A blog by Duaa e Zahra Shah, Young Expert at Girls Human Rights Hub

In 2022, the world paid 2.2 trillion dollars.[1] Not for education, not for health, and certainly not for peace. 2.2 trillion dollars funded conflict, and in doing so, funded the trauma experienced by more than 600 million women and girls. These figures are more than just figures: they point at people built of aspirations and contributions, now all hanging by a thread in the name of war.

Stark reality contradicts the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, which emphasize protecting women during conflicts.[2] According to these documents, women are entitled to humane treatment, respect for their life and physical well-being, and protection from torture, ill-treatment, violence, harassment, rape, and forced prostitution. However, we find that conflict exacerbates pre-existing gender inequities, an exacerbation perpetuated by both State and non-state actors. The impact is also different for each individual, based on the intersection of gender with other identity factors like age, class, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. This means that some women, such as refugees, ethnic minorities, and women with disabilities, are more at risk than others.

Violence

One of the most obvious effects of conflict is violence, and women and girls, in particular, are targeted for and subjected to gender-based violence. Rape is used as a weapon of war to humiliate, degrade, and instill fear.[3] Trafficking increases with new demand structures for women’s sexual, economic, and military exploitation. And it’s not just the enemy that perpetrates violence. Early, forced marriages in response to financial insecurity as well as domestic violence are rampant. Unfortunately, GBV persists even in post-conflict settings due to its normalization, the breakdown of legal and social structures, and the rise in militarism and arms availability.[4] The impacts of violence on women are also long-lasting and range from emotional trauma to physical disability.[5]

Displacement

As crisis escalates, women and children might flee from fear of attack, but they flee into uncertainty and often yet more danger. Not only do they remain vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and inadequate education and healthcare, but they also no longer have the resources and protection they may have had back at home. Furthermore, when they try to seek asylum, they are met with gendered barriers if their narrative fails to fit conventional categories of persecution.[6]

A crisis of well-being       

Conflict finds a way to seep into the every day, impacting women’s health and education. Girls are almost two and a half times more likely to be out of school than boys due to targeted attacks at their schools and against their teachers, as well as the additional caregiving and household responsibilities they’re obliged to take up.[7] Disrupted and even destroyed healthcare systems, including sexual and reproductive healthcare services, put women at a higher risk of reproductive injury, maternal mortality, unplanned pregnancies, and contracting sexually transmitted diseases as a result of sexual violence.[8]

Failure in justice

Access to justice becomes significantly more challenging during and after conflict, as formal justice systems may be dysfunctional or nonexistent.[9] Women, in particular, face heightened legal, procedural, institutional, and social barriers, along with gender discrimination, further hindering access. Alarmingly, systems are actually more likely to violate women’s rights than protect them. Post-conflict transitional justice mechanisms, too, fall short, failing to adequately punish violations and provide reparations, thereby contributing to ongoing impunity.

Rehabilitation for all?

While heavy in grief and destruction, the aftermath of war can be an opportunity to restructure society to be more equitable. However, women, despite being disproportionately affected by conflict, are largely under-represented in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and decision-making processes post-conflict.[10] Their exclusion from facilitating rehabilitation and building new policies and systems can lead to repetition and exacerbation of violence, reducing the durability and substantiveness of peace itself.

Hope, even after hardship

As individuals, we hold immense power to exercise solidarity with those affected by conflicts. We can educate ourselves and those around us; organize screenings, exhibitions, and discussions; raise our voices through traditional media and social media platforms, protests, and other relevant spaces we have access to; lobby governments and corporations to do more; and donate to and volunteer with organizations working in conflict areas.

In conflict areas, gender equity needs to be incorporated into post-conflict mechanisms. Prevention of and response to gender-based violence should involve swift investigation, prosecution, and punishment of perpetrators; eliminate any possibility of impunity; and be survivor-centric, gender-sensitive, and non-discriminatory.[11]  Enhancing access to healthcare, psychosocial support, legal assistance, education, employment, and recreation is similarly critical to restoring well-being. Women must be meaningfully included in rehabilitation, mediation, governance, judicial systems, the security sector, and respectively relevant training programs. Women-led grassroots peacebuilding organizations and campaigns must also be supported. Adopting these approaches will empower women and promise gender-sensitive reforms and structural transformation for times to come. Meanwhile, other States should recognize how gender-based violence during conflict constitutes persecution and take in women and girls seeking refuge.

While responding to crisis, it’s essential to remember that prevention is ultimately better than cure. Eradicating the problem of conflict’s gendered impact boils down to eradicating its two root causes: gender inequity and violence. To this end, governmental and non-governmental organizations need to ensure socio-economic development, employment initiatives, inclusive education, physical and mental healthcare, awareness campaigns, gender-sensitive curricula, legal reforms, restorative justice programs, and community-building and recreational activities.

600 million lives disrupted is 600 million too many. But as the weight of those disruptions sinks into our conscience, we must remember that if even one person in those 600 million still has hope, we aren’t allowed to lose ours.

[1] https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2023/10/women-are-increasingly-at-risk-in-conflict-underrepresented-in-peace-processes-according-to-un-secretary-general-report

[2] https://reliefweb.int/report/bosnia-and-herzegovina/icrc-fact-sheet-impact-armed-conflict-women

[3] https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1106482

[4] https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/womens-human-rights-and-gender-related-concerns-situations-conflict-and-instability

[5] https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/543/31/PDF/N1354331.pdf?OpenElement

[6] https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/543/31/PDF/N1354331.pdf?OpenElement

[7] https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/543/31/PDF/N1354331.pdf?OpenElement

[8] https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/womens-human-rights-and-gender-related-concerns-situations-conflict-and-instability

[9] https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/543/31/PDF/N1354331.pdf?OpenElement

[10] https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/womens-human-rights-and-gender-related-concerns-situations-conflict-and-instability

[11] https://www.ohchr.org/en/women/womens-human-rights-and-gender-related-concerns-situations-conflict-and-instability