and
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 in general.
Leaving homes, property and community behind, renders women vulnerable to
violence, disease and food scarcity, whether women flee willingly or
unwillingly. Internally displaced women face additional dangers as they are
often invisible to the international community within the borders of countries
at war. 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 dangerous and
deadly, when it was intended to provide refuge. Nonetheless, UN, governmental
and civil society organizations that service displaced women have begun rising
to the challenge of including women and gender perspectives at every stage of
policy and implementation.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
Back
to top
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.
Back
to top
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.
Back
to top
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”.
Back
to top
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
================================================================
To
leave the list, send your request by email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.
Categories: Releases