Grappling with a weapon: The politics and policies of conflict-related sexual violence at the United Nations Security Council

The paper analyzes the evolution of the UN Security Council's approach to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), arguing that while the 'weapon of war' frame successfully moved the issue onto the security agenda, it created significant gaps in protection and accountability. This framing prioritizes strategic, systematic violence over opportunistic abuse and often ignores non-traditional survivors, such as men, boys, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The author notes that geopolitical interests continue to dictate which atrocities are condemned and which are tolerated, leading to inconsistent implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

• The 'weapon of war frame' was instrumental in gaining political traction for conflict-related sexual violence by presenting it as a militarized tactic used to 'terrify, embarrass and emasculate adversary populations,' which aligned the issue with national and regional security strategies.
• UN Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) was the first WPS resolution to focus directly on conflict-related sexual violence and adopt the weapon of war frame, specifically targeting sexual violence used as a 'tactic of war' or part of a 'systematic attack' to avoid political costs and vagueness.
• While the UN Security Council has gradually expanded its recognition of survivors, men and boys were not explicitly included in references to affected populations until Resolution 2106 (2013).
• The reliance on the weapon of war frame creates 'political and legal tunnel vision,' causing policymakers to overlook opportunistic sexual violence that is not part of a wartime strategy and ignoring the structural gender-based discrimination that precedes armed conflict.
• Geopolitical alliances lead to inconsistent condemnation and implementation gaps; for example, the author notes that consequences for the Russian Federation regarding reported sexual violence in Ukraine have been 'minimal' due to its status as a permanent Security Council member.
• The gender binary inherent in the WPS agenda has resulted in the marginalization of non-binary and LGBTQ+ survivors, who lack adequate access to resources and support in international political recognition of CRSV.

APA

Crawford, K. F. (2025). Grappling with a weapon: The politics and policies of conflict-related sexual violence at the United Nations Security Council. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a933376b-9b70-4db9-b242-d8792689748e/MPI Paper 2 Crawford FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Crawford, Kerry F. Grappling with a weapon: The politics and policies of conflict-related sexual violence at the United Nations Security Council. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2025. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a933376b-9b70-4db9-b242-d8792689748e/MPI Paper 2 Crawford FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crawford |first1=Kerry F. |title=Grappling with a weapon: The politics and policies of conflict-related sexual violence at the United Nations Security Council |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=October 2025 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a933376b-9b70-4db9-b242-d8792689748e/MPI Paper 2 Crawford FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crawford2025grappling, author = {Crawford, Kerry F.}, title = {{Grappling with a weapon: The politics and policies of conflict-related sexual violence at the United Nations Security Council}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/a933376b-9b70-4db9-b242-d8792689748e/MPI Paper 2 Crawford FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }