Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation:

1. Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation: Background, Issues and Main Trends Multimedia Training Kit

2. Overview In this unit you will learn more about: • Why we are interested in women and violence in areas of conflict • The details which make up the bigger story, by gathering and plotting data on • Geography: zones of war, conflict and militarisation • Chronology: significant legal milestones • Players: international bodies, individuals, NGOs, reactionary forces • Documentation: reports, legislation, rulings, statements • Campaigns • The broader view of the issues and themes • The main threads and recurring themes Multimedia Training Kit

3. Why women and violence, in areas of conflict? Because... • Conflict impacts on women and men differently – violence in conflict is gendered. • Improvement in the condition of women can only come from acknowledging these gender differences: Tackling the problems of violence against women requires an understanding of the background, issues and main trends in those conflicts and the movements to end them. Multimedia Training Kit

4. How is violence “gendered”? • Women form the majority of refugees and the internally displaced. • Women become heads of household in difficult circumstances, when male family members are “disappeared," arrested, or killed. • Because women are often seen as symbolising the integrity and honour of the entire community, in times of conflict they are subjected to rape, sexual and physical abuse, and harassment at the hands of the "enemy" as a strategy of war. • Women are also subjected to gender-specific constraints within their own communities. WHRnet - http://www.whrnet.org/issues_23.htm Multimedia Training Kit

5. The approach: developing a picture of the subject area Today we will become information cartographers, charting the information terrain of violence against women in conflict by • Creating a starting point from which to identify background, issues and main trends • Adding the detail, layer by layer • Observing the links between the details Multimedia Training Kit

6. The starting point • Definitions of violence against women, war, militarisation and armed conflict. • Legislation, statements, and rulings. • Campaigns. • International organs. • NGOs. • Research, reports, monitoring. Multimedia Training Kit

7. Exercise • Choose a theme for your group from the main list. • Use the resource pack to draw out a list of significant items/data on that theme. • Display your results on the world map chart handout. • Add dates and events to the timeline. • Use the map to indicate locations where relevant. • Indicate links to items from other groups’ themes by adding those items in the margins of your chart and drawing linking lines. • Put relevant case studies into circular boxes and link them to relevant items in your list. Multimedia Training Kit

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9. Creating an overview • Report back on your group’s chart. • Add the most significant items to a mother chart containing all groups’ items. • Notice the links between items in the lists. • Observe the development of the time line. Multimedia Training Kit

10. Observing the main trends Discuss any conclusions that can be drawn from: • The chronology indicated on the timeline. • The relationship between campaigns and rulings. • Patterns in the nature of the work of NGOs. • The factors that have had greatest impact on improving the condition of women. • Future prospects for women currently living in areas of war, conflict and militarisation. Multimedia Training Kit

11. Violence Against Women in the Context of War, Conflict and Militarisation: Background, Issues and Main Trends Multimedia Training Kit