The Missing Peace Initiative brings together expert scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors. By bringing together these different actors, the initiative aims to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identify gaps in knowledge and reporting and explore how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence.
About the Missing Peace Initiative
Sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings is increasingly recognized as a threat to international peace and security. From conflicts in the Balkans to the Democratic Republic of Congo and from East Timor to Guatemala, state and non-state armed actors have used sexual violence against women, men, and children to intimidate and to terrorize populations, and as a means of displacing people from contested territory, destroying communities, and silencing victims. Even after these wars have ended, sexual violence often does not – which, in turn, undermines reconstruction efforts and the transition to more stable, secure, and peaceful societies.
Despite the increased international recognition of the serious impact that sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict poses to security and peace, initiatives to prevent or mitigate these violent acts continue to fall short. Even with the adoption of UN Security Council resolutions and important rulings in international criminal courts, existing international interventions may lack an integrated understanding of the causes for sexual violence and its implications for societies at large.
The Missing Peace Initiative is a collaborative project of PRIO, the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Women In International Security (WIIS). In February 2013, the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, PRIO, USIP and WIIS convened fo r the first time a group of scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identify gaps in knowledge and reporting, and explore how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence.
An explicit aim of this overall initiative is to include findings from the latest academic research as well as insights from practitioners working in conflict and post-conflict situations, including civil society actors, the military, and police. This initiative has also launched the Missing Peace Young Scholars Network, aimed at supporting PhD researchers and recently minted PhDs in their research and the dissemination of research results to the practitioner and policy communities.
Missing Peace Symposium series
Since 2013, the Missing Peace Initiative partners have organised three international symposiums:
- Missing Peace Symposium 2013: Sexual Violence in Conflict and Post Conflict Settings
- Missing Peace Symposium 2015: Accountability for Sexual Violence
- Missing Peace Symposium 2017: Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Is fighting impunity the only game in town?
Missing Peace Young Scholars Network
The Young Scholars Network, formed in 2013, is an extension of the Missing Peace Initiative to bring together a global community of scholars currently researching innovative methodologies to address the prevention of sexual violence in conflict.
Some of the most innovative research on sexual violence is being undertaken by Young Scholars who spend months in the field researching, analysing and writing about the complex and difficult aspects of understanding and preventing sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings. These scholars are frequently on the cutting edge of data collection methodologies and have important insights to share with the broader academic and policy communities.
However, Young Scholars often face challenges in disseminating the results of their research to mainstream international relations and security studies communities. In addition, they may lack the necessary networks to disseminate their work to the policy and practitioner communities.
The partners of the Missing Peace Initiative, with their combined extensive networks and contacts in academia, the policymaking and non-governmental communities, decided to help with the development of a network to help overcome these challenges.
Recent Activities
- New PRIO Paper on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
- Missing Peace Symposium 2017: Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Is fighting impunity the only game in town? December 2017
- Public opening event to the Missing Peace Symposium 2017: How does international criminal prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence impact peacebuilding? December 2017
- PRIO Blog on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Contexts, November 2017
- Fifth Annual Missing Peace Young Scholars Network Workshop, July 2017
- Missing Peace Symposium 2015: Practitioners’ Workshop on Accountability for Sexual Violence, August 2015
- Missing Peace Young Scholars Network Workshop, June 2015
- Panel Event on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict, May 2014
- Open Letter to William Hague and Angelina Jolie, June 2014
- Missing Peace Symposium 2013: Sexual Violence in Conflict and Post Conflict Settings, February 2013
Missing Peace Workshop Convened Online
The Missing Peace Initiative brings together expert scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors. By bringing together these different actors, the initiative aims to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identify gaps in knowledge and reporting and explore how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence. Research Professor Inger Skjelsbæk heads the project at PRIO.
New PRIO Paper on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
In December 2017, the PRIO GPS Centre organised the Missing Peace Symposium 2017 on the topic 'Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town?' This new PRIO Paper, authored by Anette Bringedal Houge, synthesises the perspectives from the symposium.
Read the PRIO Paper in full here.
The symposium is part of a larger collaborative effort called the Missing Peace Initiative, which is a joint project of PRIO, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Women In International Security (WIIS).
PRIO Congratulates Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad
PRIO Director Henrik Urdal had placed Mukwege and Murad on his Nobel Peace Prize shortlist this year, and said it was well-deserved: ‘This is a prize to hold perpetrators of sexual violence in war accountable.’ Mukwege has been on the PRIO Director’s shortlists for the Peace Prize since 2010.
Young Scholars Share Knowledge on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
The Missing Peace Young Scholars Network met on 4–5 June 2015 for a workshop to exchange knowledge based on their research on conflict-related sexual violence.
Open Letter to Angelina Jolie and William Hague
The Missing Peace Initiative Young Scholars Network –a network of early-career researchers from a wide range of academic backgrounds, committed to understanding and ending sexual violence in war – have written an open letter to William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary, and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who are co-chairs of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.
