Remedy for victims of sexual and gender-based violence

New publication on sexual and gender-based violence in ASEAN | PHOTO © Asia Justice and Rights / Anne-Cécile Esteve

A new publication by AJAR draws lessons from six South-East Asian countries on the interplay between gender and reparations.

For over a year, the Transitional Justice Asia Network collected information on how five members of ASEAN had dealt with legacies of conflict, focusing specifically in the areas of gender and reparations. The five studies included Aceh in Indonesia, Myanmar, southern Thailand, Cambodia, and Philippines. A case study from Timor-Leste was also included in anticipation of its membership to the community of nations.

The studies found that women and other survivors of gender-based violence in conflict are mostly invisible and forgotten by their governments. In some contexts, survivors are ageing and facing new challenges. Although women and girls were overwhelmingly the target of sexual and other gender-based violence, we found men and boys also suffered. In addition, LGBTQI+ people in some contexts were specifically targeted for violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.