UNFPA Background Guide - National Model United Nations

Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Care in Conflict Zones
Refugees of conflict- or emergency-torn countries - are exceptionally vulnerable in all aspects, but this does not
constitute a reason to put sexual and reproductive care aside while tending to other problems. 114 Instead, SRH care
should be provided in tandem with provision of emergency shelter, food, and medicine. 115 Not only does this service
the women who come to be refugees while pregnant or as new mothers, but also women who are in danger of sexual
and gender-based violence based on their life circumstances. 116 In a review of the reproductive health of women
affected by war, author McGinn points out “Conditions of refugee life are particularly conducive to sexual violence,
both in the early stages of a complex emergency, when rape is used by armies as a weapon of war, and later in the
stable phase, when violence perpetrated by intimate partners or acquaintances may become more prevalent.” 117
While ensuring quality access to contraceptives and maternal health care is essential anywhere, it can be too easy to
focus on the settled, more predictable environments, when refugee women have as much, or greater, need for such
attention. 118
The Role of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV)
Women who have been physically or sexually abused experience an increased risk for unwanted pregnancy, STIs,
and unhealthy or unsafe pregnancies. 119 Violence of this nature can be defined to include the following acts, all
directed toward women and girls specifically because of their gender: domestic abuse; “sexual assault, dowryrelated
murder, marital rape, selective malnourishment of female children, forced prostitution, female genital
mutilation, and sexual abuse of female children;” verbal or physical force; humiliation or “deprivation of liberty …
that perpetuates female subordination.” 120 The unwanted or unsafe pregnancies and the threatening environment that
situations or locations where SGBV is rampant provide is a direct threat to maternal health and must be considered
as a public health priority in the post-2015 agenda.
Many factors can contribute to the perpetuation of SGBV, which broadly includes personal and sociocultural
reasons for subjugating women. 121 One shocking statistic illustrates that SGBV disables or takes the lives of as many
women aged 15 to 44 as cancer. 122 Coupled with a rate of 70% of women who experience violence in their lifetimes,
it is clear this problem is inexcusably prevalent and unavoidable in the post-2015 health agenda. 123 Health care
providers can play a crucial role in identifying threatened and/or abused women when properly trained to see the
signs and empower the affected woman. 124 The role of the medical provider is intimate yet safe, an environment an
abused woman likely does not have elsewhere, so such professionals can be a point of trust for women to seek
support and even information about legal recourse. 125
Engaging the Next Generation to Prevent Sexual and Gender-based Violence
Incorporating a youth perspective for engagement in the post-2015 maternal health agenda will be necessary, as this
segment of the population is rapidly growing – and no change can be sustainable without buy-in from those who will
be charged with continuing to improve conditions for mothers around the world. Indeed, “stereotyping of gender
roles and gender based discrimination begins in childhood, so efforts to support gender equality must start there, by
addressing the roles of girls and boys and men and women in the household.” 126 Empowering women with education
allows them to take charge in decision-making and resist or fight the system of abuse. 127 Educated women are able
to recognize the problem with domestic abuse and societal discrimination and are better equipped to challenge the
114
Casey, Mitchell & Amisi, Haliza, et. al., Use of Facility Assessment Data to Improve Reproductive Health Service Delivery in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2009, p.2.
115
Ibid.
116
McGinn, Reproductive Health of War-Affected Populations: What Do We Know?, 2000, p.179.
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid.
119
Heise, Ellsberg & Gottmoeller, A Global Overview of Gender-Based Violence, 2002, p. S5.
120
Ibid., p. S6.
121
Ibid., p. S7.
122
7 Billion Actions, The World at Seven Billion: Top Issues – Fact Sheets [Website], 2011, p. 4.
123
Ibid.
124
Heise, Ellsberg & Gottmoeller, A Global Overview of Gender-Based Violence, 2002, p. S11.
125
Ibid.
126
7 Billion Actions, The World at Seven Billion: Top Issues – Fact Sheets [Website], 2011, p. 7.
127
Ibid., p. 9
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