Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones | Research and Publications

Through our research, we identify obstacles that thwart justice for survivors of sexual violence, confirm how our multidisciplinary approach is helping to end impunity, and examine changes in practice among our partners. Our unique access means we’re able to conduct and disseminate medical, scientific, and advocacy-oriented research. All this supports our advocacy for systemic, sustainable change to protect survivors of sexual violence and ensure accountability for perpetrators.

Research

PLOS One: Evaluating the effectiveness of a mobile application to improve the quality, collection, and usability of forensic documentation of sexual violence (December 2022)

Violence and Victims: Assessing Knowledge and Acceptability of a Trauma-Informed Training Model to Strengthen Response to Conflict and Gender-Based Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (October 2022)

Journal of Violence Against Women: Multiyear, Multisectoral Training Program in Kenya to Enhance Medical–Legal Processes in Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (August 2022)

BMC Health Services Research: Health professionals’ perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and SGBV services in Rohingya refugee communities in Bangladesh (June 2022)

BMC Public Health: ’Most of the cases are very similar.’: Documenting and corroborating conflict-related sexual violence affecting Rohingya refugees (April 2022)

PLOS One: Development and validation of a data quality index for forensic documentation of sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya (Jan 2022)

Medicine, Science, and the Law: To confront sexual violence, we must train non-forensic experts to perform medico-legal evaluations (June 2021)

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics: Providing women’s health care during COVID‐19: Personal and professional challenges faced by health workers (July 2020)

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics: The impact of COVID-19 on services for people affected by sexual and gender-based violence (July 2020)

Journal of International Criminal Justice: Achieving Justice for Child Survivors of Conflict-related Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Kavumu Case (May 2020)

The Lancet: The case of Kavumu: a model of medicolegal collaboration (June 2019)

Reproductive Health: The little tissue that couldn’t – dispelling myths about the Hymen’s role in determining sexual history and assault (June 2019)

Genocide Studies and Prevention: MediCapt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Design, Development, and Deployment of Mobile Technology to Document Forensic Evidence of Sexual Violence (May 2017)

Global Health: Science and Practice: mJustice: Preliminary Development of a Mobile App for Medical-Forensic Documentation of Sexual Violence in Low-Resource Environments and Conflict Zones (March 2017) 

Journal of Interpersonal Violence: Attitudes Toward Sexual Violence Survivors: Differences Across Professional Sectors in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (March 2016)

The Angle Journal: Prosecuting Sexual Violence in Conflict: A medical approach (January 2016)

PLOS One: Time Series Analysis of Sexual Assault Case Characteristics and the 2007–2008 Period of Post-Election Violence in Kenya  (August 2014)

Reports

Broken Promises: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Before and After the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Tigray, Ethiopia (August 2023)

Voicing Our Plight: Using Photovoice to Assess Perceptions of Mental Health Services for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Kenya (June 2023)

Sexual Violence, Trauma, and Neglect: Observations of Health Care Providers Treating Rohingya Survivors in Refugee Camps in Bangladesh (October 2020)

Breaking the Cycles of Violence: Gaps in Prevention of and Response to Electoral-Related Sexual Violence in Kenya (December 2019)

Using MediCapt to Document Medical Evidence of Sexual Violence in Kenya: Perspectives from the End Users, Naivasha County Referral Hospital and Physicians for Human Rights (November 2019)

Trainers Regional Roundtable Summary Report (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya) (September 2017)

Enhancing a Regional Response to Crimes of Sexual Violence: Regional Roundtable Discussion Summary (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya) (February 2015)

Reparations for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Summary of Roundtable Discussion (March 2014)

Our Work

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