The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls - UNFPA

<strong>The</strong> post-conflict setting poses constraints to meeting basic reproductive
health needs, yet new needs resulting from the conflict need to be addressed.
Health service providers have a role to play in ensuring fair and equitable access
to service provision for all members <strong>of</strong> the community.
Challenges facing the international community include maintaining
strategic alliances formed with and among Governments, United Nations
organizations and agencies and international and local organizations, as well as
the implementation <strong>of</strong> international policies and guidelines. Progress at the
international level must be transferred into practices on the ground to directly
engage communities affected by conflict. Development agencies must expand
their target audience to refugee populations, and humanitarian agencies must
ensure the integration <strong>of</strong> comprehensive reproductive health care into their
service delivery. Ensuring the accountability <strong>of</strong> agencies that provide health care
to refugee and displaced populations is key to making service delivery systematic
and comprehensive. Work remains to ensure that policies and strategies
implemented at headquarters levels are effectively and efficiently transferred to
the field.
Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Post-<strong>Conflict</strong> Regions:
<strong>The</strong> Bosnia and Herzegovina Case
äHOMND0XGURYþLü
National Programme Officer, UNFPA
Bosnia and Herzegovina
<strong>The</strong> relationships between sex, gender and violence have not been
addressed in post-conflict settings. Gender-mainstreaming involves more than
understanding the consequences and implications <strong>of</strong> dictated roles and
stereotypes. It entails making women’s empowerment central to the
development process and ensuring the involvement <strong>of</strong> women at each juncture.
Women’s NGOs have employed a bottom-up approach in their power structures,
operating from a place <strong>of</strong> internal power, namely self-esteem and awarenessraising,
rather than external power, which seeks to dominate others. As such,
NGOs in post-conflict regions have made significant advances in developing civil
societies and in furthering capacity-building. In contrast, however, governmental
approaches to regional development have been seriously hampered by war.
Conditions in post-conflict regions exacerbate existing problems such as
impoverishment and productive infrastructure damage. Transitions from a
planned economy to a market economy have negative outcomes for conflict
populations, examples being severe ethnic divisions and the flourishing sex
trade. Additionally, violence is a global problem that affects both men and
women through different perspectives and experiences. Gender-based violence
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