Transitional Justice and the Ongoing Exclusion of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by International Intervenors

Transitional justice has addressed only conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) while excluding sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). This exclusion persists despite both SEA and CRSV occurring during armed conflict, taking the same forms, impacting congruent victim populations, and falling within the Women, Peace and Security framework. SEA is perpetrated by international intervenors such as peacekeepers and aid workers. Excluding SEA denies victims a critical pathway to accountability and undermines prevention efforts for all forms of sexual violence. Using the original Gender Violence in Truth Commissions database, this talk will examine why SEA is excluded from transitional justice. To date, only two transitional justice mechanisms—the Sierra Leonian and Liberian truth commissions—have addressed SEA by intervenors. Analysis of these two exceptional cases reveals barriers to inclusion of SEA within transitional justice, including intervenor-involvement in transitional justice mechanisms, issues with SEA reporting and data, and dependency on media coverage and public outcry. The talk will conclude with policy recommendations for addressing SEA and CRSV as separate but related violations through transitional justice mechanisms, including truth commissions and reparations programmes. The article this talk is based on can be accessed here.

Speaker

Jessica Anania is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford (Department of Sociology). Her research examines gender-based violence as addressed in transitional justice mechanisms, particularly truth commissions. Her DPhil work draws on the original Gender Violence in Truth Commissions (GVTC) database, the first ever database on gender-based violence and transitional justice. She is currently a consultant for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Previously, she earned an MPhil in Conflict Resolution with distinction from Trinity College Dublin and undergraduate degrees in Journalism, Political Science and Psychology summa cum laude from the University of Missouri.