Internally Displaced Women
Displaced women are often heads
of household. Of the millions of civilians who left their homes in search of
safety, many were separated from their close families during the journey.
Countless displaced women became de facto heads of their households, when their
husbands fled to another area, were pressed into regular or rebel armed forces,
arrested or killed. In their husbands’ absence, many displaced women are caring
for children and older parents alone in an unfamiliar environment.
Female-headed IDP households
Countries with a high proportion of
households headed by female IDPs:
Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and
Herzegovina (especially Srebrenica), Burundi, Colombia, DRC, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Guinea, Kenya, Indonesia (Aceh), Liberia, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Somalia,
Sudan, Uganda
Guiding Principles guarantee
women protection
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
underline the need not to discriminate on the basis of sex. They also provide
for explicit protection for women. Provisions in favour of displaced women are
guided by two core issues: first, to safeguard them from gender-specific
violence, and second, to uphold their rights to equal access and full
participation in assistance programmes. Guiding Principle 4.1 spells out that
the Principles should be applied without discrimination of any kind, including
sex. According to Principle 11.2, IDPs shall be protected against
gender-specific violence, rape, forced prostitution, slavery and sexual
exploitation. Principles 7, 18, 19, 20 and 23 underline the rights of women to
equal access and participation in decisions affecting them and in assistance
programmes, taking into account their special needs.
Sexual violence
In a climate of war, sexual violence
against displaced women has been perpetrated with total impunity by both regular
armed forces and armed non-state actors. In 2004, widespread sexual violence
against displaced and other women was reported in 12 countries.
Countries with widespread sexual violence against displaced and other
women (2004):
- Burma (Myanmar)
- Colombia
- DRC
- Bangladesh Burundi
- Uganda
- Liberia
- Nigeria Russian Federation
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Zimbabwe
In Burundi, DRC and Liberia, there were
reports of sexual abuse committed against displaced women by international
peacekeepers as well. While some women have voluntarily joined armed forces,
many others have been forced to do so, like the hundreds of women who were
abducted by a militia in Nigeria in May 2004. Sexual abuse has also been a cause
of displacement in 2004, for example reports of sexual abuse of women belonging
to minority groups in Bangladesh.
The vast majority of internally
displaced women lack the means to get appropriate health and psychological care,
and victims of sexual violence are generally too afraid to report abuses.
Campaigns against gender-based violence, supported by local and international
actors, have helped raising this difficult issue in several countries undergoing
internal displacement, such as DRC and Burundi. It is difficult to say whether
sexual violence has decreased as a result.
Durable solutions remain elusive In 2004, hundreds of
thousands of internally displaced people returned home in Afghanistan, Burundi,
DRC, Angola and Sri Lanka. But in these countries, durable solutions for many
displaced women have remained elusive, particularly due to the lack of
recognition of their right to inherit land and the presence of landmines in
areas of return. In Burundi, a bill allowing women to inherit land has been
sitting in parliament for years, and many displaced women had no choice but to
remain in IDP camps. They depend largely on the goodwill of others living in the
camp or charity groups. In DRC and in Liberia, customary law has prevented women
from inheriting land. In Afghanistan, women heads of households have had limited
access to the customary mechanisms (jirgas and shuras) used to settle property
and land issues, and as a result had difficulty claiming their land upon return.
In Angola and Sri Lanka, landmines have prevented the return of both men and
women. This has particularly affected Angolan women as they constitute the
majority of farmers. Their search for landmine-free land often causes conflict
over access to traditionally communal lands.
Successful coping strategies Despite the great negative
impact of conflict on women, they have shown remarkable resilience in many
countries undergoing internal displacement. In an effort to survive and provide
for their family, displaced and other women have engaged in trade and other
economic activities to support their families. Women’s organisations from every
continent also contributed to the protection of IDPs. In Afghanistan, women's
organisations have successfully implemented programmes for displaced persons. In
Colombia, women’s groups provide health and social services to victims of
violence, including IDPs, and are outspoken on peace and security issues.
The Georgian NGO AssistYourself publishes a newspaper for displaced
women from Abkhazia and circulates information as a way of bridging the gap
between them and local women. In Uganda, a displaced women’s group performs
plays and dances about their life in “protected villages”.
Specific needs of displaced women and men Over the past
few years, humanitarian actors, such as UN organisations, NGOs and donors, have
identified the need to take into account the specific needs of displaced men and
women when providing protection and assistance. As a result, they have developed
a series of guidelines and checklists to help humanitarian actors to address
gender issues in armed conflict.
Gender refers to socially constructed
roles of women and men ascribed to them on the basis of their sex, whereas the
term sex refers to biological and physical characteristics.
Translating
these guidelines into practice has been another challenge altogether. In
February 2004, a workshop on the Future International Response to Internal
Displacement – a major inter-agency and donor meeting looking at the future
international response to internal displacement in Geneva -deplored the lack of
attention paid to gender issues in programmes benefiting IDPs.
For more information, please contact our gender focal points
Greta
Zeender and Dina Abou Samra