Sexual Violence and Effective Redress for Victims in Post-Conflict Situations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean de Dieu Sikulibo

This chapter explores the distinct aspects of these crimes to understand the nature and extent of the needs of the victims in post-conflict settings. The analysis draws upon the growing body of empirical studies around the complexity of the victims' experiences during and after conflicts and the direct social consequences of these crimes on affected communities. This analysis helps the author to understand and explain the implications of the unique nature of sexual violence as a weapon of war for the needs of victims. The discussion in this chapter suggests that what makes the phenomenon of widespread and systematic sexual violence distinctive from ordinary crimes is the way in which these crimes destroy the social fabric of families and communities, thereby setting the scene for a general social collapse within affected communities. It indicates how the complex realities of victims of such crimes and their legacy in affected communities result in more acute and extensive needs for the victims and affected societies compared with victims of other crimes committed in conflict situations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Ole Kristian Fauchald

This chapter seeks to focus on ‘peacebuilding’ as a construct of peace among groups that have previously been in conflict. This calls for moving beyond peacemaking and conflict resolution to consider the longer-term efforts at establishing sustainable peace. Notwithstanding the longstanding efforts of UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, there has been very limited development of international normative and institutional structures targeting the process of post-conflict sustainable peacebuilding. How far the current international environmental governance (IEG) regimes are responsive to the specific challenges to post-conflict situations? It seeks to briefly consider four key aspects of IEG regimes: (i) Ad- hoc and subject specific (ii) Incremental and facilitative (iii) Degree of reciprocity and (iv) Science-based.


2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Outi Korhonen

International organisations have recently assumed a more intrusive role in settling conflicts in all continents. At the same time, post-conflict or post-settlement tasks seem to be emerging as an important function, encompassing the conduct of democratic elections, the guarantee of security, development of civil society, etc. In order to operationalise such wide-ranging and deeply intrusive social aims it is not sufficient to have peace-keepers or elections monitoring missions sent into the conflict-torn territories. Concentrated and centrally planned efforts of international governance are needed. In the present day, however, there is no such systematic scheme to which to refer. Yet institutional structures are needed to administer the extensive tasks and functions assigned in certain post-conflict situations. Therefore many questions of legitimacy and fundamental accountability arise.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-370
Author(s):  
Bram J. Jansen

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to contribute to debates about humanitarian governance and insecurity in post-conflict situations. It takes the case of South Sudan to explore the relations between humanitarian agencies, the international community, and local authorities, and the ways international and local forms of power become interrelated and contested, and to what effect. The paper is based on eight months of ethnographic research in various locations in South Sudan between 2011 and 2013, in which experiences with and approaches to insecurity among humanitarian aid actors were studied. The research found that many security threats can be understood in relation to the everyday practices of negotiating and maintaining humanitarian access. Perceiving this insecurity as violation or abuse of a moral and practical humanitarianism neglects how humanitarian aid in practice was embedded in broader state building processes. This paper posits instead that much insecurity for humanitarian actors is a symptom of the blurring of international and local forms of power, and this mediates the development of a humanitarian protectorate.


SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401989407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Ubillos-Landa ◽  
Alicia Puente-Martínez ◽  
Gina Arias-Rodríguez ◽  
Marcela Gracia-Leiva ◽  
José Luis González-Castro

The effects of armed conflict on women in post-conflict situations are an area of analysis for social disciplines. This study will analyze the situation in Colombia, currently involved in a peace restoration process. The aim is to verify the efficacy of a coping and emotion regulation program analyzing victimization as well as the coping strategies employed in response to these violent acts. The program focuses on 62 women contacted through the Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres, a nongovernmental organization. The program had a positive effect on women, reporting lower levels of posttraumatic stress, more functional coping strategies, and less use of dysfunctional strategies. All emotional cognitive and social indicators improved. Women felt emotionally better, perceiving greater social support and more trust in institutions. Survivors had more self-confidence to achieve their goals and solve their problems. The implications in a context of peace reconstruction and search for social cohesion are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Spangaro ◽  
Chye Toole-Anstey ◽  
Catherine L. MacPhail ◽  
Delia C. Rambaldini-Gooding ◽  
Lynne Keevers ◽  
...  

AbstractSexual violence and intimate partner violence are exacerbated by armed conflict and other humanitarian crises. This narrative systematic review of evidence for interventions to reduce risk and incidence of sexual and intimate partner violence in conflict, post-conflict and other humanitarian crises, updates and expands our review published in 2013. A search of ten bibliographic databases for publications from January 2011 to May 2020 used database specific key words for sexual/intimate partner violence and conflict/humanitarian crisis. The 18 papers, describing 16 studies were undertaken in conflict/post-conflict settings in 12 countries. Six intervention types were reported: i) personnel; ii) community mobilisation; iii) social norms; iv) economic empowerment; v) empowerment; and vi) survivor responses, with the most common being economic empowerment (n = 7) and gendered social norms interventions (n = 6). Combined interventions were reported in nine papers. Four studies identified non-significant reductions in incidence of sexual/ intimate partner violence, showing an evident positive trend; all four evaluated gendered social norms or economic empowerment singly or in combination. Evidence for improved mental health outcomes was found for some economic empowerment, social norms and survivor interventions. Some evidence of reduced risk of sexual violence and intimate partner violence was identified for all intervention types. Qualitative studies suggest that experiences of social connection are important for women who participate in programming to address sexual and intimate partner violence. Interventions with multiple strategies appear to hold merit. Achieving and demonstrating reduced sexual and intimate partner violence remains challenging in this context. Future research should continue to explore how social norms interventions can be most effectively delivered, including the impact of including mixed and same sex groups. Work is needed with local partners to ensure programs are contextually adapted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-152
Author(s):  
Olga V. Yarmak ◽  
Maria G. Bolshakova ◽  
Tatyana V. Shkayderova ◽  
Anastasia G. Maranchak

The article presents the results of a media-analytical study of information flows in Ukraine and in the “new” subjects of the Russian Federation – Crimea and Sevastopol. The relevance of the study of post-conflict societies is dictated by the fact that in the digital era, an effective military solution must be supported by participation in the formation of the information agenda and management of information flows. The cases of color revolutions allow to speak of communication as a factor in the formation of unconventional social attitudes. The results of the study carried out by the authors show that in the condition of the crisis in society, communication networks are formed often due to the external influence. Information flows of a post-conflict society are formed not only from real events of everyday life and the existing socio-political situation, but also focusing on a number of topics and discourses that must be present in the media field without fail. They act as information triggers, system trigger tools that form a different streaming of flows, which were differentiated by the authors as single – and multi-wave. The analysis of the identified flows, that represent communicative network structures, testifies to the different genesis of their emergence and functioning, but the determining factor in this process is the geopolitical request for the formation of media tracks. The authors come to conclusion that the information flows of post-conflict societies are communicative-political structures of a dual nature: they initially carry the ideas of an open and democratic society, but then form conflict situations in the civil and media fields.


2021 ◽  
pp. 199-218
Author(s):  
Bilbil Kastrati ◽  
Samo Uhan

Abstract. The article considers whether the EU’s CSDP missions are a suitable crisis management mechanism for post-conflict situations, along with the EU’s relevance in crisis management at all. For this purpose, the EU’s biggest CSDP civilian mission EULEX was chosen as a research case study. The research results reveal that EULEX has not implemented its mandate, not met the expectations of security consumers, not made any difference on the ground, and cannot be seen as an example the EU should rely on in its future missions. Further, EULEX shows that CSDP missions suffer from many shortfalls and the EU CFSP from a capability–expectations gap. The article concludes that the EULEX mission does not show the EU’s relevance in the crisis management of post-conflict situations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 96 (895-896) ◽  
pp. 881-900
Author(s):  
Annyssa Bellal

AbstractHow does the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) discharge its mandate of “promoting and protecting the effective enjoyment by all of all civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”, especially in armed conflicts and other situations of violence? What are its concrete responsibilities, and how does it work to generate respect for the rule of law on the ground? This article aims to provide an overview of OHCHR's activities, and point to some of the challenges associated with its work to generate respect for the rule of law, in particular in violent contexts. It begins with an overview of the unique mandate of OHCHR and situates it within the broader United Nations human rights machinery. It then gives an account of OHCHR's experience and approach in building respect for the rule of law, including in armed conflicts and post-conflict situations, outlining how this informs OHCHR's field setup. Finally, the article summarizes the main challenges that OHCHR faces in the discharge of its mandate. It highlights the need for more concerted action on the part of human rights/humanitarian protection organizations on the ground, despite differences in mandates and constituencies.


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