CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Lamphere-Englund, Galen Jaymes |
|---|---|
| Title | Listening Closer : Evaluating the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict |
| Summary | This thesis critiques the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict developed in 2014 by the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth Office. I show the Protocol, despite being the largest effort at creating standards for investigating conflict related sexual violence (CRSV), to lack critical guidelines. These absences have manifest negative consequences for survivors of sexual violence and investigations. Through assessing over 120 similar guidance documents from around the world and interviewing CRSV experts, I find the Protocol to be deeply flawed. These shortcomings include: 1) An approach to documentation and investigation that is not survivor-centric in which only 7.5 pages of the 146 are dedicated to the needs of survivors/victims. 2) An absence of recommendations that take into account the effects of PTSD and trauma to both survivors and their testimonies. 3) A failure to include suggestions for how male and non-female victims/survivors might experience CRSV differently, and how to inclusively handle investigations. 4) An utter exclusion of CRSV forms not considered under current international law, such as intimate partner rape, or noncombatant perpetration. 5) An outlook that investigations will take place immediately during or after active violent conflict, which in turn excludes critical elements of temporality and memory issues. 6) No guidelines to mitigate conflicting testimonies that can hamper prosecutions and potentially retraumatize survivors. 7) A near-complete lack of tangible recommendations to minimize secondary traumatization of investigative staff and provide the psychosocial support necessary to prevent burnout. I explain these exclusions through public policy theories & literature, reinforced by my own qualitative interviews. Keywords: violent conflict, sexual violence, conflict-related sexual violence, human rights, international law, public policy, peace studies |
| Supervisor | Krizsan, Andrea; Pareja, Pablo |
| Department | School of Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/lamphere-englund_galen.pdf |
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