U.S. steps up protection of women in war

One of the first things that happens when war breaks out is that the rule of law crumbles. Women become targets of violence—whether through rape or sexual exploitation as food and other resources quickly become scarce. This can have critical consequences not only for the women themselves, but for the escalation of the war: It’s been said that women in Sierra Leone knew that UN peacekeepers were being targeted but because of personal safety concerns, they were unable to pass along this important information. Something similar happened in Kosovo, the U.S. government reports. Women watched as arms caches grew but were too afraid to report what was happening.

Long neglected as one of the keys to stopping conflict—or even as necessary for humanitarian reasons—protecting women and girls from the outset of fighting is finally receiving some overdue attention.

In a fairly unpublicized Sept. 23 announcement from the U.S. State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled a $10 million initiative to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies. Called “Safe from the Start,” the program is meant to help the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other agencies to “hire specialized staff, launch new programs, and develop innovative methods to protect women and girls at the onset of emergencies around the world.”

The money will go toward prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse in the “earliest days” of a humanitarian crisis by filling gaps in the existing U.S. framework, according to a State Department spokeswoman.

“The goal is to permanently transform the global humanitarian architecture so that women and girls are never needlessly at risk in emergencies and that survivors receive appropriate care—not as an afterthought, but as standard practice,” the spokeswoman told WMC’s Women Under Siege.

Because the types of programming that the initiative will support are still being developed, it is difficult to tell what its true effect will be for women trapped in areas wracked by conflict. However, at this point, a number of UN agencies appear to be on board, and NGOs appear to be supportive.

“These U.S. government efforts are critical because addressing gender-based violence can’t just be done in emergencies; it has to occur 24/7 and involve all government entities working overseas,” said Julia Drost, policy and advocacy associate in women’s human rights at Amnesty International USA.

Safe from the Start adds a “prevention lens,” said Drost, to what the Obama administration has built up to advance the safety and status of women and girls. The U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (2011) and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender Based Violence Globally (2012) both continue to pursue women’s health in times of conflict. Drost added that another necessary point of focus is the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), which is trying to codify a GBV strategy into law and will be reintroduced to Congress in the coming weeks.

The $10 million initial commitment will go toward building core capacity of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross, key partners to the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. The State Department is outlining an initial three-year program of action with the intent to create new positions for staff with GBV expertise and expand training to non-GBV specialists.

Sivanka Dhanapala, UNHCR senior policy adviser, said the initiative is a “significant step in the right direction” toward enhancing the prevention and response to GBV, and UN Population Fund GBV specialist Erin Kenny said it has the potential to reduce violence rates and provide better care for victims. Safe from the Start, Kenny said, “could become a strong model for other donors looking to invest in this essential area of our humanitarian response.”

But while Serra Sippel, president of the nonprofit, Washington-based Center for Health and Gender Equity, which advocates for women’s health and rights in U.S. foreign policy, said that while she agrees that Safe from the Start could have a positive impact on gender equity, she thinks there’s still something lacking in any initiative that aims to address the health of women and girls in conflict situations: access to safe and voluntary abortion.

“This step can only be sure-footed through support and implementation of comprehensive post-rape health care,” Sippel wrote in The Huffington Post upon the initiative’s unveiling.

A joint report published in 2009 by Save the Children and the UNFPA found that the disruption of social support in emergencies puts young pregnant women at high risk and says that countries that “have experienced recent war or civil unrest have especially high rates of newborn mortality.” The lifelong effects of pregnancy from rape in conflict are manifold, including stigmatization and a lack of access to education and job training.

The U.S. government has long blocked access to safe abortion services in war zones by placing restrictions on foreign assistance—which includes humanitarian assistance.

Even with this large piece still missing from the puzzle at this point, Safe from the Start is at the very least an admission that there is more to be done—and more that can be done—when it comes to protecting half the world’s population in war zones.

As Drost said, “It is never too late to for the U.S. government to scale up its efforts to address gender-based violence.”