Prevention and response to sexual assault are paramount, especially in emergency, conflict, and post-conflict zones where violence against women and girls tends to escalate. Effective strategies and resources are crucial for safeguarding vulnerable populations and ensuring survivors receive the necessary care.
Essential Strategies for Unstable Environments
In regions marred by instability, a multifaceted approach is required to mitigate and respond to sexual violence. Key strategies include comprehensive training for personnel, proactive security measures, clear protocols, educational integration, public awareness campaigns, and ensuring safe access to essential resources and opportunities for women and girls.
Pre-deployment and In-Service Training: Equipping uniformed personnel, including military, peacekeepers, and police, with specialized training is fundamental. This training should cover the dynamics of sexual violence, trauma-informed approaches, and survivor-centered care. It should also instill empathy and a commitment to protecting vulnerable groups. Cultivating empathy within these groups has proven to be an effective method for enhancing their dedication to protecting women and children. (Slim and Mancini-Griffoli, 2007)
Enhanced Security Measures: Implementing foot and vehicular patrols in areas identified as high-risk by women can deter perpetrators and increase feelings of safety. Protocols must be established for all protection officers, outlining clear steps for intervention when sexual violence is witnessed or reported. However, it’s critical to ensure these measures are consistent and sustained to avoid unintended risks to women and girls, such as retaliation or increased vulnerability if protection is withdrawn. Protection measures like patrols may offer short-term security, but can place women and girls at greater risk for retaliation and future violence if measures are not sustained.
Educational Integration and Public Messaging: Addressing the root causes of gender inequality and violence through education is essential for long-term change. Integrating these issues into formal and non-formal education curricula for displaced children and youth can foster a culture of respect and equality. Public messaging campaigns utilizing radio, television, print media, and entertainment platforms can reach a broad audience, raising awareness about sexual violence and promoting prevention strategies.
Access to Resources and Participation: Ensuring women and girls have safe access to humanitarian aid and basic amenities like water, food, fuel, and sanitation is critical for their well-being and safety. Furthermore, increasing opportunities for women and girls to engage in political, economic, and social activities within conflict and emergency responses, as well as peace-building processes, empowers them and strengthens community resilience.
Systemic Integration and Legal Frameworks: Integrating sexual and gender-based violence assessments into national security analysis and reform is crucial for a comprehensive approach. Addressing sexual violence in early-stage peace agreements is vital to ensure victims, families, and communities receive specialized medical and psychosocial services from field agencies. This also serves to deter sexual violence by armed groups and enables monitoring of patterns by relief agencies. Including sexual violence prevention in demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration programs minimizes the risk of post-conflict sexual and gender-based violence.
The Role of Women in Security Forces: Increasing the number of women in police or military units, or creating all-female units, can improve community relations, particularly with women, and enhance intelligence gathering on security issues. Recruiting more women from countries contributing personnel to peacekeeping forces is essential to increase women’s participation and expertise in peacekeeping at all levels.
Key Lessons Learned in Addressing Sexual Violence
Experience in conflict and emergency settings has yielded crucial lessons for effective intervention. These lessons emphasize the importance of comprehensive strategies that are sensitive to the context and needs of affected communities.
Ceasefire Monitoring and Agreements: Paying close attention to sexual violence within ceasefire monitoring mechanisms is as critical as explicitly prohibiting sexual violence in ceasefire agreements. This includes considering the composition, mandate, security, and reporting procedures of monitoring bodies. (Jenkins and Goetz, 2010)
Consultation and Sustainability of Protection: Interventions must be planned and implemented in consultation with women to ensure their relevance and effectiveness. Protection measures must be sustained and followed up with comprehensive support to avoid unintended negative consequences. This reinforces the need for consultation with women when planning any intervention which affects them.
Building Trust and Respect: Regular, unarmed patrols by uniformed personnel can build trust within communities and reinforce respect for human rights and the rule of law among all armed groups.
Resources for Clinical Care and Training
Numerous resources are available to support the clinical care of sexual assault survivors and to train professionals in this critical area. Among these valuable tools is the Clinical Care for Sexual Assault Survivors: Multimedia Training Toolkit (International Rescue Committee, 2009).
This toolkit, available in English with some resources in French, offers a comprehensive multimedia approach to training healthcare providers, social workers, and other professionals who work with survivors of sexual assault. It provides essential guidance, protocols, and resources to ensure survivors receive compassionate, effective, and trauma-informed care.
Other key resources include:
- Sourcebook on Women, Peace and Security (UN Women, 2012)
- Global Protection Cluster: GBV Prevention and Response Website
- Management of Gender-based Violence in Emergencies E-learning Course (UNFPA and World Education, Inc., 2011)
- Guidelines for Medico-Legal Care for Victims of Sexual Violence (World Health Organization, 2003)
- Gender-based Violence Tools Manual (Reproductive Health Response in Conflict Consortium, 2004)
- The Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings, Focusing on Prevention of and Response to Sexual Violence in Emergencies (UNHCR, 2005)
- The IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (Inter-agency Standing Committee, 2007)
- UNHCR Handbook for the Protection of Women and Girls (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2008)
- Women, Girls, Boys and Men: Different Needs-Equal Opportunities, Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action (Inter-agency Standing Committee, 2006)
- Conduct in UN Field Missions Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Web Resources (UN)
These resources, including the Clinical Care for Sexual Assault Survivors: Multimedia Training Toolkit, are vital instruments for strengthening prevention efforts, improving responses, and ultimately providing comprehensive support to those affected by sexual violence in vulnerable settings. They underscore the global commitment to addressing this critical issue and ensuring that survivors receive the care and justice they deserve.
