Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: An Analytical Inventory of Peacekeeping Practice

This report is a tool that catalogues direct and indirect efforts to combat sexual violence during and in the wake of war. While the focus of this publication is on the practical methods by which military, police, and civilian peacekeepers can prevent sexual violence as a tactic of war, it is also part of a broader agenda to improve the capacities of peacekeepers to contribute to women's safety. Funded by the Australian Government's aid agency (AusAID), the inventory is a collaboration between the United Nations (UN) Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), under the auspices of an inter-agency network, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action).

The tool is designed in response to needs expressed by those working in the field, such as Major General Elhadji Mouhamadou Kandji, Force Commander for the UN mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), who said that a profound change in mindset is required to end sexual violence in conflict. Sharing first-hand examples from the field, he explained how "sexual violence is a means of pursuing inter-group conflict. But this is not always obvious to peacekeepers and for that reason, it can go unnoticed." Speaking on behalf of UNIFEM, retired Major General Patrick Cammaert, former Division Commander for Eastern DRC for the UN's mission there (MONUC), said that no amount of training had prepared him for the scale and severity of violence against women he witnessed during his service as a peacekeeper. "This inventory of best practices is necessary inspiration for field commanders who must interpret their mandates in ways that ensure the safety and security of women. We must work differently...it is not enough to patrol major roads in the daytime if rape is rampant at night, in locations never patrolled by peacekeepers. We need new sources of situational awareness, better relations with civilians, more female troops and police, training on how to respond to these acts, and mandates that are unambiguous about our responsibility as peacekeepers to protect civilians, including women and girls. The new inventory is a significant contribution to this end", he said.

This document is based on a 2008 desk review of protection strategies employed by international and regional peacekeepers - namely: the UN; the African Union (AU); the European Union (EU); the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The findings were then field-tested through missions to UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in Liberia; UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); and Rwanda to speak with members of the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) who had served as peacekeepers with the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). That is to say: This inventory draws on the experiences of peacekeepers and their interactions with communities and promotes effective ways to prevent sexual violence and help enable women and families to go about their daily activities safely in conflict situations.

In an effort to arm peacekeepers with examples and information to help them operate more effectively on the ground, the inventory analyses examples where traditional protection strategies have failed to prevent rape. It also explores the comparative advantage women in uniform can have in environments like Liberia and Afghanistan, and makes recommendations to better avert predictable risks, such as rape as part of reprisal attacks or rape that occurs when women leave camp sites to collect firewood.

Specifically:

• Part 1: Context: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence - One communication-related highlight: "Reliable information on trends, common contexts of attack and the profile of perpetrators remains elusive, in part because victims - not attackers - are shamed and stigmatized."
• Part 2: Inventory of Tasks and Tactics - Features a compilation of practice to directly or derivatively combat sexual violence, providing a knowledge base for military peacekeepers and planners in their respective task areas. It is also intended as a tool for national and regional military institutions to discuss practical approaches to sexual violence in theatre. The tasks are numbered for ease of reference, including for the purpose of cross-referencing the examples with operational training scenarios to be distilled from this research and provided to Troop/Police Contributing Countries as a pre-deployment training resource. It also aims to inform the development of doctrine and mission-wide strategies being developed pursuant to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)/Department of Field Support (DFS) Protection of Civilians Operational Concept. One example: "Public Information: Monitoring, Reporting, Behavioral Change Communication":
  • Security/crowd control has been provided at cultural events such as open-air theatre productions depicting the social effects of rape, and public concerts on the theme of Stop Rape Now, as in Liberia.
  • Peacekeepers have collaborated with prominent national figures on anti-rape campaigns and provided logistical and security support for high-profile missions that cast a spotlight on issues such as sexual violence.
  • Mission-run radio programmes have been used to amplify anti-rape messages, e.g. women's programming on Radio Okapi in DRC, which also follows sexual violence trials on air for a deterrent effect.
  • Direct cell phone communication between MONUC area commanders and community leaders/internally displaced persons (IDP) representatives has been initiated so patrols better correspond to the times and places civilians feel most at risk.
  • A gender mix on patrolling and verification teams has helped improve operational situational awareness, especially in relation to sexual violence, which victims are more comfortable discussing with female peacekeepers.
  • Contingency planning needs to ensure that the security of women who provide information to the mission is not compromised.
  • Customary communicators have been engaged to convey key messages about ending violence against women.
• Part 3: Checklist: Emerging Elements of an Effective Response - 10 elements that may support an effective response by uniformed peacekeepers to conflict-related sexual violence emerge from this research. "When we consider why one strategy appears more successful than another, it is generally due to the factors described in the following checklist, such as exemplary leadership, consultation, coordination with civilian counterparts, training and preparedness." Of the 10 elements, here are 2 communication-centred examples:
  1. Consultation with all segments of the community, including women, for intelligence-gathering, confidence-building and to inform protection activities - "Mass rape, like mass murder, does not happen in one day: there needs to be greater sensitivity to early-warning indicators, including through a resilient relationship with the population that encourages them to come forward and report emerging threats. Early warning analysis needs to include consultations with women to seek out information about any increases in sexual violence as a key protection indicator. For instance, it is foreseeable that when rations are running low, soldiers may engage in predatory practices like looting and rape. Open channels of communication also enable the mission to seek regular feedback from the community about whether it is meeting its objectives";
  2. Role-modelling and capacity-building to help leave a legacy of security for women and girls - "The example set by peacekeepers in how they view and treat women is likely to be emulated, as is the inclusion of women among their ranks. Women FPU [Formed Police Unit] officers, for example, should patrol visibly and be on the frontline in crowd control situations. This allows the UN to serve as a model of the principles for which it stands."

Editor's note: Also related to the above are the following: a UN Action Facebook page and UN Action Twitter feed, both of which promote an interactive global photo map on the Stop Rape Now website, which aims to "build a visible constituency for ending conflict-related sexual violence and to put names and faces to a long-silenced, often invisible feature of war." UN Action explains: "Once we reach 200,000 crossed-arm photos (our campaign tag gesture) we will display them in a travelling UN photo exhibition under the banner: '200,000 women raped in Congo, 200,000 people say never again!'" In addition, click here to watch a Stop Rape Now public service announcement (PSA) on YouTube.