Policy paper

2010 to 2015 government policy: sexual violence in conflict

Updated 8 May 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This is a copy of a document that stated a policy of the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. The previous URL of this page was https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/preventing-sexual-violence-in-conflict. Current policies can be found at the GOV.UK policies list.

Issue

Rape and sexual violence have been used as a tactic of war in conflicts across the world. Sexual violence is frequently used for political ends, as a means of ethnic cleansing and to terrorise local populations. It destroys lives, fuels conflict, creates refugees, jeopardises ceasefires and undermines the long-term prospects for reconciliation.

Sexual violence is indiscriminate, affecting men and boys as well as women and girls. All too often the victims face a life of shame and stigma, while the perpetrators go free. Only a handful of people have ever been brought to trial. As a result, those who order or carry out rape and sexual violence in conflict expect to get away with it. We are working to end this culture of impunity.

Actions

Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI)

The PSVI campaign is working to:

• address the culture of impunity that exists for crimes of sexual violence in conflict
• increase the number of perpetrators held to account
• ensure better support for survivors

by raising awareness, promoting international co-operation and increasing the political will and capacity of states to do more.

The PSVI campaign was launched in May 2012 by the former UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

Action through international organisations

Through its presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) in 2013, the UK worked to achieve greater international attention and commitment to dealing with this issue. On 11 April 2013, G8 Foreign Ministers adopted a historic Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.

During the UK’s Presidency of the UN Security Council in 2013, the Council adopted resolution 2106 that includes a series of actions to improve the UN response to sexual violence in conflict. This was the first resolution on the subject in three years and was co-sponsored by 46 UN member states.

155 countries have endorsed the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, launched during the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2013. These countries have agreed there should be no peace agreements that give amnesty to people who have ordered or carried out rape. Suspects wanted for war zone rape can now be arrested in any of these countries.

UK team of experts

A UK team of experts is supporting local resources in conflict areas. The team includes doctors, lawyers, police, psychologists, forensic specialists and experts in the care and protection of survivors and witnesses. Members have so far been sent to the Syrian borders, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Libya, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict

The UK hosted the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in June 2014. The summit was attended by over 120 countries and more than 900 delegates, including many from conflict affected countries. The summit agreed practical steps to end impunity for the use of rape as a weapon of war and to begin to change global attitudes to these crimes.

International protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict

With help from experts and survivors of sexual violence, the UK government published the International Protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict. The first of its kind, the Protocol sets out the basic principles of documenting sexual violence as a crime under international law, gleaned from best practice in the field. The Protocol is not binding on states.

Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict

In July 2014 William Hague was appointed the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. The Special Representative’s mandate is to lead the UK’s contribution to the international campaign to end the use of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war. He will work with governments, civil society, international organisations and other interested parties to implement the outcomes of the June Global Summit.

Background

PSVI complements wider UK Government work which aims to reduce the impact of conflict on women and girls and to promote their inclusion in conflict resolution. The UK Government’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security ensures that the UN resolutions on this agenda are fully incorporated into UK conflict-related defence, diplomatic and development activity.

Read the UK’s strategy on preventing sexual violence in conflict.

Read more about UN action against sexual violence in conflict.

Follow the PSVI campaign on Twitter and on Facebook.

Case studies

• Responding to sexual violence in Burma (10 April 2014)
• Supporting survivors of sexual violence in Colombia (10 April 2014)
• UK response to reports of sexual violence in the Syrian conflict (10 April 2014)
• Ending violence and transforming women’s lives (22 March 2013)

Appendix 1: action through international organisations

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

The FCO works closely with the office of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict. We strongly support the SRSG in her efforts to encourage countries to investigate and prosecute those who carry out sexual violence, and to protect survivors and witnesses.

The UN and SRSG have been central to the PSVI campaign. They helped to shape the G8 Declaration, the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The PSVI campaign also works with the network of 12 UN entities designed to prevent all forms of gender based violence, to ensure that our activities are in line with broader international goals and commitments.

In September 2012 the UK announced £1 million of core funding to the SRSG’s office. An additional £150,000 was given to support the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict whose mandate includes tackling sexual violence against children in conflict. The UK is also contributing £370,000 over a three year period to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support to support the development of policies, guidance and training on sexual violence in conflict by peacekeepers.

In February 2013 the UK contributed a further £500,000 to the International Criminal Court’s Trust Fund for Victims, which supports victims of sexual and gender based violence to rebuild their lives. This follows two previous UK contributions of £500,000 made in the previous two years, bringing our total contribution to £1.5 million.

Appendix 2: UK team of experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

The UK government has established a team of experts who are deployed to conflict areas to help support local responses to conflict-related sexual violence.

The team provides training and mentoring to national authorities to help them develop effective responses, and support grassroots organisations, local peace-builders and human rights activists. The team works closely with existing international and national programmes.

