CW: Discussion of sexual violence and war
BY CHARLENE FERNANDO –
The Taliban’s recent offensive in Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan government has unfolded amid global reactions of horror and devastation. An overwhelming sense of loss has pervaded the human rights sphere and beyond, as “20 years of progress for women looks set to disappear” in a matter of weeks.
Despite the Taliban’s assurances that women’s freedoms will be upheld within the limits of Islamic law, this amnesty did not last very long. Numerous reports have emerged detailing grave human rights abuses including forcing girls as young as 15 into sexual slavery, beating women who engaged in protests, and carrying out targeted murders. There have also been numerous impositions placed on women’s autonomy, such as the right to pursue further education, have a job and freedom of movement. Photos of Taliban fighters defacing images of women in public places prophecy a chilling future for women in Afghanistan. Amidst this, it is unsurprising that UN Women has recorded that approximately 80% of the quarter of a million Afghans forced to leave since May this year are women and children.
The ongoing situation in Afghanistan has thrown into sharp focus the way in which women and girls often face the consequences of war and conflict in a more pronounced and protracted way. Although some mechanisms for protection do exist, the increase in global conflicts over the past decade merits a global effort to further strengthen and reinforce the rights of refugee women and girls, who face unique challenges to their safety and rehabilitation.
Increased Vulnerability of Women and Girls in Conflict
In 1985, 24 years after the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Convention) was enacted, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognised that refugee women and girls are “exposed to special problems in the international protection field”. They acknowledged “that these problems result from their vulnerable situation which frequently exposes them to physical violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination.” In this way, “women and girls [suffer] disproportionately during and after war, as existing inequalities [are] magnified, and social networks [break] down.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has outlined that women and girls are perceived as “the bearers of future generations [and] are considered to be the depositories of cultural and ethnic identity”. In some conflicts, therefore, when women transcend their established gender role, they may be attacked or threatened by their own community, or the enemy. The ICRC also recognises that sexual violence is often used as a mechanism of war to control women’s autonomy, demonstrate power and force them to bear children.
UN reports have estimated that at least 1 in 5 refugees or displaced women are victims of sexual violence, however, there are fears that this figure could be much higher given the stigma associated with reporting. COVID-19 has also exacerbated the risk of food shortage, poverty and gender-based violence. The UNHCR has warned of the increasing prevalence of refugee women and girls being forced into ‘survival sex’ and child marriages.
Despite the seriousness of this issue, in conjunction with the fact that approximately 50% of the world’s refugee community comprise women and girls, only 4 percent of projects in UN inter-agency appeals were targeted at women and girls in 2014.
Current Framework
The 1951 Convention is the core international instrument delineating the rights and protections which states should afford refugees. However, the 1951 Convention does have some major shortcomings. As outlined by Dr Chaloka Beyani, “The plight of women being persecuted for reasons related to their gender as victims of systematic rape, sexual abuse, and discriminatory patterns of traditional customs and behaviour is a matter not addressed directly by the Convention of 1951”. This inadequacy has led to the UNHCR retrospectively recognising that ‘women and girls at risk’ are a distinct category of refugee protection. In this vein, countries including Australia, Canada and the US have introduced separate refugee streams in line with this category.
In Australia, the Woman at Risk Visa (Subclass 204) is a visa subclass that was established in 1989 for females who are currently living outside their country of origin, and do not have the protection of a male relative. They must be in danger of “victimisation, harassment or serious abuse” owing to their gender. Since its establishment, this program has helped over 23,500 women at risk and dependents resettle in Australia. This is certainly commendable in that it demonstrates Australia’s recognition of the unique risks which refugee women may be prone to. However, it should be noted that since July 2009, the Government has only assigned 12% of the total refugee category allocation of the offshore program to Woman at Risk visas. In light of the recent increase in global conflicts, it may be necessary to re-evaluate this figure, and increase the intake for women (additional to the existing refugee intake).
The Subclass 204 visa is a step in the right direction, but it cannot be considered in isolation. The resettlement process must also be taken into account, and a consultation project by Settlement Services International found that “when [women] are known to have come on a 204 visa they are often subject to additional barriers including discrimination within their communities.” As some participants indicated, this is because of sociocultural stigmas associated with being a victim of sexual violence, not having traditional male support, and being single parents. Refugee women can also face challenges which are characteristic of the overall refugee resettlement experience: financial hardship, language barriers, difficulties in obtaining employment, trauma and depression.
A major problem with current frameworks is that they overestimate the effectiveness of a homogenous, ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. However, this fails to recognise the often-different circumstances which refugee women have faced.
Where to from here?
At present, no binding international framework exists pertaining to the protection of refugee women/girls and their dependents specifically. The inadequacy of the 1951 Convention, and its 1967 Protocol calls for a global review of the current framework, and strategies on how it can be restructured to better recognise the special needs of refugee women. In line with the UNHCR Executive Committee’s 1990 recommendations, States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations should work together to “ensure that the needs and resources of refugee women are fully understood and integrated”. Amongst other things, this should involve:
- Ensuring that resettlement programmes make special provisions for refugee women at risk;
- Identifying and prosecuting persons who have committed crimes against refugee women, and protecting victims from further attacks; and
- Integrating considerations specific to the protection of refugee women “in order to be able to deter, detect and redress instances of physical and sexual abuse as well as other protection concerns at the earliest possible moment”.
Further investment in research efforts is required to better understand how the resettlement experiences affect women at risk, and refugee women. This would help policymakers “understand the extent to which the identified settlement challenges are experienced by all arrivals, and how settlement services can be more responsive to this group.” Ultimately, this would ideally lead to better settlement outcomes for vulnerable women and their dependents. There should also be an extension of “professional and culturally appropriate gender-based counselling as well as other related services to refugee women who are victims of abuse.”
Governments should avoid sweeping categorisations of refugee women and girls as passive victims, as this can lead to the displacement of their autonomy and agency. Refugee women are crucial to their communities; they “run businesses and schools, provide safe spaces for women who have experienced violence, manage households and help run refugee camps.” The only meaningful way in which the rights of refugee women can be protected is through engagement and empowerment. It is crucial that strategies to help increase protections are developed and led by refugee women who have lived experience and can identify the unique challenges they face. A balance must be struck between acknowledging the trauma they have undergone, whilst simultaneously recognising their capacity to be agents of change.
In many ways, the world seems to be undergoing a sort of system reset, for better or for worse. With this, however, has come an acceleration of conflicts, natural disaster and war, and consequently, the increased vulnerability of women and girls. The world cannot be passive bystanders to the situation unfolding in Afghanistan. The consequences of inaction previously have been devastating; the thought of how it could pan out now it seems too terrible to fathom. As penned in this reflection from an Afghan woman in Kabul:
As a woman, I feel like I am the victim of this political war that men started. I felt like I can no longer laugh out loud, I can no longer listen to my favourite songs, I can no longer meet my friends in our favourite cafe, I can no longer wear my favourite yellow dress or pink lipstick. And I can no longer go to my job or finish the university degree that I worked for years to achieve…Now it looks like I have to burn everything I achieved in 24 years of my life.
