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Ending sexual violence in conflict

News, comment and features on ending sexual violence in conflict

May 2024

  • 'Mother and Child', a sculpture by Rebecca Hawkins in St James's Square, London, for Justice for Lai Dai Han, commemorating victims of sexual violence<br>2B721PW 'Mother and Child', a sculpture by Rebecca Hawkins in St James's Square, London, for Justice for Lai Dai Han, commemorating victims of sexual violence

    Opinion
    Children of Vietnam war’s rape survivors unjustly bear the burden of others’ crimes

    Tran Thi Ngai
  • COLOMBIA-CONFLICT-PERFORMANCE<br>People take part in a performance consisting in getting buried up to their waists and staying in that position as much as their bodies resist as part of the commemoration of the VII National Week of Remembrance, to support the dignity of victims of the armed conflict, symbolic reparation, resistance and social reconstruction that contribute to the construction of historical memory, at 13 Comuna shantytown in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on Octuber 16, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Raul ARBOLEDA (Photo credit should read RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images)

    Opinion
    From Colombia to Syria justice is possible for survivors of sexual violence in war

    Clara Sandoval

April 2024

  • Protest against war crimes in Ukraine, Berlin, Ukraine - 21 Apr 2022<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by snapshot-photography/F Boillot/REX/Shutterstock (12904693d) Ukrainian women from the "Vitsche" and "Voices of Ukraine" initiatives protest in front of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in Berlin against rapes of women and girls by soldiers of the Russian army during the war in Ukraine. They call for an immediate embargo on Russian oil and gas to make financing the war more difficult./Ukrainian women of the initiatives "Vitsche" and "voices of Ukraine" protest bloodied and partially tied up in front of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection in Berlin against rapes of women and girls by soldiers of the Russian Army during the War in Ukraine. They demand an immediate embargo on Russian oil and gas to make it harder to finance the war. Protest against war crimes in Ukraine, Berlin, Ukraine - 21 Apr 2022

    Rights and freedom
    Reparations to be paid to survivors of wartime sexual violence in Ukraine

    First payments to be made during an ongoing conflict is ‘important step towards restoring justice’, says first lady, Olena Zelenska

November 2022

  • Angelina Jolie and William Hague

    Angelina Jolie criticises governments over inaction on wartime sexual violence

  • A demonstration on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November in Bengaluru, India.

    Opinion
    Action is needed right now to end sexual violence in conflict

    Angelina Jolie

March 2021

  • FW de Klerk with US flag behind him

    De Klerk seeks accountability. What about his own?

    Apartheid-era South African president calls for justice for female victims of violence in Guardian article but some say his own record needs scrutiny

January 2020

  • Flanked by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, William Hague arrives at the global summit to end sexual violence in conflict in 2014

    Britain must spearhead action against sexual violence or relinquish the reins

    William Hague
  • Angelina Jolie and William Hague

    Hague and Jolie's sexual violence scheme 'letting survivors down'

August 2019

  • Newly released girls who were recruited by armed groups and responsible for cooking in the bush hold hands during their release ceremony in Yambio, South Sudan, on February 7, 2018.

    'Before I was kidnapped I had friends': girl soldiers of South Sudan

    A reintegration programme has helped 360 girls leave armed groups in Yambio county but for many the trauma of sexual violence persists

June 2019

  • Grace Acan, Ekhlas Bajoo, Mildred Mapingure, Iryna Dovgan, Desanges and Carmen Zape Paja

    'Impunity reigns': six survivors of sexual violence speak out

    Members of a global network of rape survivors stand united in demanding an end to the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war

May 2019

  • A Rohingya woman in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, covers her face with a headscarf

    The world over, people in crisis suffer sexual violence – this scourge must end

    Natalia Kanem and Mark Lowcock
    Tackling gender violence in crises requires changes of response and focus – as delegates in Oslo for a major summit will be told

December 2018

  • Members of the Mukwege Foundation at the Hague. Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman (2nd from left, 2nd row) with other survivors and policy makers, who discussed how the international community can give recognition and support to victims of wartime sexual violence. Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman podcast

    Small Changes
    'What happened to me will not happen to my daughters': sexual violence in war – podcast

    Kosovan-born Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman explains how a survivors’ network has empowered her and others to speak out against rape as a weapon of conflict

November 2018

  • Angelina Jolie and William Hague

    Women's rights and gender equality
    Hague hails 'tremendous start' to sexual violence scheme set up with Jolie

    Former foreign secretary says critics ignore ‘enormous progress’ made since since 2014 launch

April 2018

  • Angelina Jolie and William Hague

    Women's rights and gender equality
    Alarm over cuts to Hague-Jolie plan to end sexual violence in war

    Scheme launched by William Hague and Angelina Jolie faces ‘litmus test’ as scrutiny falls on British response to rape of Rohingya women

January 2018

  • A former female child soldier at the rehabilitation centre in Gulu, northern Uganda.

    Women's rights and gender equality
    Abducted at nine to be a girl soldier for Kony: 'Now people call me a killer'

    A former Lord’s Resistance Army fighter feels marginalised and abandoned, failed by the Ugandan government after broken promises of help and support

December 2017

  • A French soldier takes position at daybreak in the Central African capital, Bangui

    'The future is very dark': Central African Republic's relentless cycle of suffering

    When ruthless armed fighters descended on her district, Rosen Moseba lost everything. Four years later, the country’s crisis shows no signs of abating

November 2017

  • Syria. The Old City of Homs has been destroyed by years of conflict.<br>A man scvanages for anything of value he can find, in the destroyed neighbourhood of Khalidiya, the Old City of Homs, Syria. Homs has been witness to some of the worst fighting of the Syrian conflict and the Old City district now lies in ruins. The area is largely uninhabitable however a few people are attempting to return. The fighting stopped in Homs during April 2014 and since then a small number of residents have returned to the area. UNHCR is providing humanitarian aid to the majority of people in Homs with food, core relief items, shelter, protection services, health, education and psycho-social support. One of the biggest challenges facing the returnees is the rebuilding of their homes in old Homs and Hamediyeh, a project supported by UNHCR.

    Male rape and sexual torture in the Syrian war: ‘It is everywhere’

    Sarah Chynoweth
    When Sarah Chynoweth was asked to look into sexual violence against men and boys in the Syria crisis, she had no idea of the scale of the problem

October 2017

  • World March of Women in Bukavu, South Kivu province, DRC

    Women's rights and gender equality
    The 'rape capital of the world'? We women in Congo don't see it that way

    Justine Masika Bihamba
    Congo is a nation of sisterhood and solidarity. We are changing our country from within, risking our lives to speak out and taking up the political fight against sexual violence – rather than just taking notes while men speak

August 2017

  • Social taboos and lack of protection for those speaking out mean victims of sexual violence during Nepal’s civil war have been suffering in silence.

    Women's rights and gender equality
    UN calls on Nepal to investigate civil war case of gang-rape and torture by soldiers

    Landmark move marks first time UN’s human rights group has intervened in an individual case, yet campaigners say Nepal’s government is unlikely to act

June 2017

  • A woman holds her two-year-old daughter, fathered by a Ugandan soldier

    Women's rights and gender equality
    Ugandan soldiers accused of rape and assault to face court martial

    Military pledges zero tolerance after allegations of abuses by Human Rights Watch, but some fear court will not bring troops to justice
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