The Young Scholars met on 23 May 2014 at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington DC for a panel event on 'Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict'. One of outcomes of this event was an open letter outlining three myths about conflict-related sexual violence, as well as a number of challenges and gaps in the research on the topic. The letter was published in The Huffington Post.
Read the letter to Hague and Jolie here.
The Young Scholars concluded their letter by challenging the United Kingdom to ensure their efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence is evidence-based:
"We sincerely applaud the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative for tackling these difficult issues, and we look forward to working with policy-makers to support efforts that will go beyond punishment and retribution to effectively treat, prevent, and ultimately end sexual violence in conflict. We only hope that this critical action is evidence-based."
The Missing Peace Initiative Young Scholars Network is an extension of the Missing Peace Initiative. The Missing Peace Initiative was established in 2013 as a collaborative project of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and Women In International Security (WIIS). The Initiative brings together scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identify gaps in knowledge and reporting, and explore how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence.
PRIO Research Informs Debate about Sexual Violence in Conflict
The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is taking place in London on 10-13 June, co-chaired by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The summit is an effort to join forces internationally to combat the culture of impunity, take practical steps, support survivors, and change attitudes towards the issue. At PRIO, researchers have been working on issues of sexual violence in conflict for some time already, teaming up with international experts to perform groundbreaking research and convene large conferences.
Successful Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Post Conflict Settings
On 14-16 February 2013, partners of the Missing Peace Initiative together with Stockholm International Peace Research Institute North America convened a group of expert scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors for the first Missing Peace Symposium on preventing conflict-related sexual violence.
At the symposium, which took place at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington DC, participants examined the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identified gaps in knowledge and reporting, and explored how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence.
Watch the video from the Missing Peace Symposium 2013 here.
Special Report
To mark the first Missing Peace Symposium, a special report entitled 'Wartime Sexual Violence: Misconceptions, Implications, and Ways Forward' was developed by Dara Kay Cohen, Amelia Hoover Green, and Elisabeth Jean Wood, and launched at the symposium.
Policy Briefs
Also for the occassion of the first Missing Peace Symposium, the following PRIO Policy Briefs on sexual violence were published:
- Cohen, Dara Kay & Ragnhild Nordås (2012) Sexual Violence by Militias in African Conflicts: Not a question of 'delegation' by states, PRIO Policy Brief, 1. Oslo: CSCW.
- Cohen, Dara Kay & Ragnhild Nordås (2012) Sexual Violence in African Conflicts, 1989–2009: What the data show, PRIO Policy Brief, 2. Oslo: CSCW.
- Nordås, Ragnhild (2012) Sexual Violence on the Decline? Recent debates and evidence suggest 'unlikely', PRIO Policy Brief, 3. Oslo: CSCW.
- Nordås, Ragnhild (2013) Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence, PRIO Policy Brief, 2. Oslo: PRIO.
- Skjelsbæk, Inger (2013) Preventing Perpetrators: How to go from protection to prevention of sexual violence in war? PRIO Policy Brief, 3. Oslo: PRIO.
About the Missing Peace Initiative
The Missing Peace Initiative was established in 2013 as a collaborative project of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and Women In International Security (WIIS).
The Initiative brings together scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and military and civil society actors to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, identify gaps in knowledge and reporting, and explore how to increase the effectiveness of current responses to such violence.
Policy Briefs on Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings is increasingly recognized as a threat to international peace and security. PRIO and the Centre for the Study of Civil War have recently published a number of policy briefs on the topic of conflict-related sexual violence.
Missing Peace Symposium 2013
PRIO is co-hosting a 3-day global symposium on sexual violence in conflict. The symposium takes place in Washington DC 14-16 February.
The aim of the symposium is to include findings from the latest academic research, as well as insights from practitioners working in conflict and post-conflict situations, including civil society actors, the military, and police.
Preventing Sexual Violence in War: Is Fighting Impunity the Only Game in Town?
PRIO Paper
Why Isn’t Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Treated the Same as Gender-Based Violence in Humanitarian Contexts?
Popular Article in PRIO Blogs
PRIO Launches New Centre on Gender, Peace and Security
Newsletter
Preventing Conflict-related Sexual Violence
PRIO Policy Brief
Preventing Perpetrators: How to go from protection to prevention of sexual violence in war?
PRIO Policy Brief
The Missing Peace Symposium 2013
Newsletter
Sexual Violence on the Decline? Recent debates and evidence suggest ‘unlikely’
CSCW Policy Brief
Sexual Violence by Militias in African Conflicts: Not a question of ‘delegation’ by states
CSCW Policy Brief
Sexual Violence in African Conflicts, 1989–2009: What the data show
CSCW Policy Brief
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Taking Stock of Research and Policy
COVID-19 and Conflict-related Sexual Violence: Relationships & Implications
Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: Reflections on the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
Missing Peace Symposium 2017: Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
How does international criminal prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence impact peacebuilding?
Bridging the Research and Policy Divides in Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Sexual Exploitation & Abuse
Missing Peace Symposium 2015: Accountability for Sexual Violence
Missing Peace Symposium 2013
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