Gender and conflict

This blog series discusses the interplay of gender and armed conflict, aiming to nurture an understanding of gender norms in the field of humanitarian action, international humanitarian law and its intersectional nature with related fields such as identity, ethnicity, sexuality and diversity.

What are the transformative potentials of sexual and reproductive health and rights in humanitarian assistance: a feminist inquiry

April 18, 2024 12 mins read Access / Analysis / Gender / Gender and conflict / Health care / Health Care / Humanitarian Action / Sexual Violence / Social Inclusion / Social Protection / Special Themes Peixuan Xie

From frontline female combatants with the People’s Defence Force in Myanmar to queer Syrian refugees ...

What can the humanitarian community learn from the Colombian Truth Commission’s LGBTIQ-subchapter?

March 21, 2024 13 mins read Analysis / Gender / Gender and conflict / Health care / Humanitarian Action / Localisation / Sexual Violence / Social Inclusion / Social Protection Elias Dehnen

As part of the historic 2016 peace agreement, the “Commission for the Clarification of Truth, ...

Falling under the radar: the problem of algorithmic bias and military applications of AI

March 14, 2024 10 mins read Analysis / Artificial Intelligence and Armed Conflict / Autonomous Weapons / Avoiding civilian harm during military cyber operations / Cybersecurity and data protection in humanitarian action / Gender and conflict / Human Costs of Cyber Ingvild Bode

Last week, states parties met for the first session of the Group of Governmental Experts ...

Online violence: real life impacts on women and girls in humanitarian settings

January 4, 2024 11 mins read Analysis / Cybersecurity and data protection in humanitarian action / Gender and conflict / New Technologies / Technology in Humanitarian Action Megan O’Brien

Online violence is not contained by the digital sphere – it is killing women and ...

Sexual violence in conflict and weapons: unpacking the links for better prevention

September 28, 2023 7 mins read Gender / Gender and conflict / Sexual Violence / Weapons Hana Salama

It’s often said that sexual violence is a weapon of war, but the actual weapons used to perpetrate these crimes are rarely discussed. ...

Sexual and gender-based violence in migration contexts: does faith sensitivity matter?

September 21, 2023 20 mins read Analysis / Gender and conflict / Migration / Religion / Sexual Violence Sandra Iman Pertek, Ahmed Al-Dawoody & Amjad Saleem

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is tragically widespread along migration journeys, especially when these take ...

Gender inequality, armed conflict and climate change: why militaries can and should map compounded risk

September 29, 2022 15 mins read Analysis / Climate change, conflict and humanitarian action / Gender / Gender and conflict / Humanitarian Action / New Technologies Jody M. Prescott, Robin Lovell & Team Sandhurst

In areas marked by gender inequality, women and girls are particularly at risk of the ...

What does ‘back to basics’ mean for gender and the fundamental principles?

September 1, 2022 13 mins read Analysis / Back to basics: humanitarian principles in contemporary armed conflict / Gender / Gender and conflict / Generating Respect for IHL / Humanitarian Action / Humanitarian Principles / Law and Conflict Ariana Lopes Morey

The recently-launched ICRC blog series ‘Back to basics: humanitarian principles in contemporary armed conflict’ aims ...

‘Catching up with the curve’: the participation of women in disarmament diplomacy

August 25, 2022 12 mins read Analysis / Gender / Gender and conflict / Humanitarian Action / Humanitarian diplomacy / Law and Conflict Véronique Christory

Though it cannot be up to women alone to capture gendered impacts in treaty texts ...

Why militaries need a theory of gender’s operational relevance

July 7, 2022 10 mins read Gender and conflict / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict Jody M. Prescott

The uptake of gender considerations into military missions across the world has largely been uneven ...

Gendered impacts of armed conflict and implications for the application of IHL

June 30, 2022 14 mins read Gender and conflict / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict Helen Durham, Cordula Droege, Lindsey Cameron & Vanessa Murphy

Gender shapes an individual’s experience of armed conflict in complex ways, but trends can be ...

Reporting sexual violence in a conflict zone

December 9, 2021 7 mins read Gender and conflict / Humanitarian Action / Sexual Violence Drew Ambrose

Sexual violence is widespread and prevalent in many modern armed conflicts. Interviewing the people who ...