Conditions, scope and forms of violence amongst conflict-related refugee communities

For most persons, the end of conflicts does not represent the end of violence. Current studies argue that escaping from war and repression to refugee and IDP camps only offers a certain degree of protection against violent assaults. In recent years, the body of literature about sexual violence against women and men in camps has grown, shedding some light on the scope of the abuses. While refugee and aid agencies recognise the continuum of violence and vulnerability of forcibly displaced persons - especially women and girls - as targets of violence and implement measures to protect them, the international record of assaults reveals that violence against and amongst refugee and IDP communities is a global phenomenon and not limited to camps. Particularly sexual and gender-based violence but also other forms of direct, structural and cultural violence are therefore known to constitute great challenges for refugees and IDPs. In spite of the growing attention to issues, the majority of studies focus on female victims in camps and therefore (re-)produced binary categories of masculine forcefulness and feminine vulnerability and factored out the complexity, omnipresence and multi-dimensionality of violence against and amongst refugees and IDPs.

Against this backdrop, the objective of our volume is to explore conditions, scope and forms of violence against and amongst refugees and IDPs in countries of the global south with a focus on (but no strict limitation to) sexual and gender-based violence. By bringing together researchers and policymakers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the volume aims to include theoretical approaches, regional case studies and policy analyses. Contributions might address the following questions: Is there a continuum of conflict-related violence in post-conflict refugee/IDP settings? What forms of violence exists in which settings? Who conducts violent acts against whom; are there patterns? Are there differences in scales and scope of violence in refugee camps and self-settled contexts? What role does refugee/IDP protection and assistance play to prevent, overcome or perhaps manifest violence? Is the process of renegotiating gender relations in refugee contextsrelated to the occurrence of violence? If so, how? Why is sexual violence a taboo in many regional contexts and how can unreported cases be pursued and victims supported? What is/can be done to (better) prevent and respond to violence? What instruments and policies exist to deal with violence, trauma and victims support? How effective are they?