CIAO DATE: 02/2012
December 2011
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
The world is increasingly aware that armed conflict and sexual violence against women and girls often go hand in hand . However, armed conflict also brings danger of sexual violence for men and boys. Male survivors of sexual violence are less likely than women and girls to disclose assaults (Callender and Dartnall 2011), with the result that such violence is “vastly under-represented” in official statistics (WHO 2002: 154). Nevertheless, sexual violence against men and boys—including rape, sexual torture and mutilation, castration, sexual humiliation, forced incest and forced rape, and sexual enslavement—is a pervasive feature of armed conflicts around the globe. It can emerge in any form of conflict—from interstate wars to civil wars to localised conflicts—and in any cultural context (Russell 2008).
Resource link: Care and Support of Male Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence [PDF] - 184K