The project was conceived as a measure to analyze, aggregate and consolidate diverse knowledge and experience on the issues of conflict-related sexual violence, reparations and the Survivors-Centered Approach accumulated by a variety of actors, including UN agencies, independent experts, legal practitioners, scholars, civil society organization representatives and survivors. The initiative followed up on a series of important events and processes which marked 2019 as one of the most significant years for promoting and enhancing justice measures in the interest of survivors.

The project centered on a Workshop on Advancing Reparations for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, which took place in New York on 31 October and 1 November 2019. The global attention to the issues related to the needs and the rights of the survivors of CRSV continued beyond the inception and the finalization of the project, resulting in number of academic articles published by QUB, LSE and other institutions, continuous advocacy by civil society and survivors’ associations, and country level interventions (e.g. in Iraq). The issue remains high on the transitional justice and the Women, Peace and Security agendas. Notable developments since the inception of the project are the increased networking between survivors (through the SEMA network), the enhanced exchange of experiences between states and most importantly, the establishment of the Global Survivors Trust Fund promoted by the Mukwege Foundation and Nadia’s Initiative. Entities of the UN system, particularly the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, continued and increased their advocacy and other efforts both at the global and the country levels, while specialized UN agencies such as IOM, UN WOMEN, UNFPA and others continued to support government and civil society in the development and implementation of reparations and survivors’ assistance programs across the globe.

The overall goal of the project was to contribute toward the conflict-related sexual violence agenda in the interest of the survivors, with specific reference to exploring linkages between reparations and a survivors-centered approach, and their integration in the overall prevention, accountability and redress efforts. The outcome of the project was to improve the understanding about the linkages between reparations and survivors-centred approach and its integration into reparations and other transitional justice measures.