Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence

The document argues that conflict-related sexual violence is not inevitable, as evidenced by armed groups that successfully prohibit it. It identifies causes of such violence—ranging from opportunistic gratification to strategic instrumental use—and proposes six primary avenues for prevention: changing social and military norms, creating safer physical spaces, improving reporting mechanisms, ending impunity, ensuring commander accountability, and integrating prevention into post-war DDR processes.

• Conflict-related sexual violence is not an inevitable consequence of war, as some armed groups effectively prohibit it through internal discipline and clear rules.
• The causes of wartime sexual violence are categorized into gratification-based motives (opportunity and substitution) and instrumental strategies, such as clearing populations from an area, torture for information, or generating cohesion within a military organization.
• Prevention can be achieved by changing norms to reduce the 'utility' of sexual violence, such as by empowering women and increasing the social acceptance of survivors to make rape a less effective weapon for breaking communities.
• Physical and infrastructural improvements can reduce vulnerability and increase the costs for perpetrators, such as improving lighting, securing buildings, and providing equipment like slow-burning stoves to reduce the need for unprotected travel.
• To ensure accountability in the absence of direct orders, command responsibility can be proven by documenting a leader's effective control over troops, such as their ability to coordinate attacks or punish breaches of instructions.
• Post-conflict sexual violence can be mitigated by integrating prevention programs into Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) processes and security sector reform to break the cycle of violence.

APA

Nordås, R. (2013). Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/296bee5f-6fd2-4e46-8a0c-524ee3ae6e51/Nordas-Preventing-Conflict-related-Sexual-Violence-PRIO-Policy-Brief-02-2013.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Nordås, Ragnhild. Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2013. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/296bee5f-6fd2-4e46-8a0c-524ee3ae6e51/Nordas-Preventing-Conflict-related-Sexual-Violence-PRIO-Policy-Brief-02-2013.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nordås |first1=Ragnhild |title=Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2013 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/296bee5f-6fd2-4e46-8a0c-524ee3ae6e51/Nordas-Preventing-Conflict-related-Sexual-Violence-PRIO-Policy-Brief-02-2013.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nords2013preventing, author = {Nordås, Ragnhild}, title = {{Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2013}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/296bee5f-6fd2-4e46-8a0c-524ee3ae6e51/Nordas-Preventing-Conflict-related-Sexual-Violence-PRIO-Policy-Brief-02-2013.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }