparents
Forced marriages	Marriages in which one and/or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union. A child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one and/or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent
Formal justice systems	Include civil and criminal justice and includes state-based justice institutions and procedures, such as police, prosecutors, courts, and custodial measures
Gender	Refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other
Gender-based violence (GBV)	An umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed (i.e. gender) differences between males and females. It includes acts that inflict physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion, and other deprivations of liberty. These acts can occur in public or in private
Informal justice systems	Dispute resolution mechanisms falling outside the scope of the state-administered formal justice system
Intimate partner violence	Any behaviour within an intimate relationship or former relationship that causes physical, psychological, or sexual harm
Physical violence	The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation
Psychological violence	Any harmful behaviour that isn’t physical, such as verbal abuse, intimidation, manipulation, degradation, and humiliation. Stalking, economic abuse where one partner controls the other’s income or access to necessary expenses, and isolation from friends or family are some psychologically abusive behaviours.
Sexual and gender minorities (SGMs)	People whose sexuality or gender identity differs from the majority of the surrounding society and is often used to describe members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex population
Sexual abuse	Actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions
Sexual exploitation	Actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another
Sexual harassment	Any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favour, verbal or physical conduct or gesture of a sexual nature, or any other behaviour of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation to another, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment
Sexual slavery	A form of trafficking in persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation and abuse
Sexual violence	Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work
Theory of change	The term used for a description and illustration of how the activities undertaken by an intervention (such as a project, programme, or policy) contribute to a chain of results that lead to the intended impact
Trafficking in persons	Defined in the Palermo Protocol as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs
Violence against women and girls (VAWG)	Defined by the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1993, as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life

6. References

[i] The six grave violations against children in conflict are: killing and maiming of children, recruitment or use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children, abduction of children, attacks against schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children.

[ii] Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) is an inclusive term that represents the struggle for recognition of the specific challenges faced by women who engage in the defence of any human right, and people of all genders who defend women’s rights or work on a range of gender-related issues and sexuality.

[iii] Sexual exploitation is any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. In the theory of change, it refers to the actions of peace support operations personnel and humanitarian aid workers.

[iv] Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favour, verbal or physical conduct or gesture of a sexual nature, or any other behaviour of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation to another, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

[v] Comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare includes obstetric and antenatal care for pregnant women, access to contraceptive information and services, including emergency contraception, clinical management of rape and post-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of HIV transmission, treatment of sexual transmitted infections, and access to safe abortion and post-abortion care.

[vi] Mandatory reporting is the obligation in certain countries for health-care personnel and other professionals to report known or suspected cases of sexual or gender-based violence to designated public authorities, notably to law enforcement agencies. It includes providing identifying information, without requiring the consent of the victim/survivor.

[vii] Secondary victimisation occurs when an individual suffers further harm not as a direct result of a criminal act but due to the manner in which institutions and other individuals treat the victim/survivor.

[viii] Accessing emergency contraception and post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV transmission and the collection of forensic evidence, such as DNA, must be done within 72 hours following sexual violence to be effective.

1. UN (2019) Conflict-related sexual violence-Report of the United Nations Secretary General 2019. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/report/conflict-related-sexual-violence-report-of-the-united-nations-secretary-general/2019-SG-Report.pdf ↩

2. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (2016) Q&A: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sexual-violence-armed-conflict-questions-and-answers ↩

3. Ibid ↩

4. Elmusharaf, K, S Scriver, M Chadha, C Ballantine, M Sabir, S Raghavendra, N Duvvury, J Kennedy, S Grant-Vest & P Edopu (2019) Economic and Social Costs of Violence Against Women in South Sudan: Summary Report. Galway: NUI Galway https://ulir.ul.ie/bitstream/handle/10344/7820/Elmusharaf_2019_Sudan.pdf?sequence=2 ↩

5. Neenan, J (2017) Closing the Protection Gap for Children Born of War: Addressing Stigmatisation and the Intergenerational Impact of Sexual Violence in Conflict. https://www.lse.ac.uk/women-peace-security/assets/documents/2018/LSE-WPS-Children-Born-of-War.pdf ↩

6. Denov, M (2015) ’Children born of wartime rape: The intergenerational realities of sexual violence and abuse’ Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, 1(1):61-68. ↩

7. Adams, K (2017) Principles for Global Action: Preventing and Addressing Stigma Associated with Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/645636/PSVI_Principles_for_Global_Action.pdf ↩

8. UN (2020) Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N20/196/28/PDF/N2019628.pdf?OpenElement ↩

9. Hudson, V, B Ballif-Spanvill, M Caprioli & C F Emmett (2012) Sex and World Peace, Columbia University Press. ↩

10. The Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at The George Washington University (GWU), CARE & International Rescue Committee (2018) Intersections of violence against women and girls with state-building and peace-building: Lessons from Nepal, Sierra Leone and South Sudan https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/What-Works_Intersections-of-VAWG-with-SBPB-report_2018.pdf ↩

11. True, J (2020) ‘Gender and Conflict: Making Elite Bargaining Processes More Inclusive’. UK Stabilisation Unit. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/859535/SU_Making_Elite_Bargains_More_Inclusive-Academic_analysis.pdf ↩

12. Kelly, J T (2010) Rape in War: Motives of Militia in DRC, United States Institute for Peace. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep12439?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents ↩

13. UN (2019) ↩

14. WHO (2007) WHO Ethical and safety recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/9789241595681/en/ ↩

15. SVRI (2016) Executive summary: A research agenda for sexual violence in humanitarian, conflict and post-conflict settings https://www.svri.org/sites/default/files/attachments/2016-04-13/ExecutiveSummary.pdf ↩

16. Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) (2020) Conflict-related sexual violence and sexual exploitation and abuse: Literature review https://icai.independent.gov.uk/html-version/__trashed-15/ ↩

17. Wood, E J (2014) ‘Conflict-related sexual violence and the policy implications of recent research’ International Review of the Red Cross. 96(894): 457-478. ↩

18. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, ICTR-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda https://www.peacewomen.org/content/ictr-international-criminal-tribunal-rwanda ↩

19. To note that the Akayesu ruling has been criticised for failing to consider sexual violence against men and boys to be genocidal, see C Bradford Di Caro (2019) Genocide through Male Rape and Sexual Violence. Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law, 30(55):57-91. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1555&context=djcil ↩

20. Report of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (2019), para. 72. See https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/sexualviolence/A_HRC_CRP_4.pdf. ↩

21. For more information on the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, see https://iimm.un.org ↩

22. Sapiezynska, E (2021) Weapon of War: Sexual Violence Against Children in Conflict. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/18763/pdf/weapon-of-war-report_final.pdf ↩

23. UN (2021) Conflict-related sexual violence: Report of the Secretary General https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/S_2021_312_E.pdf ↩

24. Wood (2014) ↩

25. Carlson, K & D Mazurana (2008) ‘Forced Marriage within the Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda’. Tufts University Feinstein International Center https://fic.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Forced+Marriage+within+the+LRA-2008.pdf ↩

26. Baines, E (2014) ‘Forced marriage as a political project: Sexual rules and relations in the Lord’s Resistance Army’ Journal of Peace Research, 51(3):405-417. ↩

27. Cohen D K & Nordås R (2015) “Do States Delegate Shameful Violence to Militias? Patterns of Sexual Violence in Recent Armed Conflicts,” Journal of Conflict Resolution. 59(5):877-898. ↩

28. Cohen, D K (2017) “The ties that bind: How armed groups use violence to socialize fighters,” Journal of Peace Research, 54(5):701-714. ↩

29. Ibid ↩

30. Bloom, M & H Matfess (2016) “Women as Symbols and Swords in Boko Haram’s Terror,” PRISM, 6(1):104-121. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26470435.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aeca7a836d1d7f9a971f2691e0153d0d2 ↩

31. Humphreys, M & J M Weinstein (2006) ‘Handling and Manhandling Civilians in Civil War’. American Political Science Review 100(3):429-447, cited in ICAI (2020). ↩

32. Wood, E J (2009) ‘Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When is Wartime Rape Rare?’ Politics & Society, 37:131-161. ↩

33. Wood (2014) ↩

34. Ibid ↩

35. Ibid ↩

36. Wood, E J (2018) ‘Rape as a Practice of War: Toward a Typology of Political Violence’ Politics & Society, 46(4): 513-537. ↩

37. Ibid ↩

38. Eriksson Baaz, M & M Stern (2009) ‘Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC)’. International Studies Quarterly, 53(2):495–518. ↩

39. Revkin, M R & E J Wood (2021) ‘The Islamic State’s Pattern of Sexual Violence: Ideology and Institutions, Policies and Practices’ Journal of Global Security Studies, 6(2). ↩

40. UN Security Council (2016) Resolution 2331 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/451/58/PDF/N1645158.pdf?OpenElement ↩

41. Davies, S & J True (2015) ‘Reframing conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence: bringing gender analysis back in’ Security Dialogue, 46(6):495-512). ↩

42. Myrttinen H & M Daigle (2017) When merely existing is a risk: Sexual and gender minorities in conflict, displacement and peacebuilding. International Alert. https://www.international-alert.org/publications/when-merely-existing-is-a-risk ↩

43. Ibid ↩

44. OHCHR, Women human rights defenders https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/hrdefenders.aspx ↩

45. UN Human Rights Council (2019) Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Myanmar and the Gendered Impact of its Ethnic Conflict https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/sexualviolence/A_HRC_CRP_4.pdf ↩

46. Conciliation Resources (2017) Recommendations on the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security https://www.c-r.org/news-and-insight/recommendations-security-council-open-debate-women-peace-and-security ↩

47. Swaine, A (2018) Conflict-Related Violence Against Women: Transforming Transition. Cambridge University Press. ↩

48. Ibid ↩

49. Ibid ↩

50. Davies and True (2015) ↩

51. Stark L & A Ager (2011) A Systematic review of prevalence studies of gender-based violence in complex emergencies’ Trauma Violence Abuse, 12(3):127-134. ↩

52. Gray H (2019) ‘The ‘war’/’not-war’ divide: Domestic violence in the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative’ The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 21(1);189-206. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1369148118802470 ↩

53. Ibid ↩

54. Stark & Ager (2011) ↩

55. GWI at GWU, IRC & CARE (2017) No Safe Place: A Lifetime of Violence for Conflict-Affected Women and Girls in South Sudan https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/2293/southsudanlgonline.pdf ↩

56. Ibid ↩

57. OHCHR (2020) Information Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Women Human Rights Defenders https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_WHRD_WEB.pdf ↩

58. GWI at GWU et al (2017) ↩

59. UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security – Implementing Strategic Outcome 3: Gender-based violence (2019). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-action-plan-on-women-peace-and-security-2018-to-2022-guidance-note-preventing-gender-based-violence ↩

60. Ibid ↩

61. Nordås, R. (2011) ‘Sexual Violence in African Conflicts,’ CSCW Policy Brief No. 1. Oslo: PRIO. https://www.prio.org/utility/DownloadFile.ashx?id=204&type=publicationfile ↩

62. Alexander-Scott, M, E Bell & J Holden (2016) DFID Guidance Notes: Shifting Social Norms to Tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/507845/Shifting-Social-Norms-tackle-Violence-against-Women-Girls3.pdf ↩

63. Kiss, L, M Quinlan-Davidson, L Pasquero, P Ollé Tejero, C Hogg, J Theis, A Park, C Zimmerman & M Hossain (2020) ‘Male and LGBT survivors of sexual violence in conflict situations: a realist review of health interventions in low-and middle-income countries’ Conflict and Health 14(11). ↩

64. Touquet, H, S Chynoweth, S Martin, C Reis, H Myrttinen, P Schulz, L Turner & D Duriesmith (2021) ‘From ‘It Rarely Happens’ to ‘It’s Worse for Men’: Dispelling Misconceptions about Sexual Violence against Men and Boys in Conflict Displacement’ Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, 2(3). https://www.manchesteropenhive.com/view/journals/jha/2/3/article-p25.xml ↩

65. Jewkes, R, S Willan, L Heise, L Washington, N Shai, A Kerr-Wilson & N Christofides (2020) Effective design and implementation elements in interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. What Works To Prevent VAWG? Global Programme Synthesis Product Series. South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria. ↩

66. Carter, B with Apgar, M & S Khan Mohmand (2019) Guidance note on scaling up social norm change. K4D Emerging Issues Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/14791/EIR21e_guidance_note_on_scaling_up_social_norm_change_main_note.pdf?sequence=107&isAllowed=y ↩

67. Tearfund (2019) Rethinking relationships: From violence to equality in the DRC - An evidence brief https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/290-what-works-rethinking-relationships-final-march-2019/file ↩

68. Ibid ↩

69. Ibid ↩

70. Raising Voices (2018) Implementing SASA! In Humanitarian Settings: Tips and Tools. https://raisingvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ProgramBrief-6.-Implementing-SASA-in-Humanitarian-Settings.RaisingVoices-December-2018-LG.pdf ↩

71. Read-Hamilton, S & M Marsh (2016) ‘The Communities Care programme: changing social norms to end violence against women and girls in conflict-affected communities’ Gender & Development, 24(2)261-276. ↩

72. Glass N, N Perrin, M Marsh, A Clough, A Desgroppes, F Kaburu, B Ross & S Read-Hamilton (2019) ‘Effectiveness of the Communities Care programme on change in social norms associated with gender-based violence (GBV) with residents in intervention compared with control districts in Mogadishu, Somalia’. BMJ Open, 9(3). https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/3/e023819.long ↩

73. Ibid ↩

74. Heise, L (2011) What works to prevent partner violence: An evidence overview. STRIVE. http://strive.lshtm.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/What%20works%20to%20prevent%20partner%20violence.pdf ↩

75. Feather, J, R Martin & S Neville (2021) Global Evidence Review of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Harassment in the Aid Sector. Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub. https://safeguardingsupporthub.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/RSH_Global_Evidence_Review_Final_Design_V5.pdf ↩

76. Ibid ↩

77. Banaji, Y (2021) ‘Strengthening the UK’s approach to preventing and addressing sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH) committed by partner government and peace support operations military personnel: A learning review’. Stabilisation Unit. ↩

78. Müller, C & C Enye (2018) ‘Social Norms Change in Security and Justice Programming’. HelpDesk Research Report No. 194. London, UK: VAWG Helpdesk. ↩

79. Ibid ↩

80. Radhakrishnan, A, E Sarver & G Shubin (2017) “Protecting safe abortion in humanitarian settings: overcoming legal and policy barriers” Reproductive Health Matters, 25(51): 40-47. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09688080.2017.1400361?needAccess=true ↩

81. The Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality (2020) Gender Discrimination and Childhood Statelessness https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/Gender-discrimination-childhood-statelessness-web.pdf ↩

82. Fraser, E & S Wood (2018) ‘VAWG Legislation’. Helpdesk Research Report No. 156. London, UK: VAWG Helpdesk ↩

83. International bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank (2020) Linking, Aligning, and Convening: Gender-Based Violence and Violence Against Children Prevention and Response Services in Uganda’s Refugee-Hosting Districts http://www.socialserviceworkforce.org/system/files/resource/files/Linking_Aligning_Convening.pdf ↩

84. Fraser, E & S Wood (2018) ↩

85. GBV AoR Helpdesk (2021) Strengthening Access to Justice for Gender-Based Violence Survivors in Emergencies https://gbvaor.net/sites/default/files/2020-11/gbv-aor-helpdesk-strengthening-access-to-justice-24112020.pdf ↩

86. See UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) Early Warning Indicators for Conflict-related Sexual Violence https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/MatrixEarlyWarningIndicatorsCSV_UNAction2011.pdf ↩

87. CIVIC (2020) Barriers and Bridges to Protection: Civil-Military Engagement in Northeast Nigeria. https://civiliansinconflict.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Nigeria-LL.pdf ↩

88. IASC (2015) Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based Violence Interventions into Humanitarian Action https://gbvguidelines.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015_IASC_Gender-based_Violence_Guidelines_full-res.pdf ↩

89. Buller, A M, A Peterman, M Ranganathan, A Bleile, M Hidrobo & L Heise (2018) ‘A Mixed-Method Review of Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ The World Bank Research Observer, 33(2):218–258. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lky002 ↩

90. See ICAI (2020) and Broache, M (2014) ‘The Effects of Prosecutions on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict during the ‘ICC Era,’ 2002–2009’. Paper presented at the Workshop on Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: New Research Frontiers, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. ↩

91. ICRC (2012) The International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC’s) confidential approach: Specific means employed by the ICRC to ensure respect for the law by State and non-State authorities. Policy document. https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/irrc-887-confidentiality.pdf ↩

92. Geneva Call (2020) Conduct of Hostility by Armed Non-State Actors: Report from the 2020 Garance Talks https://www.genevacall.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Garance-Series-Issue-3.pdf ↩

93. All Survivors Project (2019) Checklist on preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys’. https://allsurvivorsproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Checklist-English.pdf ↩

94. Kreft (2019) How Does Civil Society Understand Conflict-Related Sexual Violence? Perspectives from women activists in Colombia https://gps.prio.org/utility/DownloadFile.ashx?id=1185&type=publicationfile ↩

