Gendering the Security Sector. Protecting Civilians Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Though ’gender issues’ are largely a part of the policy debate in the UN system, there are significant challenges to materialize efforts to more gender-balanced approaches to peacekeeping and peace-building missions. In practice, gender issues are often separated from other security concerns and/or added ad hoc in training of security sector forces. Instead, the central argument of the report is to understand gender issues as an integral approach to the Protection of Civilians (PoC) framework. This report seeks to identify three core elements of ‘gendering’ the security sector reform approaches in the Democratic republic of Congo. These include (1) the physical protection of civilians, (2) the social protection of civilians and (3) the legal protection of civilians in the DRC.