Theme: "Breaking the Cycle, Healing the Scars: Addressing the Intergenerational Effects of CRSV"
On this occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Refugee Law Project (RLP) joins the global community in remembrance, renewed advocacy, and collective condemnation of the persistent use of sexual violence as a tool for executing war. Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) including but not limited to rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, forced sterilization, and abduction for sexual exploitation continue to create deep lasting personal and intergenerational wounds and scars in the bodies, minds, and future of CRSV survivors across the world.
Uganda, as Africa’s leading refugee-hosting country with nearly 1.9 million refugees, bears daily witness to the devastating realities of CRSV endured by displaced persons fleeing conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, and beyond that are marked by experiences and expressions of gross forms of sexual violence. These violations affect women and girls, men and boys, the young and the old alike with consequences that stretch far beyond the end of active hostilities. Where CSRV is used as a tactic of war and torture, it not only affects individuals; it also infiltrates their homes, fractures families, and destabilizes entire communities leading to permanent intergenerational impacts