Violence in conflict and post conflict

During armed conflicts all civilians are at risk from violence - but sexual violence in particular is often used against women as a weapon of war.

Rape and other forms of sexual violence are used in armed conflicts to dehumanise women, as a form of torture to extract information and to control women and their communities.

Whether asylum-seekers, refugees or internally displaced, for many women the violence doesn’t stop when the armed conflict ends.

Many displaced women, refugee women and girls experience violence by smugglers or traffickers, border guards, police and other law enforcement officers and sometimes even by other refugees.

Key points

• women are often targeted for gang rape, abduction and sexual slavery by all sides in the conflict.
• sexual harassment and violence at the hands of peacekeepers and aid workers is not uncommon

What Amnesty International is doing

• Tens of thousands of women and girls are subjected to sexual violence in the conflict of Darfur.
• One third of the women in Sierra Leone faced sexual violence during the conflict. The government has never recognized these crimes, nor addressed the effects.
• Read more about Amnesty International’s works to protect the rights of refugees  and internally displaced people