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Women, War, Peace &
Displacement
The
often cited statistic that as many as 80 per cent of displaced populations are
women and children fails to convey the complete devastation that displacement
visits upon women and communities. Leaving homes, property and community behind
renders women vulnerable to violence, disease and food scarcity, whether they
flee willingly or unwillingly. Internally displaced women face additional
dangers as they are often invisible to the international community within
the context of violent conflict. Camps for refugees and the internally
displaced have been criticized for not addressing women’s needs and concerns in
their design and procedure. Failure to account for women’s security and health
needs can make a camp intended to provide refuge a dangerous and deadly place
for women and girls. Fortunately, UN, governmental and civil society
organizations that serve displaced women are beginning to rise to the challenge
of including women and a gender perspective at every stage of policy-making and
implementation.
Specific
challenges faced by female displaced persons include but are not limited to:
- Increased
vulnerability to human rights abuses including sexual harassment,
gender-based violence and severe sex discrimination, which are also
reasons many women and girls flee their homes in the first place.
- Increased
risk of HIV infection as wars and conflicts often force them to flee to
areas where the virus is prevalent. Women and girls are also exposed to
factors that facilitate transmission when they flee, including poverty,
the disruption of health services and social structure and increases in
sexual violence.
- The
“protection gap” that results from the international aid community’s focus
on providing food and shelter to the displaced while largely overlooking
their security and protection concerns.
- Obstacles
to reintegration and repatriation in the aftermath of a conflict. Abducted
women and girls are often forced to serve as sex slaves, porters or
soldiers in enemy militias and are therefore seen as accomplices and rejected
by the community once the conflict is resolved.
____________________________________________________________________
ICRC - International Committee of
the Red Cross
Feminine
Face Internal Displacement in Africa - Chad Gender IDP Photo
Internally
Displaced Persons - IDP's are forced to travel huge distances, often on foot,
to seek safe refuge from the fighting – these are the displaced populations of
Africa.
Internally
displaced persons camp in Arkoum, eastern Chad, February 2008. The site
consists of the village plus people displaced by fighting near the Sudanese
border. The camp now houses over 10,000 displaced persons, the first of whom arrived
at the end of 2005.
©ICRC/T.
Gassmann/td-e-00479
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