Since 2013, the team of experts have been deployed to:

• the Syrian borders, to work with the NGO Physicians for Human Rights to train Syrian health professionals and human rights defenders in how to document reports of sexual violence.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina, to support training by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the judiciary, to combat impunity for wartime sexual violence crimes and deliver justice to survivors
• Libya, to assess how the UK can provide further assistance in terms of justice and support for survivors
• Mali, to help strengthen the capacity of the Malian armed forces to project civilians from human rights violations including sexual and gender based violence
• Democratic Republic of Congo, to work with Physicians for Human Rights to build local capacity among Congolese health, legal and law enforcement professionals to investigate sexual violence crimes
• Kosovo, to train local participants on specific therapeutic issues such as sexual violence disclosure, rehabilitation needs for survivors and documentation of cases

You can read more about the establishment of the UK Team of Experts on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict in the 2013 Human Rights and Democracy Report.

Appendix 3: Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, held in London in June 2014, was the largest ever meeting on this issue.

The summit resulted in the following outcomes:

The launch of the first International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The Federal Government of Somalia presented a National Action Plan for addressing sexual violence, with the backing and support of the UN and the international community.

Ministers of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo committed to implement quickly their National Strategy to Fight Sexual Violence and the provisions of the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. The recent launch of an action plan for the Congolese army on sexual violence in conflict reflects this undertaking.

The African Union announced the launch of a pilot project in the Central African Republic to respond to the urgent needs of victims of sexual violence. The programme will allow the tracking and investigation of allegations of sexual violence, for further action by the African Union Commission and national stakeholders. The pilot project will comprise a multidisciplinary team of experts, including medical doctors, psychologists, lawyers and police officers deployed under the AU Mission in the Central African Republic.

The Government of Libya committed funding to enact into law its Decree that recognises that victims of sexual violence and their families are victims of war and are therefore entitled to benefits from the state including health care, scholarships and rehabilitation services.

The Governments of Liberia, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal and South Korea and the Palestinian Authority signed up to the Call to Action on Protecting Girls and Women in Emergencies.

The UK Government pledged a further £6m to support survivors of sexual violence in conflict, including £4.25m for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women; £1m for the International Criminal Court Trust Fund for Victims and £750,000 for the International Organisation for Migration.

The United States:

• committed to doubling (to $1m) its funding for the US State Department’s Gender Based Violence Emergency Response and Protection Initiative, which provides urgent assistance to survivors or those threatened with gender-based violence
• announced the launch of an accountability initiative which will help survivors secure justice and build the capacity of partner governments to prosecute sexual violence crimes in conflict-affected countries
• announced the expansion of the Safe from the Start initiative with a new funding opportunity for NGOs, to be announced at the UN General Assembly in September. The initiative supports humanitarian organisations in prevent and responding to gender-based violence at the onset of a disaster or a conflict
• unveiled the Secretary of State’s Policy Guidance on Gender - a directive to all Embassies and bureaus to integrate gender equality and the advancement of women and girls into all policy and programming efforts, including preventing and responding to sexual violence in peacetime and conflict

Australia committed:

• AUD3.3m to support the Afghan Women’s Network and its member organisations to help to end violence against women in Afghanistan
• AUD1m in partnership with UN Women in Timor Leste, Liberia and Uganda to support women’s engagement in decision-making on peace-building and gender responsive security sector reform
• AUD1.65m in assistance to humanitarian and emergency initiatives through ProCap and GenCap, the Women’s Refugee Commission as well as UNICEF and UNFPA

The UAE announced $1m in support of Somalia’s National Action Plan for addressing sexual violence.

Finland announced €2m to the UN Fund for Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Bahrain announced $100,000 to the UN Fund for Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The summit represented a unique moment in our collective efforts to end the use of rape and sexual violence in conflict.

In the months to come we must see clear evidence that those who participated at the Summit are delivering on the commitments they made by:

• putting in place measures to bring more perpetrators to justice
• providing better support to survivors
• ensuring that this issue remains at the very heart of the international policy agenda

Following the summit, the UK will work to make the prevention of sexual violence in conflict part of standard practice across all aspects of international conflict prevention, humanitarian and human rights work by:

• implementing the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict through advocacy, capacity building and national application. We hope the Protocol becomes widely used and recognised as best practice for practioners and first responders
• further lobbying of governments to implement fully in domestic legislation the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and encouraging more states to accede to the Rome Statute and to implement fully its provisions in domestic law
• pressing governments to do more to support human rights defenders and build the capacity of local civil society and grass roots organisations to document and respond to acts of sexual violence and support survivors
• encouraging governments to do more to include sexual violence issues in their doctrine and training and to enforce initiatives on military conduct and discipline

Appendix 4: International Protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

The International Protocol was launched at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, in June 2014.

This video explains what the international protocol is and how it can help increase prosecutions for crimes of sexual violence under international law.

International Protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict