'If not now, when'? (Addressing Gender-based Violence).

Throughout history, gender-based violence has been an integral component of armed conflict. A new report by the Reproductive Health for Refugees Consortium (RHRC) provides a narrative account of some of the major issues and programming efforts, as well as gaps in programming, related to the prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) among conflict-affected populations worldwide. "If Not Now, When? Addressing Gender-based Violence in Refugee, Internally Displaced, and Post-conflict Settings" attests to such violence against women and girls (and to a lesser extent men and boys).

In the twelve countries profiled in the report--three each in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America--multiple forms of GBV, such as rape, forced or coerced prostitution and sexual exploitation, domestic violence, early marriage and trafficking, appear to have increased during armed conflict and consequent social disruption. Nine profiles--for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan/Pakistan, Burma/Thailand, East Timor, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo--are the outcome of some two weeks of field investigations that included interviews with survivors, local GBV-related organizations, international humanitarian aid and human rights organizations, government representatives and UN personnel. The profiles for Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua are the result of New York-based desk studies.

According to the report, the stimulus for GBV, particularly for sexual crimes committed in armed conflict, varies. Sexual violence can be capricious or random, resulting from a breakdown in social and moral systems. In addition, it may be systematic, in order to destabilize populations and destroy bonds within communities, advance ethnic cleansing, express hatred for the enemy, or supply combatants with sexual services. In Bosnia, for example, public rape of women and girls preceded the flight or expulsion of entire Muslim populations from their villages, and strategies of ethnic cleansing included forced impregnation. In Rwanda, Hutu extremists encouraged mass rape and sexual mutilation of Tutsi women as an expression of contempt, which sometimes included intentional HIV transmission.

Until the last ten years, most GBV committed during periods of armed conflict has been either condoned or ignored. This silence is in significant measure a function of deeply embedded cultural assumptions that acquiesce to the inevitability of violence and the exploitation of women and girls. Nevertheless, recent international interrelated events have brought gender-based violence in armed conflict, as well as in refugee, internally displaced and post-conflict settings, into starker relief. In the broadest terms, these events include:

* The rise of women's and human rights movements across the world, which have not only identified violence against women as a global phenomenon but have also characterized it as an affront to basic human rights;

* The shift in the nature and scope of humanitarian aid afforded conflict-affected populations, including attention to the distinct protection needs of women and children, and the ascendancy of reproductive health programming;

* The increased dominance of international legal instruments and institutions in promoting and reinforcing standards of human rights as they apply to both women and conflict;

* The advances in global technology, as well as changes in attitudes toward war that have altered the nature of war propaganda and reporting, leading to significant international press coverage of sexual violence during the Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda conflicts;

* A basic change in the character of war, from military engagements primarily between fighting forces to violence that targets, dislocates or otherwise victimizes civilian populations.

Rates of GBV can be reduced. The most effective prevention and response efforts are the result of coordinated activities between the constituent community, health and social services, and the legal and security sectors. However, in none of the countries profiled has this "multi-sectoral" approach been adequately implemented. Model programmes and practices represented in the report provide a basis from which to develop more comprehensive and effective GBV prevention and response activities in humanitarian settings.

The report is one of several outcomes of a two-year global Gender-based Violence Initiative spearheaded by RHRC and aimed at improving international and local capacity to address such violence in refugee, internally displaced, and post-conflict settings. Other outcomes, including an extensive Web-based bibliography of GBV resources (www.rhrc.org/resources/gbv/bib) and an RHRC field manual for GBV assessment, programme design and evaluation, are meant to supplement the findings of the report with practical and field-friendly tools, as well as educational and training materials.

"If Not Now, When?" has been produced with the hope that its information will not only stimulate GBV-related programming that addresses the particular vulnerabilities of women and girls, but also motivate further examination of methods for prevention of and response to gender-based violence that engages boys, girls, men and women. The RHRC goal is to increase access to a range of quality, voluntary reproductive health services for refugees and displaced persons around the world.