95. Dwyer (2020) ↩

96. For examples and a framework, see GWI at GWU et al (2017). ↩

97. UN Department of Political Affairs (2012) Guidance for Mediators: Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ceasefire and Peace Agreements https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Background-Doc-1-DPA-Guidance-for-Mediators-on-Addressing-Conflict-Related-Sexual-Violence-in-Ceasefire-and-Peace-Agreements.pdf ↩

98. Ibid ↩

99. Ibid ↩

100. Ibid ↩

101. IASC (2019a) The Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/19-200Minimun_Standards_Report_ENGLISH-Nov.FINAL.pdf ↩

102. ICAI (2020) ↩

103. Lake, M, I Muthaka & G Walker (2016) ‘Gendering Justice in Humanitarian Spaces: Opportunity and (Dis)empowerment Through Gender‐Based Legal Development Outreach in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’ Law & Society Review, 50(3):539-574. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lasr.12215 ↩

104. Ibid ↩

105. IASC (2019a) ↩

106. Ibid ↩

107. IOM (2019) IOM Handbook on Protection and Assistance for Migrants Vulnerable to Violence, Exploitation and Abuse https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/avm_handbook.pdf ↩

108. Fraser, E (2019) “What works to address Conflict-related Sexual Violence?” VAWG HelpDesk Report Number 272. ↩

109. Lamoreux (2017) ‘Reparations for Conflict Related Sexual Violence: Lessons from the Western Balkans’. UN Women ↩

110. Ibid ↩

111. International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) (2016) Women’s Access to Justice for Gender-Based Violence: A Practitioners’ Guide https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG.pdf ↩

112. The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (2019) Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action https://spherestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/CPMS-EN.pdf ↩

113. Ibid ↩

114. Ibid ↩

115. IASC (2019a) ↩

116. Information for this box is from ICAI (2020); Lake et al (2016); Rispo, M (2014) Evaluation of UNDP’s Support for Mobile Courts in Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia; and Shackel, R & L Fiske (2016) Making Justice Work for Women: Democratic Republic of the Congo Country Report https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/15628/DRC%20Full%20Report.pdf;jsessionid=1DA413AA8CEDA421C97A706548637EF7?sequence=2 ↩

117. GBV AoR Helpdesk (2021) ↩

118. Ahlenback, V & E Fraser (2019) ‘Effectiveness of Justice Sector Interventions/Reforms’. HelpDesk Report No. 246. VAWG HelpDesk: London. ↩

119. ICAI (2020) ↩

120. Ahlenback & Fraser (2019) ↩

121. Khalique, H, et al (2011) Evaluation Report: Rabta Programme, Rozan, 1999-2010, cited in ibid. ↩

122. Heise, L (2011) What Works to Prevent Partner Violence? An Evidence Overview, London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, cited in ibid. ↩

123. Delbyck, K (2017) ‘Rape myths in wartime sexual violence trials: Transferring the burden from survivor to perpetrator’. TRIAL International. https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/20180112-TRIAL-Rape-Myths-ENG-WEB.pdf ↩

124. TRIAL International (2020) ‘In Bosnia and Herzegovina, stigmatisation persists for victims of wartime sexual violence’. https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/in-bosnia-and-herzegovina-stigmatization-persists-for-victims-of-wartime-sexual-violence/ ↩

125. Case study 5: Gender and justice reform (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in DCAF, OSCE/ODIHR, UN Women (2019) ‘Justice and Gender’, in Gender and Security Toolkit. Geneva: DCAF, OSCE/ODIHR, UN Women. https://www.dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/publications/documents/GSToolkit_Tool-4%20EN%20FINAL_1.pdf ↩

126. UN (2019) ↩

127. Ibid ↩

128. Clugston, N (2020) ‘Effectiveness of informal security and justice providers in their accountability to women and girls, and responding to GBV’. HelpDesk Research Report No. 280. VAWG HelpDesk: London ↩

129. IOM (2019) ↩

130. Clugston (2020) ↩

131. Ibid ↩

132. O’Reilly, M (2016) ‘Peace and Justice through a Feminist Lens: Gender Justice and the Women’s Court for the Former Yugoslavia.’ Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 10(3):419–445. ↩

133. Ibid ↩

134. International Development Law Organization (IDLO) (2020) Issue Brief: Navigating complex pathways to justice: women and customary and informal justice systems. https://www.idlo.int/sites/default/files/pdfs/publications/idlo-issue-brief-women-cij-final-web.pdf ↩

135. IRC & VOICE (2019) Where is the Money? How the Humanitarian System is Failing in its Commitments to End Violence Against Women and Girls https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/3854/whereisthemoneyfinalfinal.pdf ↩

136. IASC (2019b) Handbook for Coordinating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Emergencies https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/report/handbook-for-coordinating-gender-based-violence-interventions-in-emergencies/Handbook_for_Coordinating_GBV_in_Emergencies_fin.01.pdf ↩

137. UN (2016) Provisional Guidance Note on the intersections between the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) and the Monitoring and Analysis Reporting Arrangements (MARA) https://gbvaor.net/sites/default/files/2019-07/Intersections%20Between%20MARA%20%26%20GBVIMS%20UN%202016.pdf ↩

138. ICRC (2020) Sexual Violence In Conflict: Putting the individual first https://www.icrc.org/en/document/putting-individual-first ↩

139. IASC (2019a) ↩

140. Sapiezynska (2021) ↩

141. Chaplin, D, J Twigg & E Lovell (2019) ‘Intersectional approaches to vulnerability reduction and resilience-building’ BRACED Knowledge Manager https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/12651.pdf ↩

142. ICJ (2016) ↩

143. Michelis, I (2020) Picked Up, Misused, Abused, Changed’: Intersectionality in the humanitarian discourse on gender-based violence. University of Cambridge. ↩

144. UN (2018) Conflict-related sexual violence-Report of the United Nations Secretary General 2018 https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/report/s-2018-250/SG-REPORT-2017-CRSV-SPREAD.pdf ↩

145. British Red Cross & ICRC (2020) Forced to report: The humanitarian impact of mandatory reporting on access to health care for victims/survivors of sexual violence in armed conflict and other emergencies. https://www.redcross.org.uk/-/media/documents/about-us/international/humanitarian-consequences-mandatory-reporting-sexual-violence.pdf ↩

146. Dolan, C (2014) ‘Into the mainstream: Addressing sexual violence against men and boys in conflict’. A briefing paper prepared for the workshop held at the Overseas Development Institute, London. https://www.refugeelawproject.org/files/briefing_papers/Into_The_Mainstream-Addressing_Sexual_Violence_against_Men_and_Boys_in_Conflict.pdf ↩

147. IRC (2015) A Movement for Change: Women’s community-based organizations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://gbvresponders.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CBO-Advocacy-Brief.pdf ↩

148. Touquet et al (2021) ↩

149. Kiss et al (2020) ↩

150. Edström, J, C Dolan & T Shahrokh with O David (2016) ‘Therapeutic Activism: Men of Hope Refugee Association Uganda Breaking the Silence over Male Rape in Conflict-related Sexual Violence’. IDS Evidence Report 182, Brighton: IDS. https://www.ids.ac.uk/publications/therapeutic-activism-men-of-hope-refugee-association-uganda-breaking-the-silence-over-male-rape-in-conflict-related-sexual-violence/ ↩

151. Neenan (2017) ↩

152. Ibid ↩

153. Sapiezynska (2021) ↩

154. Manell, T & H Welcome Radice (2019) Leveraging Cash and Voucher Assistance in Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/blog/leveraging-cash-and-voucher-assistance-in-gender-based-violence-prevention-and-response/ ↩

155. Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), CARE, Fundación Quimera & PLAPERTS (2019) Utilizing Cash and Voucher Assistance within Gender-based Violence Case Management to Support Crisis-Affected Populations in Ecuador https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Ecuador-LearningBriefFinal-rev.pdf ↩

156. Wulczyn, F, D Daro, J Fluke, S Feldman, C Glodek & K Lifanda (2010). Adapting a systems approach to child protection: Key concepts and considerations. New York, NY: UNICEF. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/adapting-systems-approach-child-protection-key-concepts-and-considerations ↩

157. Stark, L, M V Robinson, I Seff, A Gillespie, J Colarelli & D Landis (2021) ‘The Effectiveness of Women and Girls Safe Spaces: A Systematic Review of Evidence to Address Violence Against Women and Girls in Humanitarian Contexts’. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838021991306 ↩

158. Sapiezynska (2021) ↩

159. UN (2021) ↩

160. Bergtora Sandvik, K & K Lohne (2021) ‘The struggle against sexual violence in conflict: Investigating the digital turn’ International Review of the Red Cross, 102(913):95-115. ↩