Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence in Conflict: Next Steps in a Global Struggle

Sexual and gender-based violence is a critical element of conflicts in Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and beyond. It is a major cause of displacement as well as a global public health challenge. Local and international efforts are underway to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, from the heroic work of Dr. Denis Mukwege to assist survivors of wartime rape in the DRC, to the G8 Foreign Ministers’ pledge to work to eradicate sexual violence in conflict and develop an international protocol on the investigation and documentation of rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict.

On October 21, the Brookings-LSE Project on International Displacement and IMA World Health hosted a discussion on the role of the United States government, the United Nations, and other key actors in combating sexual violence in conflicts. The panelists will include Kathleen Kuehnast, director of the Center of Innovation for Gender and Peacebuilding at USIP; Nancy Lindborg, USAID assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance; Ambassador Melanne Verveer, executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; and Dr. Denis Mukwege, recipient of the UN Human Rights Prize for his efforts to treat rape survivors and to speak out against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Brookings Fellow Megan Bradley moderated the discussion.