Preventing Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War / Verhinderung sexueller Gewalt als Kriegswaffe / Prévenir la violence sexuelle en tant qu'arme de guerre

In 2012, the UK introduced the 'Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative'. This paper examines whether it is actually possible to prevent sexual violence being employed as a weapon of war against women, men and children. It assesses existing prevention strategies, uses Daesh as a case study - to illustrate the limitations of the current approaches - and considers additional measures. The paper concludes that it is possible to prevent sexual violence in war, provided that all appropriate measures are harnessed and adapted to the specific circumstances of each conflict. It will, though, require improvements to existing strategies, the use of additional prevention measures, more resources and long-term engagement of all actors.