Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town?

The report evaluates the dominance of criminal prosecution in addressing conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), arguing that while fighting impunity is important, it is insufficient on its own. It advocates for a 'diversity' of responses—including targeted sanctions and reparations—and a 'continuum of violence' perspective that recognizes the links between gender inequality in peacetime and sexual violence during and after conflict. The text also highlights the specific challenges of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by peacekeepers and the need for better pre-deployment training and leadership accountability.

• The prevailing policy focus on fighting impunity through criminal prosecution relies on the flawed assumption that combatants are rational actors who can be deterred by the threat of future legal action, ignoring the collective pressures and immediate fears present during war.
• Criminal justice is limited because it cannot address the root causes of gender inequality or CRSV, does not deal with post-conflict violence, and creates a hierarchy where conflict-related crimes are privileged over 'ordinary' violence against women.
• UN targeted sanctions against perpetrators of CRSV are often ineffective because they are used inconsistently, employ vague designation criteria that rarely explicitly mention sexual violence, and lack a consistent pattern of escalation.
• Reparations and rehabilitation are often the least-funded and last-implemented measures in transitional justice; there is a need for administrative schemes that allow survivors to access redress without requiring a criminal conviction.
• A 'continuum of violence' perspective reveals that CRSV is causally connected to gender-based violence existing before a conflict and intimate partner violence in the aftermath, suggesting that prevention requires promoting women's rights in all phases of peace and war.
• Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by peacekeepers is a leadership and discipline issue; current pre-deployment training on International Humanitarian Law is too brief to effectively prevent such behavior or equip troops to handle CRSV situations.
• The gendered dimension of CRSV is often obscured by labels; for example, sexual violence against men is frequently categorized as 'torture', which hides them as a specific category of victims.

APA

Houge, A. B. (2018). Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ac9c636e-af17-4293-80c5-c4892491205f/Preventing Sexual Violence in War_Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Houge, Anette Bringedal. Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town? Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2018. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ac9c636e-af17-4293-80c5-c4892491205f/Preventing Sexual Violence in War_Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Houge |first1=Anette Bringedal |title=Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town? |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2018 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ac9c636e-af17-4293-80c5-c4892491205f/Preventing Sexual Violence in War_Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{houge2018preventing, author = {Houge, Anette Bringedal}, title = {{Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2018}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ac9c636e-af17-4293-80c5-c4892491205f/Preventing Sexual Violence in War_Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }