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51. Youth Politics in the Middle East and North Africa

Author:
Sean Yom, Wael ak-Khatib, Begum Uzun, Matt Gordner, Giulia Cimini, Yousra Kadi, Dina El-Sharnouby, Sarah Fischer, Aziza Moneer, Curtis R. Ryan, Sara Ababneh, Yazan Doughan, Aydin Ozipek, Makiko Nambu, Sarah A. Tobin, Justin Gengler, and Sarah Anne Rennick
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
Youth political activism has been challenging Middle East and North African political systems frequently and forcefully over the last decade. This is not a new phenomenon, of course. Young people have historically stood at the forefront of popular uprisings and cultural movements. Demographic realities in the Middle East have increased the latent potential for disruptive youth activism. Nearly 60 percent of people in the region fall under the age of 30, half of whom are aged between 15 and 29, and in almost every country, unemployment for working-age youth exceeds the overall jobless rate. The failures of the 2011 Arab uprisings to achieve lasting democratic change revealed the limits of street protests, but the underlying problems remain profoundly unresolved. How are young people questioning, subverting, and transforming the boundaries of politics in the post-uprising Middle East and North Africa? In June 2019, the Project on Middle East Political Science convened a workshop on youth politics in Amman, Jordan, in cooperation with the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies. The workshop’s papers and deliberations sought to unpack the meaning of youth politics. What characterizes the latest wave of youth mobilization? How is youth activism, and youth politics, changing public attitudes and government policies? Can any generalizations be made about youthfulness, and the experience of being young and political, in the Middle East today? The essays contained in POMEPS Studies 36: Youth Politics in the Middle East and North Africa attempt to answer these questions. They come from scholars who, through intensive fieldwork in varying countries, study the origins and processes of activism among young people through diverse methodologies and orientations.
Topic:
Politics, Political Activism, Women, Youth, Protests, Sexual Violence, and Revolution
Political Geography:
Sudan, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, North Africa, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia

52. Sexual Harassment and Domestic Violence in the Middle East and North Africa

Author:
Donia Smaali Bouhlila
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
Arab Barometer wave V survey aims at investigating two types of sexual harassment in public places in 12 Arab countries : verbal sexual harassment and physical sexual harassment. Public places are meant to be streets, public transportation and shopping malls. The questionnaire included a question on the frequency of the verbal sexual harassment and a question on the frequency of physical sexual harassment. The verbal sexual harassment is all the unwanted sexual remarks, whistling or gestures in public places. However, sexual harassment is the unwanted sexual advances, like being touched in public places. People were asked how often they have personally experienced this behavior in the past 12 months. Dierent responses were suggested for the respondent: never, rarely, sometimes and often. We investigate first how common is verbal and physical sexual harassment among the population surveyed. Then, we created a binary variable for sexual harassment combining both verbal and physical sexual harassment. This variable takes the value 1 if the respondent has been exposed either rarely, sometimes or often to both verbal and physical sexual harassment, and zero if not . Most of the surveyed people across the participating countries reported that they “rarely” experienced verbal and physical sexual harassment in the past 12 months. Regarding verbal sexual harassment, from 2 percent to 12 percent of the surveyed people declared being “sometimes” exposed to verbal sexual harassment. The highest proportions are observed in Egypt (10 percent), Iraq (10 percent) and Morocco (11 percent). The lowest proportion which is around 2 percent is observed in Tunisia. For the category “often”, around 2 percent of the respondents declared that they are often victims of verbal sexual harassment in Palestine against 7 percent in Morocco.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Public Opinion, Women, Gender Based Violence, Sexual Violence, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa

53. SVRI Forum 2019: Time is now

Author:
SVRI
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
Abstract:
Two hundred and twenty-one oral presentations, 98 Four Minute Presentations and 21 participant driven side events were delivered over the five days of the Forum. With so much going on it is a mammoth task to distil key new findings shared. This report provides a flavour of what was shared, organised by the nine SVRI Forum themes: Social change, Leave no-one behind, Violence against women and achieving the SDGs, Linkages between VAW and VAC (including CSA), Methods and measures, Scaling up of interventions, Changing social norms and shifting gender inequities, Addressing poverty and gender inequality through economic empowerment and New technologies. Messages that resonated throughout the event were: • We know more about the size of the problem and risk factors for VAW than ever before. • We know that violence is preventable, and we know that we can reduce violence over relatively short periods of time. • We have interventions which have been found effective in reducing violence. • We are deepening our understanding on which components of interventions are effective and for whom. • We are learning more about scaling up and what it costs to do so.
Topic:
Women, Research, Gender Based Violence, Violence, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
South Africa and Global Focus

