While the Colombian civil society sector is very active, with a comparatively large number of feminist women’s organizations, political or societal constraints may make mobilization more difficult in other conflict-affected societies. Sexual violence against women is normalized in a patriarchal society in which many men see women as objects or possessions to whose bodies they feel entitled.įor the women’s organizations, ending sexual violence in conflict thus requires more fundamental social change. This is because these organizations, many of which self-identify as feminist, see the origin of sexual violence – in war and in peace – in deep-seated gender inequality in society. Others pursue more transformative agendas that also seek to change traditional gender relations and increase women’s representation and influence in politics or peace negotiations.

Some organizations work primarily in the area of psycho-social or psycho-legal support to victims. I found organizational priorities and goals to be diverse. In 20, I carried out interviews with women’s organizations and victims’ associations in Colombia to better understand how and why women mobilize around the issue of conflict-related sexual violence. In my research, I find that women’s collective mobilization in civil society during conflicts is generally higher when sexual violence is widespread. While sexual violence against men is also on the rise, it is primarily women who mobilize in response to this violence. Many Colombian women’s organizations have also taken on conflict-related sexual violence as a priority in their work. In Colombia, two nationally-operating victims’ associations specifically dedicated to conflict-related sexual violence and one national campaign to challenge this violence have been founded. After the war in Bosnia, victims of sexual violence came together across national and ethnic lines for mutual support. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a women’s rights organization for victims of sexual violence has provided support to 13,000 victims. What may be less well-known is that they are joined in these efforts by many organizations – big and small – in different conflict-affected societies. They deservedly receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their courageous commitment to the fight against conflict-related sexual violence. Nadia Murad – “the witness” – escaped sexual slavery by ISIS forces in Iraq and has since given testimony about the atrocities committed against Yazidis in the United Nations Security Council and many other fora.īut Mukwege and Murad are also activists fighting for the rights and dignity of victims, calling on armed actors to end this violence, and on states and international organizations to redouble their efforts to persecute its perpetrators. Denis Mukwege – “the helper” – has performed reconstructive surgeries on more than 50,000 victims of sexual violence at Panzi Hospital in the conflict-ridden eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nonetheless, conflict-related sexual violence does not go unchallenged, as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize acknowledges. More recently, the systematic use of rape by security forces in Myanmar and sexual slavery of Yazidi women by ISIS have been in the news.Īlarmingly, sexual violence in conflict has not declined between 19, the most recent year for which cross-national data is available. It was placed on the international agenda by the systematic rape of women in the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, recognized for “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” The perpetration of sexual violence against civilians by state armies, paramilitaries, and rebel groups is a serious war crime. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureates are Dr.

World in conflict trainer 2018