Event Summary

Almost one year to the day after the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1820, the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Women, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Working Group convened a panel of experts to commemorate the occasion and discuss the challenges that lie ahead in the challenge to eradicate all forms of gender-based violence (GBV). During the event, panelists Neil Boothby of Columbia University and a USIP Grantee; Dara Cohen, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University and a USIP Peace Scholar; and Anne-Marie Goetz of UNIFEM, explored many facets of this complex issue. (U.N. Security Council Resolution 1820 recognizes that systematic sexual violence can be used as a tactic of war and requires a serious political and security response. It demands the cessation of all acts of sexual violence against civilians and recognizes that sexual violence can be used to advance military objectives. It notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime or crime against humanity and should be treated as such when prosecuting individuals after a violent conflict.) While the passage of Resolution 1820 is an important step in the fight against all forms of gender-based violence, the recognition of the problem is not enough.

Much of the event focused on ways to improve the implementation of Resolution 1820. Panelists praised the intentions of the resolution while recognizing the fact that little concrete action has been taken over the past year to change how the international community deals with gender-based violence in conflict. U.N. peacekeeping troops are provided with little to no training for how to deal with victims of sexual violence. They do not patrol at night when much of the violence against women occurs and do not have the equipment to help those women who do come to them for help. Efforts to halt sexual violence continue to be grossly under funded. One of the most basic points raised by panelist Anne-Marie Goetz is the necessity of proper support for those institutions that do endeavor to implement Resolution 1820.

Goetz also raised the important issue of the continuation of sexual violence even after the implementation of ceasefires or peace accords. According to Goetz, six peace accords and five ceasefire agreements have mentioned the occurrence of sexual violence, but none of them consider the continuation of such violence, a violation of peace agreements. Instead, there is often a spike in sexual violence following the resolution of a conflict because of a general atmosphere of impunity. According to Goetz, the international community must focus on putting sexual violence on the agenda for all peace agreements.

Resolution 1820 focuses specifically on ending the use of sexual violence as a tactic of armed groups in conflict. In order to end this practice, we must first understand when it is most likely to occur and why. Panelist Dara Cohen challenged the common arguments that sexual violence is a natural outcome of war and a top-down policy, arguing that sexual violence can also be a unit-level phenomenon used as a socialization practice within groups who have a high level of forced recruitment of young people. It is used as a social control mechanism to create group bonds where there are none, and to increase trust among fighters who barely know one another. Recognizing increased incidents of sexual violence in conflicts that employ forced recruitment techniques would provide the United Nations with a tool to identify conflicts where sexual violence is more likely to occur. Continued research on the topic of the use of sexual violence in conflict is important to identify early warning signs and help create prevention mechanisms.

Additionally, one of the many challenges facing the United Nations in implementing Resolution 1820 is the collection of accurate data about the frequency of gender based violence, both during war and in peacetime. Current reporting methods are woefully inadequate and often focus on “stranger rape,” ignoring violence inflicted by family or close acquaintances. Panelist Neil Boothby discussed his use of the “The Neighborhood Method” in which local Ugandan women were interviewed about violence that occurred within their own “neighborhood” in a refugee camp as a method to collect better information about the frequency of domestic violence using informal channels.  Boothby found that women in the camps knew when their female neighbors were being beaten and raped, and through these anecdotal interviews was able to triangulate the data and to create a more complete picture of all incidents of gender-based violence in one “neighborhood.” Through these informal channels, Boothby uncovered incidents of gender-based violence that are not usually reported to more formal institutions, such as law enforcement or health clinics. Boothby’s work highlights the necessity of committing to better data collection before crafting solutions that may be partial or incomplete.  According to Boothby, all forms of sexual violence deserve to be recognized as equal violations of basic human rights.

Although Resolution 1820 is the first step in the campaign against all forms of sexual violence, scholars and practitioners alike concur that it will take dedicated effort and resources to address this issue. The fact remains that many children are growing up in an environment where rape and other forms of sexual violence are a normative experience. This fact is troubling both for young girls who grow to accept gender-based violence as a fact of life but also for young boys who learn this behavior at an early age.   Resolution 1820 is a step forward in fighting this culture of impunity, and USIP’s Women, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Working Group is committed to raising awareness about sexual violence and collaborating with other institutions, agencies, and NGOs on moving this agenda forward. One year after the passage of this remarkable legislation, we are reminded that even one incident of gender-based violence is one too many.

Summary by Janene Sawers, Program Assistant, jsawers@usip.org

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Speakers

• Neil Boothby
  U.S. Institute of Peace Grantee
  Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health, Director on Forced Migration and Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
• Dara Cohen
  U.S. Institute of Peace Jennings Randolph Dissertation Peace Scholar
  Doctoral Candidate, Department of Political Science, Stanford University
• Anne-Marie Goetz
  Chief of Policy and Governance, UNIFEM
  Chief Advisor, Governance, Peace and Security
• Kathleen Kuehnast, Moderator
  Associate Vice President, The Grant Program, U.S. Institute of Peace