Women & Armed Conflicts and the issue of Sexual Violence

Armed conflicts affect women and men differently. Although women are not inherently vulnerable, they frequently face heightened danger in these situations of violence, including the increased risk of sexual violence. Security concerns, the destruction of infrastructure and separation from male relatives can drastically affect women’s socio-economic condition and personal safety.

Furthermore, women do not belong to a homogeneous group : depending on the cultural and social context of their country, their religious identities and other factors related to their personal circumstances such as age, level of education and marital status, women will have different needs and vulnerabilities and will be able to deploy different coping mechanisms and display varying levels of resilience. Based on their capacity for resilience, women can also be important actors in conflict and post-conflict situations for their families and communities.

The issues surrounding women in armed conflict, as well as the specific issue of sexual violence in armed conflict, pose numerous challenges to policy makers and humanitarian actors. In order to properly address them, these challenges require further in-depth analyses that enable the development of more effective and systematic approaches.

This report derives from a colloquium on the theme of 'Women and Armed Conflicts and the Issue of Sexual Violence' organised jointly by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) which took place on 30 September 2014 in Brussels.

The proceedings of this colloquium have been written by the speakers or by the Delegation of the ICRC in Brussels on the basis of audio recordings of the colloquium. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the EUISS nor the ICRC.

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Website: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) https://www.icrc.org/

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