Finding a Way Forward After Conflict Related Sexual Violence

Welcome to the second episode of Transforming Transitional Justice, a podcast from the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation, a flagship program of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, a global network of historic sites, museums and memory initiatives that support communities to confront painful pasts in order to establish more just and peaceful societies today. Each episode of the podcast focuses on common issues that post-conflict communities face - from helping victims heal from conflict-related sexual violence and bolstering communities' ability to search for their missing to documenting violations. We'll explore these issues through GIJTR's unique, survivor-centered lens. In this episode, we explore the complex process of healing after conflict related sexual violence. Despite the many conflicts fought around the globe in the last century, it was not until the 1990s that the prevalence of sexual violence during them began to be addressed. Some attribute this to the powerful testimonies of survivors given during the international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, which made it all too clear that sexual violence - long seen as a byproduct of war - was in fact a deliberate strategy used to fracture the social fabric of communities. Our guests guide us through the realities of conflict-related sexual violence, the importance of locally led, compassionate care, and share ways that transitional justice mechanisms can better help societies and individuals begin to heal from such trauma. VISIT: www.gijtr.org to learn more Guests include: Sarah Case, a deputy program director of the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth, and Reconciliation, who has worked with survivors of sexual violence in multiple contexts, including Colombia, Ukraine, Nepal, and Cambodia. Fatou Baldeh, the founder of Women in Liberation and Leadership, or WILL, a local GIJTR partner in The Gambia that works to support victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the country.

Bibiana Pinaranda Sepulveda, a Colombian activist and participant in a GIJTR project focusing on the reintegration of women victims of conflict-related sexual violence and children born of war.