About this Research Topic

Background

While the violence of war, conflict and environmental displacement affects all members of populations, the forms, experiences and consequences of this violence are always gendered and intersectional, affecting diverse categories of people differently. The gender-specific dimension of violence refers to the originating factors, motivations, forms and consequences of violence, and often incorporates all these dimensions. Gender-based violence is also understood as intersectional, i.e. affecting differently and being impacted by multiple, interacting social memberships and identities beyond gender.

This call welcomes empirical research and theoretical analyses of diverse and intersectional forms of gender-based violence within the process of displacement and forced migration in various international contexts:

Structural Gender-Based Violence

In structural terms, gender-based violence during displacement or forced migration may be the result of the absence, “neutrality”, misinterpretation or inadequate enforcement of the law. Gender-based violence experienced in displacement and forced migration can also be the result of state, political, social or community practices. Themes here may include:

· Gender and Refugees in International Human Rights Law
· Gender and Refugees in International Humanitarian Law
· Gender and Migrants in International Law
· Gender, Migrants and Refugees in State Laws, Policies and Practices
· Gender, Migrants and Refugees and International Politics
· Securitization and Borders

Gender-Based Violence and the Interpersonal

Inadequate legal, state, and other institutional and social protective contexts create enabling environments and may even directly translate into gender-based violence at the interpersonal or group level. This violence is perpetrated by a range of actors linked to migratory journeys.

· Gender and Trafficking
· Gender-based Violence in Refugee Camps and Reception Facilities
· Gender-based Violence in Transit and Border Crossings
· Gender-based Violent Experiences of Diverse Groups

Causes and Consequences of Displacement and Forced Migration

Gender-based violence may be the cause, aggravating factor or consequence of displacement and forced migration, enabled by, or contributing to, the precarious status of displaced people. It may emerge or be reinforced post displacement, during flight, in transit, upon reaching “safety”, or in the settlement process.

· Gender-Based Violence and Displacement
· Gender-Based Violence in the Settlement Process
· Domestic and IP Violence in Migration
· Forced Marriage as a Cause or Outcome of Displacement and Forced Migration
· FGM in Displacement and Forced Migration

Strategies of Resistance

Women (and men) who experience gender-based violence are not only “victims” but develop strategies of resistance and resilience both individually and as part of networks

· Strategies of Resistance to GBV in Migration
· Networks of Support for GBV Survivors
· Access to Medical, Legal and Social Services for Victims
· The Role of Ethnic and Local Communities
· Civil Society and Solidarity Movements

Keywords: gender-based violence, forced migration, intersectionality, displacement as process, structural and interpersonal levels

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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