Sexual Violence in Civil Wars, 1989–2009

The report outlines four primary challenges in studying wartime sexual violence: definitional inconsistency, difficulties in measuring magnitude, the need for variables beyond scale (such as perpetrator and victim identity), and inherent biases in data sources. To address these, the authors recommend adopting the International Criminal Court's definition of sexual violence, using severity categories instead of numerical estimates, and employing data triangulation. A pilot study covering 20 African countries demonstrated that global data collection is attainable, though it highlighted the need for time-variant and location-specific data to develop early-warning systems.

• The authors recommend adopting the International Criminal Court (ICC) definition of sexual violence for social scientific research because it focuses on behaviors involving direct physical violence or force and does not exclude male victims or female perpetrators.
• Numerical estimates of sexual violence victims are often inaccurate and provide a false sense of precision; therefore, the report advocates for using severity categories to assess relative magnitude across different settings.
• Data collection is hindered by both under-reporting, driven by stigma and fear, and over-reporting, which may occur when NGOs or individuals exaggerate victimization to secure scarce resources or for political reasons.
• To move beyond simple magnitude, the report emphasizes the need for data on perpetrator identity (state forces, rebels, militias), victim characteristics (ethnicity, religion, age), and the specific timing and location of attacks to identify strategic patterns and create early-warning systems.
• Different data sources possess distinct biases: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions may miss the worst episodes of violence; newspaper reports are biased toward urban areas; annual government reports may be edited due to political pressures; and human rights reports often focus on high-profile crimes rather than representative accounts.
• A pilot study of 20 African countries indicated that a comprehensive search of sources is more beneficial for establishing a thorough database than relying on a fixed list of sources, although it is more time-consuming.
• Preliminary findings from the pilot study suggest that approximately 24% of conflict actors in the African sample continued to commit sexual violence after they had stopped engaging in lethal violence.

APA

Nordås, R., & Cohen, D. K. (2011). Sexual Violence in Civil Wars, 1989–2009. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4f2b4942-c071-4305-8f20-b096ce9f3f2d/Nordås Cohen - Wartime Sexual Violence SVAC Datapaper February 2011.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Nordås, Ragnhild, and Dara Kay Cohen. Sexual Violence in Civil Wars, 1989–2009. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2011. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4f2b4942-c071-4305-8f20-b096ce9f3f2d/Nordås Cohen - Wartime Sexual Violence SVAC Datapaper February 2011.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nordås |first1=Ragnhild |last2=Cohen |first2=Dara Kay |title=Sexual Violence in Civil Wars, 1989–2009 |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=February 2011 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4f2b4942-c071-4305-8f20-b096ce9f3f2d/Nordås Cohen - Wartime Sexual Violence SVAC Datapaper February 2011.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nords2011sexual, author = {Nordås, Ragnhild and Cohen, Dara Kay}, title = {{Sexual Violence in Civil Wars, 1989–2009}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2011}, month = feb, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4f2b4942-c071-4305-8f20-b096ce9f3f2d/Nordås Cohen - Wartime Sexual Violence SVAC Datapaper February 2011.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }