Sexual violence is routinely used in conflict spaces as ‘a weapon of war’.  Ongoing conflicts marked by conflict-related sexual violence include those in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Syria and Yemen, to name but some.  This is despite important advances in understanding the patterns of sexual violence, its causes and its consequences and in international legal and political efforts to combat it. 

It is clear that sexual violence is not an inevitable corollary of conflict; its usage by armed groups varies widely between the nature and prevalent modes of abuse, the identities of targeted victims and in levels of intensity.  This panel will take stock of how and where international responses to conflict-related sexual violence have fallen short and ask what specific tools the Responsibility to Protect affords to policymakers and practitioners, both in prevention and response.