2024 in Focus: Repairing the Harm to Survivors of Conflict-related Sexual Violence
By Julie Bardèche, Senior Legal Advisor
In recent years, as part of a multi-country study led by the Global Survivors Fund, REDRESS has been examining the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence in Chad, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh and the main obstacles that survivors face in realising their right to reparation.
These challenges were outlined in our recent report Realising Reparation for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, which highlights how numerous survivors still grapple with the long-lasting impact of the violence they suffered. They face stigmatisation and social exclusion even long after conflicts have ended, which discourages them from coming forward and hinders their access to justice.
The report featured examples from several countries where REDRESS has worked, including Chad, the DRC, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Sudan, Uganda, and Ukraine. While reparation is crucial to redress the harms caused, help survivors rebuild their lives, and restore their dignity and independence, our research indicated that most survivors are not able to access reparation. When reparation is available, it is often insufficient or too delayed to meaningfully achieve its intended impact. This leaves many survivors in a situation of extreme vulnerability, and often their suffering worsens.
REDRESS has urged States and UN bodies to challenge the prevailing impunity for conflict-related sexual violence and made recommendations to realise survivors’ right to reparation. Our submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for her report on sexual torture, presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June, illustrated the many challenges faced by survivors and identified priority areas for improvement. We also put forward recommendations to challenge the prevailing impunity for conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan and provided an analysis of the current reparation initiatives for survivors in Ukraine, outlining a roadmap to deliver comprehensive and holistic reparation to victims.
REDRESS and the Global Survivors Fund organised a briefing on this issue before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the UN body of experts that monitors implementation of the main global treaty on women’s rights. We have also urged the Committee to develop a specific General Recommendation on reparation for conflict-related sexual violence to help inform its practice and provide further guidance to States.
Photo: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters