MRG statement to mark International Women’s Day: Minority women most affected by conflict but left out in peace-building
8 March 2011
Women from minority communities are disproportionately affected in situations of armed conflict but are rarely included in formal peace negotiations, Minority Rights Group International says in a statement to mark International Women’s Day.
In recent reports, MRG has shown how during and after conflicts, women from minority communities are specifically targeted for attack and violence, by both state forces and armed opposition groups. Women who are caught up in fighting in conflict zones face threats to their lives and security. MRG research shows that women belonging to minority communities face specific attacks of sexual and gender-based violence, sometimes as a means of punishing the community which they represent.
‘Minority women are frequently targeted both because of their gender and their ethnic, religious or cultural identity. The violence frequently is a deliberate tactic used in conflict and is often brutal and gender-based,’ says Kathryn Ramsay, MRG’s Gender Officer.
A recent MRG report on Somalia noted that minority women who have been uprooted because of the conflict suffer flagrant abuse, including rape. The report calls for special measures to protect and promote their rights.
A report released in January on Sri Lanka explained that despite the end of the armed conflict women face sexual abuse and harassment due to increased militarisation in the former war zone. Nearly two-thirds of all households in the former conflict areas in Sri Lanka are female-headed, so the threat against women raises serious issues concerning their protection and their livelihood.
Similar reports have emerged from other geographical areas where MRG does conflict prevention work in, including, Sudan, Iraq, Uganda (Karamoja) and Colombia.
The impact of conflict on women is wide-ranging. Women are often the most likely to stay back and protect their homes in situations of displacement, increasing their vulnerability. During conflict and in post-conflict situations, many women also find themselves as the head of the household and struggle to find an income. In some cases, they can be coerced into sex work or have to offer sexual favours to combatants to be able to earn an income to support their families. If they are displaced, women may be at risk of being exploited by unscrupulous border guards and traffickers.
Despite clear evidence that minority women suffer during conflict and are specifically targeted, there is little effort to include women in conflict resolution and peace-building initiatives including when new constitutions are written.
‘Even though minority women face gross human rights violations and multiple abuses they still find ways to mobilise themselves and engage in local level attempts to resolve conflicts,’ Ramsay says.
‘But when there is a national level process it is very unlikely that women will be at the negotiating table and it is even rarer to find minority women included in such processes,’ Ramsay added.
Women played an active role in the recent protests in Egypt that resulted in the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak, however not one woman was included in the committee appointed to recommend a constitution. Minority Coptic organisations in Egypt also protested that they were not properly represented on the committee.
One of the only recent successful cases where women, including those from minority communities, were included in a constitution-drafting process was in Nepal. After the revolution in Nepal in 2009 that saw the fall of the monarchy, the constituent assembly elected to rewrite the country’s constitution had a significant number of minority women.