54. Can Memories of the Japan-Korea dispute on “Comfort Women” Resolve the Issue?

Author:
Gabriel Jonsson
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Journal of Korean Studies
Institution:
International Council on Korean Studies
Abstract:
About 80 percent of the estimated 70,000 to 200,000 ”comfort women” Japan took by coercion from 1932 to 1945 were Korean. The issue was long neglected by both countries for pragmatic reasons. When Korean women raised the issue around 1990 and the former comfort woman Kim Hak-sun came out in 1991, it emerged as a point of dispute. Solidarity organizations in both countries have contributed to raise the visibility of the issue. Museums in Seoul and Tokyo educate the public on victims’ suffering. However, increased awareness has not succeeded in producing a solution to the issue that satisfies both countries given their fixed positions. Japan has given no official apology to the victims. The crucial issue of legal responsibility remains unresolved. On December 28, 2015, Japan expressed an apology and agreed to provide $8.3 million for a foundation to be established by South Korea to support the victims. However, the issue remains unresolved since the victims were not consulted in advance of the agreement, as well as disagreement also on other issues.
Topic:
Human Rights, War, Women, History, Memory, Sexual Violence, and Comfort Women
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, and Korea

55. Building a Gender Inclusive Response to Conflict Related Sexual Violence

Author:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) and All Survivors Project convened a workshop, “Building a Gender Inclusive Response to Conflict Related Sexual Violence,” on May 3-4, 2018, at Princeton University. This workshop brought together academics, policy makers, and key UN and NGO actors and aimed to facilitate discussions around the multi-disciplinary themes of violence prevention, gender and law, and feminist theory to better understand the dynamics of and responses to male sexual victimization in conflict situations. The workshop began with informal discussions among participants on May 3 and carried on to three formal working sessions on May 4. The first session featured presentations which sought to explore our current understanding and knowledge of sexual violence against men and boys, critically examine the gaps in research and responses, and articulate the rationale for further work. The second session included presentations that focused on how international legal instruments have excluded male victims, how sexualized torture has been used in conflict situations to inflict deep humiliation on collective and individual gendered identities, and the co-relation between sexual violence against men and boys and violence mitigation. The third session explored how feminist scholarship and theory can be applied to advance responses to male sexual violence to ensure they are effective and inclusive. The workshop closed with a final wrap-up session in which, based on discussions from the previous sessions, participants discussed key issues for further consideration and around which specific policy recommendations might be crafted. This report summarizes the content of the off-the-record working sessions, highlighting the main takeaways from each.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Displacement, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

56. The Elusive Peace: Ending Sexual Violence during and after Conflict

Author:
Pearl Karuhanga Atuhaire, Nicole Gerring, Laura Huber, Mirgul Kuhns, and Grace Ndirangu
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Awarding the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to advocates for survivors of wartime sexual violence, Dr. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, indicates that the issue of sexual abuse has gained international recognition. This comes ten years after the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1820, which declared that conflict-related sexual violence constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. This Special Report highlights the limited scope of the resolution, examines the connections between sexual violence and conflict, and urges key stakeholders to view sexual violence—both during conflict and after—as a threat to international peace and security.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Conflict, Sexual Violence, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus

57. From Rhetoric to Reality: Achieving Gender Equality for Refugee Women and Girls

Author:
Eileen Pittaway and Linda Bartolomei
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
This paper addresses the international refugee regime’s failure, despite significant international law and policy developed over the past 30 years, to address the protection needs of refugee women and girls and to promote gender equality in policy and service provision. This failure results in serious human rights abuses and squanders the enormous potential and social capital that women and girls can bring to achieving solutions. Refugee women and girls continue to suffer endemic sexual violence and discrimination and to be marginalized, their voices and capacities ignored. The current negotiation of a global compact on refugees by UN member states, led by the UN Refugee Agency, provides an opportunity to look at the reasons for this failure and its implications for women and girls, men and boys, youth, families and communities, in host countries and countries of asylum. The issue is both humanitarian and political, and includes the contentious debate about whether refugees are “burdens” or “responsibilities,” an argument mainly between the governments of the Global South, who host the majority of refugees, and those of the Global North, who provide resources. These tensions, and ideological positions held by stakeholders, all adversely impact refugee women and girls. The increased movement of refugees and the scarcity of resources have decreased the protection available for all refugees and made the plight of women and girls even more acute. The authors outline seven key barriers to refugee women and girls’ achieving gender equality in policy and practice. They explore the ways in which each barrier exacerbates and compounds the others, and recommend approaches to bring about the structural and operational changes urgently needed.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Refugee Issues, Gender Based Violence, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Global South

58. Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Refugee Settings in Kenya and Uganda

Author:
Pearl Karuhanga Atuhaire and Grace Ndirangu
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Women In International Security (WIIS)
Abstract:
The international community has taken a strong stance against conflict-related sexual violence, deeming it a war crime. However, international actors are paying scant attention to sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) in refugee settings. Urban refugee women and girls and those in refugee camps often grapple with SGBV in their countries of asylum, long after they have fled their homes and communities. Our research among refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo currently in Kenya and Uganda has unearthed a high incidence of SGBV against refugee women and girls. Research by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) indicates that one in five refugee and displaced women experience sexual violence. Many of the survivors often have no one to turn to for protection and resort to sex work and other risky means to survive. In this policy brief, we examine the extent of the problem, identify obstacles to progress, and recommend actions governments and humanitarian organizations can take to better protect refugees. In short, we argue that refugee settlements are not safe spaces for refugee women. Humanitarian officials, governments, and the international community must do more to address this problem.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Women, Gender Based Violence, Violence, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, and Africa

59. How a Community-Led Response to Sexual Exploitation in Uganda Led to Systemic World Bank Reform

Author:
Elana Berger
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Accountability Research Center (ARC), American University
Abstract:
How can demands for accountability and redress for harm suffered in a particular case contribute to new institutional measures to prevent future abuse? This note describes how the small Ugandan community of Bigodi, together with local, national, and international allies, mobilized to demand redress for harm done by a World Bank-funded infrastructure project, and in doing so, catalyzed changes at the World Bank aimed at preventing similar abuses in the future. The Bigodi community’s 2015 request to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, bolstered by international media coverage, led Bank management to respond both to the specific harms and to the underlying policy failures that made them possible. The community called for the World Bank to address cases of sexual exploitation of teenage girls by construction workers employed by a Bank-funded project, the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP). This case is significant not only because World Bank funding for the project was cancelled, affected community members received needed support services, and a corrupt government agency was purged, but because the institutional changes made may prevent similar harms across future World Bank projects. The World Bank promotes a discourse of accountability, and yet obtaining redress when problems result from World Bank projects is difficult. This is often because, rather than treating requests from communities to the Inspection Panel as an opportunity to learn lessons and improve development outcomes, World Bank management generally responds defensively and treats the Panel investigation as an adversarial process in which they seek to prove the requestors wrong. As this case demonstrates, however, when management responds constructively to Panel investigations, genuine reform can take place. For this to happen, pressure from outside the Bank is needed to provide reformers within the Bank with the opportunity to make needed policy changes both at the project level and Bank-wide. The factors that led the Bank to respond constructively with a comprehensive response in the TSDP case included: – a strong community–NGO partnership which pursued justice for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse – sustained advocacy from national and international civil society – high-profile media attention on a topic that caused embarrassment for the Bank – a strong report from an independent accountability mechanism within the World Bank (the Inspection Panel) – pressure from the Bank’s Board of Directors, in particular frequent engagement from the US government with all levels of Bank management – high-level individuals within the Bank, including President Kim, were committed to making policy changes that would reduce the risk of gender-based violence in the future. This case embodies the potential for specific instances of harm to provide the necessary catalyst for improved accountability structures and system-wide change.
Topic:
Civil Society, World Bank, Reform, Sexual Violence, Accountability, Exploitation, and Community Engagement
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

60. The Use of UN Sanctions to Address Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Author:
Sophie Huvé
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
The United Nations has recognized that sexual violence, when used as a tactic of war or as a widespread practice, can exacerbate armed conflict and hinder peace. The UN Security Council can use sanctions—specifically the designation criteria and the subsequent listing of sanctioned individuals—to prevent and curb sexual violence in armed conflict and address the impunity of perpetrators. Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) conducted the first review of how the UN Security Council has used targeted sanctions to address sexual violence in conflict to date. A review of eight sanctions regimes reveals the current approach is characterized by inconsistency across sanctions regimes, delayed focus on sexual violence, and weak implementation of sanctions. We conclude that the sanctions tool offers significant—and as yet largely unexploited—potential to advance women’s protection from sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, and make a series of recommendations for the Security Council and other stakeholders to improve the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool against sexual violence. In particular, the Security Council should systematically and immediately incorporate sexual violence as a stand- alone criterion when adopting a new sanctions regime, and should not hesitate to list perpetrators when there is repeated evidence of their conduct.
Topic:
United Nations, Sanctions, Women, Conflict, Impunity, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Global Focus