Every day, the lives of women and girls are being destroyed by sexual violence. Used as a tactic of war to terrorise communities, with devastating effect, rape is the hidden reality of conflict.
The UN Security Council has committed to tackle this violence before, during and after conflict, and to help the women and girls left to deal with the consequences. We challenge them to make this commitment a reality.
Throughout history, violence against women and girls has been an integral part of armed conflict.
They are killed, injured, widowed and orphaned. Rape has been used by fighting forces as a tactic of war to humiliate, intimidate and traumatise communities, and as a method of ethnic cleansing.
Women and girls are abducted into sexual slavery or forced to exchange sex or marriage for survival.
The statistics are stark. Up to 50,000 women were raped in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and up to 500,000 during the Rwandan genocide.
Horrifyingly, still, 40 women are brutally raped each day in just one province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Latest Publications
Climate-related vulnerability and adaptive capacity in Ethiopia's Borana and Somali communities
- Countries: Ethiopia
- Co-authors: IUCN, IISD, Save the Children
- Published: June 2009
Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in North-West Balkans
- Countries: Bosnia and Herzegowina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro
- Co-authors: CARE International North West Balkans
- Published: June 2009
NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: Mapping Study - Afghanistan Report
- Co-authors: Antonio Donini, Feinstein, Tufts
- Published: May 2009
Taking drought into account: Addressing chronic vulnerability among pastoralists in the Horn of Africa
- Co-authors: Sara Pantuliano and Sara Pavanello
- Published: May 2009
Pastoralists’ Vulnerability in the Horn of Africa: Exploring Political Marginalization, Donors’ Policies, and Cross-Border Issues
- Co-authors: ODI
- Published: April 2009
Rights in Conflict
- Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Sierra Leone
- Co-authors: UK InterAgency Group on Rights; ActionAid
- Published: March 2009
NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project: Key messages on humanitarian reform and funding
- Published: March 2009
NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: Mapping Study - Ethopia Report
- Co-authors: Tasneem Mowjee
- Published: March 2009
NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: Mapping Study - Zimbabwe Report
- Co-authors: Ralf Otto
- Published: March 2009
