Prevalence of War-Related Sexual Violence and Other Human Rights Abuses Among Internally Displaced Persons in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Sexual violence committed by combatants in Sierra Leone was widespread and was perpetrated in the context of a high level of human rights abuses against the civilian population.

Prevalence of Gender-based Violence and Factors Affecting Help Seeking Among Females Aged 15 Years and Above in Ayilo Refugee Camp in Adjumani District, Uganda

“…Our study found out prevalence of GBV highest among women less than 24 years 45.68% with total of 77.7% of those who experience GBV being below 34 years of age. This finding is consistent with other studies done in Uganda (15)(16)(17) and those done outside Uganda (18) . This could be because they are less experienced and less knowledgeable about the risk factors leading to GBV hence easy for the perpetrators to manipulate them.…”

Medical and Psychological Consequences of War-Related Sexual Violence among Women and Girls in Tigray, Ethiopia

“…Consistently, previous reports in different con ict settings show that the pattern of sexual violence was systemic and widespread, with all the victims sustaining symmetric forms of assault [10,11,25]. The forms of sexual violence in the current study included sexual assault such as touching on sexual parts, forced nudity, sexual exploitation, penetration of vagina with an object, and forcible sexual intercourse which were similar to those reported in Sierra Leone civil war [15]. Similar to a crosssectional study reported by Kinyanda et al in northern Uganda war [17], though sexual violence in Tigray has also affected extreme ages (very young and too old women), where reproductive age group girls and women were found to be most at risk for sexual violence during current study.…”

“…In this study, two fth of the rape survivors suffered severe physical injuries as result of the physical assault including beating, dragging, shoving, slapping, choking, burning, hitting with a st, defacement, and threatening to use or using a weapon. Consistently, this was reported in multiple war raid places in Africa and Ukraine [2,8,[15][16][17].…”

Sexual Violence During Armed Conflict Among Women and Girls in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Poor social support was strongly linked to increased vulnerability. This finding aligns with evidence from humanitarian contexts, 46 , 48 where the erosion of social networks during conflict weakens protective structures and exposes women to heightened risks of gender-based violence. Strengthening community-based support systems, including peer groups and family networks, is therefore critical for mitigating risk.…”

“…Conversely, the pooled prevalence in this analysis was higher than findings from Uganda (4.2%) 45 and Sierra Leone (8%), 46 suggesting that Ethiopian women may face greater levels of conflict-related sexual violence. This disparity may be attributed to differences in conflict dynamics, cultural norms regarding disclosure, sample characteristics, and tools used for data collection.…”