October 31, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. This resolution was the first of its kind to acknowledge that women are uniquely impacted by armed conflict and play an important role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. In recognition of the anniversary, CIVIC is posting a series of blogs amplifying the voices and actions of women in the conflict affected areas where we work as well as the efforts of actors such as the UN to implement UNSCR 1325 and related resolutions.
In line with the ten thematic United Nations Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security, peacekeeping missions are often mandated to protect civilians from conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). Large peacekeeping missions have a multi-dimensional structure with military, police and civilian components divided into different sections and units. Addressing CRSV is the collective responsibility of all three mission components. Missions, therefore, need strong coordination structures to align the work of its components and ensure they respond to protection threats cohesively. However, many missions have very limited strategic planning capacity and, as a result, can revert to working in silos rather than collectively addressing protection threats, including CRSV.
Between February 2019 and April 2020 CIVIC undertook research in the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Sudan to assess how peacekeeping missions are addressing CRSV in these countries. During our research we identified examples of good practice where peacekeeping missions adopted coordinated and integrated approaches to addressing CRSV. While these examples remain the exception rather than the rule, they offer important lessons on how to strengthen Missions’ efforts to combat CRSV.
The full findings of our research will be published in an upcoming CIVIC report titled, “We Have to Try to Break the Silence Somehow:” Preventing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence through UN Peacekeeping. Ahead of the release of the full report, CIVIC is sharing an excerpt from the report that highlights how the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) launched an integrated and comprehensive response to CRSV in the Shabunda Territory of South Kivu Province.
In 2018, a faction of the Raia Mutomboki armed group was responsible for an upsurge of CRSV in the Shabunda, Walunga, and Mwenga territories of South Kivu, an area rich in mineral resources. The group subjected hundreds of women, girls, and men to sexual violence in a series of attacks. Shabunda is a remote area. There is no regular INGO or MONUSCO presence in the area, and the lack of road infrastructure makes it difficult to access. While humanitarians and Mission officials were alerted to the violence, it was not easy for them to mount a quick response. However, Women Protection Advisors (WPAs) and Human Rights Officers conducted investigation missions in Shabunda, and Joint Mission Analysis Center (JMAC) officials and the Senior Women Protection Advisor (SWPA) collaborated to conduct a thorough analysis of the conflict and threat dynamics in the area.[1] With the support of the SWPA and WPA unit, MONUSCO’s regional office then developed a comprehensive action plan through the Senior Management Group on Protection (SMGP-P) forum to respond to the sexual violence. The plan was endorsed by MONUSCO’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG).
In consultation with international and national humanitarian actors and provincial authorities, MONUSCO created a detailed work plan with activities for different stakeholders to perform along a staggered timeline. For example, the Force was asked to establish a temporary base from which it could dominate the area with patrols and support the activities of the Mission’s civilian component. Civil Affairs began to establish an early warning network,[2] and other officials trained Congolese military and police officials deployed in the area to improve their response to CRSV. In addition, MONUSCO supported judicial investigations and the prosecution of the Raia Mutomboki faction commander responsible for CRSV and other serious human rights abuses and two of his combatants.[3] Moreover, MONUSCO worked with the Panzi hospital to facilitate the travel of Congolese doctors to Shabunda, where they provided specialized treatment to survivors of sexual violence.[4]
As a result of the implementation of the action plan, the Raia Mutomboki faction leader, Kokodikoko, was captured by the Congolese army, tried, and convicted for crimes against humanity and other abuses committed in Shabunda.[5] The court also found the state responsible for failing in its obligations to protect civilians, including from crimes of sexual violence. In the wake of the action plan’s first phase, there was also a 72 percent decrease in CRSV in the area.[6] “We managed to mobilize the whole of MONUSCO for one reason, and it was CRSV [focused],” explained a MONUSCO civilian official.[7] A second civilian official emphasized that “all sections of MONUSCO were doing what they could to improve protection in that area.”[8] A humanitarian actor described Shabunda as “one of the areas where, there has been impact, and where they’ve really moved out to try and do more.”[9]
[1] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #47, remote call from Goma to Kinshasa, February 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #130, October 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, remote call from New York to Kinshasa, March 2020.
[2] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #25, Goma, February 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, Goma, February 2019. See also, UN DPO/DPET/PBPS, Thematic Paper: A Comprehensive and Sustainable Approach to Ending Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) by MONUSCO—Shabunda, South Kivu Province, DRC, 2020.
[3] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #130, Kinshasa, October 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #17, Kinshasa, February 2020; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, Goma, February 2019.
[4] CIVIC interview with humanitarian official, #63, remote call from Washington, DC, to Kinshasa, April 2019; CIVIC interview with humanitarian official, #142, Kinshasa, October 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, Goma, February 2019.
[5] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #130, Kinshasa, October 2019; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #17, Kinshasa, February 2020; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, remote call from New York to Kinshasa, March 2020. See also, Fiston Mahamba and Hereward Holland, “Congo Court Hands Life Sentence to Warlord for Murder, Sexual Violence,” Reuters, November 19, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-justice/congo-court-hands-life-sentence-to-warlord-for-murder-sexual-violence-idUSKBN1XT2LQ.
[6] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #24, location in the DRC withheld, March 2020; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #34, remote call from Washington, DC, to Goma, March 2020; CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, remote call from New York to Kinshasa, March 2020. See also, UNSC, 2019 Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict Related Sexual Violence, UN doc S/2020/487 (June 3, 2020), 11.
[7] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #47, remote call from Goma to Kinshasa, February 2019.
[8] CIVIC interview with Mission civilian official, #36, Goma, February 2019.
[9] CIVIC interview with humanitarian official, #17, Kinshasa, February 2019.
Image courtesy of MONUSCO/Taimoor
