Weapon of war: Sexual violence against children in armed conflict
This report presents the very first quantitative analysis of the risk of sexual violence against children in conflict for the period 1990–2019. The report flags remaining data gaps, shortcomings in child-centred and gender-responsive service delivery, and impunity for these crimes. Our findings also show the urgency of the broader call for gender equality and child rights, including increased focus on girls’ empowerment initiatives, recognising that girls are disproportionately affected. Sexual violence in conflict is a weapon, whether it is used tactically or opportunistically. While children face increasing risk of sexual violence in conflict, the international community struggles to adequately address this human rights violation. The scale and gravity of sexual violence against children in armed conflict call for immediate and concerted action by the UN, states, donors, the humanitarian community, researchers and civil society to meet their obligations to ensure children are safe from harm.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/18763/pdf/weapon-of-war-report_final.pdf
Colombia Democratic Republic of Congo Iraq Somalia South Sudan Syria Yemen
The War on Children: Time to end grave violations against children in conflict
This report identifies concerning trends for the safety and wellbeing of children living in areas impacted by conflict, through analysis of the United Nations Annual Reports of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) and new research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The research utilizes figures that are published, independently verified and credible, but one of the key findings of the data mapping process is that there is a significant and worrying gap in child-specific data in conflicts.
Although all warring parties are obliged to protect children, in conflicts around the world heinous attacks are committed against children on a daily basis, for which the perpetrators are not being held to account. What is more, many of these violations are increasing, driven bybrutal conflicts like the war in Syria. There is an urgent need for action to end what is too often a war on children.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/13150/pdf/war_on_children-web.pdf
Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Congo Global Myanmar Somalia South Sudan Syria
Stop the War on Children
The protection of children in conflict – and with it the realisation of the promises made in the declarations, conventions and statutes of the 20th century – is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. The nature of conflict – and its impact on children – is evolving.
In today’s armed conflicts, there is often no longer a clearly demarcated battlefield: children’s homes and schools are the battlefield.
Increasingly, the brunt of armed violence and warfare is being borne by children. Children suffer in conflict in different ways to adults, partly because they are physically weaker and also because they have so much at stake – their physical, mental and psychosocial development are heavily dependent on the conditions they experience as children. Conflict affects children differently depending on a number of personal characteristics – significantly gender and age, but also disability status, ethnicity, religion and whether they live in rural or urban locations. The harm that is done to children in armed conflict is not only often more severe than that done to adults, it has longer lasting implications – for children themselves and for their societies
https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/ed-cp/stop-the-war-on-children-2019.pdf
Afghanistan Central African Republic Democratic Republic of Congo Global Iraq Mali Nigeria Somalia South Sudan Syria Yemen
Stop the war on children 2020: Gender matters
The third report of Save the Children’s Stop the War on Children campaign reveals shocking trends in the threats to the safety and wellbeing of children living in areas impacted by conflict. While fewer children are living in conflict-affected areas, those who do face the greatest risk of falling victim to serious violence since systematic records began. This report delves into the differences between boys’ and girls’ experiences through a gendered analysis of the six grave violations of children in conflict.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/16784/pdf/ch1413553.pdf
Afghanistan Colombia Democratic Republic of Congo Global Iraq Mali Syria
Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies: Guide to Developing a Field-Level Road Map
The toolkit is designed for field-based colleagues interested in developing a Call to Action Road Map for their setting. Initially, the primary users will likely be Call to Action Advisors engaged to support the project and field-based colleagues from the global Call to Action partnership. As the project takes hold, the toolkit will be a useful guide for national and local Call to Action stakeholders. Call to Action global focal points can also use it as a resource to increase their support for field-based efforts and strengthen action and accountability under the Call to Action.
The toolkit is a step-by-step guide that walks the reader through the process of developing a fieldlevel Road Map. It includes resources for the drafting process and for implementation. We hope colleagues in other settings will also take up this effort. Partners should consider this toolkit a living document that can be updated to capture good practices as we continue to learn from one another.
Transitional Justice – time for a re-think
What would justice look like in the conflicts in Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia? What would we expect it to achieve? For more than two decades, the field of transitional justice has sought to answer such questions. Transitional justice is generally understood as a package of measures including criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations for victims and reform of abusive institutions.
https://www.openglobalrights.org/paul-seils/Transitional-justice-time-for-a-re-think/
Barriers to Justice: Implementing Reparations for Sexual Violence in the DRC
The final report evaluates reparations awarded by courts in the DRC to survivors of sexual violence, and the extent to which these reparations are being implemented. First, the report introduces the mobile court system and other judicial institutions that address sexual violence, specifically in Eastern DRC. Second, the report examines barriers to the implementation of reparations awarded by these courts. Third, the report offers recommendations to the international community to help ensure the payment of reparations to victims in the DRC and strengthen their access to justice.
War Trauma Foundation
Works toward its vision by supporting capacity building within psychosocial care initiatives of local organisations through training and supervision, access to information and resources, and strengthening and linking of the local organisations. The WTF works together with local and international staff and professionals of humanitarian aid organisations, service and educational institutions, and other community members, such as teachers and parents. The aim is to promote wellbeing, peace and stability through building and networking the psychosocial care capacity at local, country, regional and international levels. In this way, psychosocial expertise is embedded in the local community, and integrated into lasting, local structures, ensuring sustainability, cultural relevance and effectiveness.
Investigating Rape at the International Criminal Court: The Impact of Trauma
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been characterised by the widespread and systematic perpetration of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Rape has been committed by all actors in the conflict, including those operating in the Ituri region of the country, and the use of rape by Lubangas Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) in particular has been widely reported and documented by the UN and NGOs alike.
Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict
Sexual violence is committed against men more frequently than is often thought. It is perpetrated at home, in the community and in prison; by men and by women; during conflict and in time of peace. It has been written that, in some respects, the situation facing male rape victims today is not so different from that which faced female victims, say, two centuries ago.