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18 May 2022 – G7 member-states have highlighted the need to strengthen international collaboration to tackle sexual and gender-based violence. Rising global incidence, including in conflict settings and among refugee populations, has been underlined by both G7 Foreign Ministers and Development Ministers at their respective meetings in Germany this month. This builds on concern expressed at the 2021 UK-led G7 Summit, leading to agreement this year to develop a shared position statement on the issue.
“We condemn sexual and gender-based violence, including when related to conflict, and underscore that such acts may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes,” wrote the G7 Foreign Ministers in a communique issued on 14 May in Weissenhaus, Germany. “We recognize the need to strengthen the implementation of the international architecture to tackle conflict-related sexual violence and commit to setting out a shared position in response to G7 Leaders’ request to Foreign and Development Ministers on this issue at Carbis Bay (UK) in 2021.”
“We condemn sexual and gender-based violence, including when related to conflict, and underscore that such acts may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes,” wrote the G7 Foreign Ministers in a communique issued on 14 May in Weissenhaus, Germany. “We recognize the need to strengthen the implementation of the international architecture to tackle conflict-related sexual violence and commit to setting out a shared position in response to G7 Leaders’ request to Foreign and Development Ministers on this issue at Carbis Bay (UK) in 2021.”
This position was echoed in a communique from a meeting of the G7 Development Ministers on 18 May: “We all commit to leading the wider response community in keeping SGBV prevention and response activities at the forefront of all humanitarian interventions … The alarming occurrences in Ukraine and many other fragile contexts demonstrate once again that conflicts, violence and humanitarian crises and their consequences are not gender neutral: women and children, especially girls, and those marginalized based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in conflict, crisis and displacement are particularly vulnerable.”
Greater inclusion and participation of women in decision-making processes is required, said member-states. “In close alignment with the Women Peace and Security Agenda, we commit to intensifying our efforts to secure their full, equal, effective and meaningful participation in social, economic and political decision-making as well as conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes.”
It is estimated that more than 1 in 5 displaced women experience sexual violence amid a backdrop of rising global incidence of sexual and gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PMNCH Call for Action on COVID-19 calls for immediate action on this issue, highlighted in the recent Lives in the Balance Summit on humanitarian and fragile settings.
The G7 discussions now move on to the G7 Leader’s Summit on the 26th to 28th June at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Germany. The Leaders will have to build on the Ministerial statements to put concrete action plans in place to address the crises of Covid-19 and the impact of the war in Ukraine and elsewhere on women and girls, to meet the SRHR needs of women and girls.