Gender-based violence during conflict has become widely recognized as a problem of international security. scholars and policymakers alike have made many, sometimes conflicting, claims about the prevalence and causes of wartime gender-based violence. Yet no systematic data are available to assess competing explanations. Without a clear understanding of where wartime gender-based violence has occurred and how and to what extent it was experienced, no clear conclusions may be drawn about the phenomenon. In particular, the lack of reliable quantitative data has hampered the scientific study of gender-based violence and war. This project advances the understanding of the patterns and causes of gender-based violence during wartime and its immediate aftermath through a new cross-national data collection. Better data on wartime gender-based violence will allow scholars to test causal hypotheses, increasing the empirical understanding of gender-based violence.
The researchers will gather systematic data on when and where conflict-related gender-based violence was perpetrated in recent decades and on which armed actors were responsible for gender-based violence, which victims were selected for violence, and what types of violence occurred. With the creation of a comprehensive dataset on wartime gender-based violence, the researchers will then be able to address questions of critical importance to the theories of civilian victimization during wartime and to the understanding of repertoires of violence in armed conflict more broadly. Those questions include: What can explain the variation in conflict-related gender-based violence? What types of armed groups are more likely to be reported to have committed, or refrained from, gender-based violence? Which groups of noncombatants are most at risk for victimization? What factors help predict the form of gender-based violence, and what locations are most at risk for violence? Are certain forms of gender-based violence correlated with each other and with other types of lethal and non-lethal violence, and what implications might this have for strategic warfare?
The project will create a dataset that will capture distinct types of violence against women perpetrated in armed conflict, including large-scale wars, low intensity armed conflicts, and post-conflict situations in the period from 1989 to 2009. We look at three different types of armed conflict: intrastate armed conflict (civil conflict/war), internationalized internal armed conflict, and interstate (international) conflicts. The unit of observation is the actor-conflict-year; actors include state militaries, pro-government militias, rebel groups, and foreign states' militaries involved in conflicts beyond their own borders. This new dataset is designed to be compatible with other widely used datasets in civil war studies.
The project will create the most comprehensive cross-national dataset to date on wartime gender-based violence. A number of theoretical questions can be examined with such data. In a pilot study, the researchers found that gender-based violence by armed actors continued, often for years, after the official end of the war and cessation of lethal violence. This and other questions can be examined more conclusively with the new dataset generated by this research.
This project has a range of broader implications. The project's data will be of interest and use to researchers in a broad array of disciplines. The impact and understanding of violence and war is one of the most pressing questions in contemporary politics. In advancing the understanding of wartime violence against noncombatants, this project broadens the metrics used to estimate the human costs of war and sheds light on strategies that policymakers might use to prevent violence.
Project description: Sexual violence during conflict has become widely recognized as a problem of international security. Scholars and policymakers alike have made many, sometimes conflicting, claims about the prevalence and causes of wartime sexual violence. However, there are no systematic data available to assess competing explanations. Without a clear understanding of where wartime sexual violence has occurred, and how and to what extent it was experienced, it is impossible to draw defensible conclusions about the phenomenon. In particular, the lack of reliable quantitative data has hampered the scientific study of sexual violence and war, which is currently dominated by journalistic and anecdotal accounts. The objective of the project was to advance the understanding of the patterns of reported sexual violence during wartime and its immediate aftermath through a new cross-national data collection. Better data on wartime sexual violence will allow scholars to test causal hypotheses, increasing the empirical possibilities for the study of sexual violence. Research questions: We gathered systematic data on when and where conflict-related sexual violence was reportedly perpetrated in recent decades, as well as which armed actors were reportedly responsible for sexual violence, which victims were reportedly selected for violence and the types of violence that were reported. The creation of this comprehensive dataset on wartime sexual violence has allowed us to begin to address questions of critical importance to the theories of civilian victimization during wartime and to the understanding of repertoires of violence in armed conflict more broadly. These questions include: What can explain the variation in conflict-related sexual violence? What types of armed groups are more likely to be reported to have committed, or refrained from, sexual violence? Beyond theoertical questions, systematic data can be used for the establishment of evidence-based policy and early-warning systems that may serve to mitigate the horrors of wartime sexual violence. Methodology: The project resulted in the Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) dataset, which captures reports of conflict-related rape, sexual mutilation, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilization during all types of conflicts (including civil and interstate wars, and large-scale wars and low intensity armed conflicts), and post-conflict situations in the period from 1989-2009. The unit of observation is the actor-conflict-year; the actors include all state militaries, pro-government militias, and rebel groups involved in conflicts beyond their own borders. The SVAC dataset is designed to be compatible with other widely used datasets in civil war studies, and as of May 2014, is available for public download at www.sexualviolencedata.org. Intellectual merits: The intention of the project was to create the most comprehensive cross-national dataset on wartime sexual violence; the data will be of utility to researchers in a broad array of disciplines. One important finding resulting from the data is that sexual violence by armed actors continued, often for years, after the official end of the war and cessation of lethal violence. This suggests that "wartime" may be defined by scholars too narrowly, and that researchers would be able to capture more accurately the dynamics of wartime violence if they considered types of violence beyond killing. Broader impacts: The long-term objectives of the project are to advance the research on wartime violence against noncombatants, to broaden the metrics used to estimate the human costs of war, to establish detailed evidence about the problem of sexual violence in armed conflicts, and to facilitate preventive strategies by policymakers. The project developed a standardized measure of the scope and magnitude of sexual violence across contexts, along with details on victims and perpetrators, and can enable a more informed public debate on the problem of wartime sexual violence.
