Editorial
Ending sexual violence in conflict and beyond
Today’s Lancet has a special focus on sexual violence in
conflict to coincide with the first Global Summit to End
Sexual Violence in Conflict in London, June 10–14. War
zone sexual violence and other forms of gender-based
violence inflict extreme suffering and represent serious
violations of human rights. These crimes leave physical,
psychological, social, and economic scars on individuals,
families, and communities. And shamefully, most of the
perpetrators are never brought to justice.
The summit will be chaired by the UK’s Foreign
Secretary, William Hague, and Special Envoy for the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie,
who have both championed efforts to end war zone
sexual violence globally for the past 2 years. It will bring
together more than 1800 representatives from over
113 countries from health, legal, military, government,
and academic sectors alongside non-governmental and
multilateral organisations, civil society, and the public.
As well as bringing attention and awareness to the issue,
the summit’s aims are to agree on practical steps that will
drive change on the ground.
The summit mainly focuses on reducing impunity,
security and justice sector reform, survivor-centric
support, and improving multilateral responses. Notably,
several of the 151 countries that have signed up to the
G8 Declaration of commitment to end sexual violence
in conflict are places where serious abuses (sexual and
otherwise) are known to take place. These countries have
weak judicial systems and poor human rights records, so
sessions on accountability at the summit are welcome.
One highlight will be the launch of a new International
Protocol on the Investigation and Documentation of
Sexual Violence in Conflict. These expert-driven surveys
aim to capture experiences of sexual violence and other
forms of violence before, during, and after conflict. They
will focus on health aspects, and particularly mental
health. The Protocol should contribute to a more
standardised approach to measuring conflict-related
sexual violence.
As highlighted by Rachel Jewkes in a compelling Art
of Medicine piece, researching warzone violence is
extremely challenging. And the difficulties of preventing
and responding to it are compounded by little evidence
on the effectiveness of interventions. Therefore, it is
encouraging that the UK’s Department of International
www.thelancet.com Vol 383 June 14, 2014
Development will launch a multimillion pound “What
works” research programme at the summit to tackle some
of these gaps. The summit’s focus on cracking down on
impunity is important but should not detract from the
health, wellbeing, and safety needs of those affected. In a
Comment, Claudia GarcÍa-Moreno quite rightly calls for a Published Online
June 10, 2014
sustainable multisectoral approach to the problem which http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
includes health sector engagement. S0140-6736(14)60972-7
What the content in this issue emphasises is that See Comment pages 2021
and 2023
sexual violence in conflict does not happen in isolation,
See Special Report page 2034
but that it is one form in an ongoing broad spectrum of See Perspectives pages 2038,
violence that is particularly pervasive against women and 2039, and e19
girls. Indeed, according to WHO, one in three women
worldwide experience intimate partner violence or non-
partner sexual violence in their lifetime. After very intense
negotiations that went on all week, the 67th World
Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a historic resolution
driven by member states titled: Strengthening the role
of the health system in addressing violence, in particular
against women and girls, and against children. The
resolution requests member states to ensure all people
affected by violence have timely, effective, and affordable
access to health services. In some ways the resolution is
a victory—to tackle an issue that until recently has been
marginalised and underfunded. But the draft does not
go far enough. Notable omissions in the text are female
genital mutilation and child marriage. Certain member
states have cultural and societal sensitivities around these
issues, so getting agreement is undoubtedly difficult, but
this should not prevent continuing work in these areas.
WHO will now develop and finalise its first global plan of
action on implementing this resolution by the 68th WHA.
Gender inequality is at the root of all sexual violence in
women and girls. As Charlotte Watts and colleagues say
in their Comment, only by abolishing gender inequality
and the adverse social structures, practices, and attitudes
that support it, will there be meaningful progress. As
part of this mission, The Lancet together with Watts and
GarcÍa-Moreno are preparing a Series on violence against
women, which will aim to be evidence-based, forward
looking, and grounded in the realities of women’s lives. In For the End Sexual Violence in
Conflict Summit see https://
addition to tackling violence, it will make a strong case for www.gov.uk/government/
gender equality to be at the core of policies for sustainable topical-events/sexual-violence-
in-conflict
development and the realisation of the post-2015 For the WHO study see Articles
Millennium Development Goal agenda. „ The Lancet Lancet 2014; 383: 1648–54
2019