Browsing by Subject "SGBV"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
The conceptualization problem in research and responses to sexual and gender-based violence in forced migration
(Taylor&Francis, 2020) Özçürümez, Saime; Akyüz, Selin; Bradby, H.
The conceptualization of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has developed rapidly over recent decades and the understanding of SGBV in the context of forced migration continues to evolve. Based on a scoping review of scholarly work and reports by non-governmental organizations and international organizations between 1993 and 2018, this study identifies limitations to the current conceptualization of SGBV, and proposes a re-conceptualization. The paper argues that the existing literature overemphasizes the contexts of war zones and conflict and excludes post-flight settings, and focuses mainly on the victimization of women, excluding other at-risk groups. The tendency to focus on conflict zones and to underline the victim status of women constrains the usefulness of the conceptualization for informing research as well as protection and response. This review considers the multifaceted causes and consequences of gendered vulnerabilities and insecurities that are exposed in forced migration processes in order to make sense of SGBV as a gendered harm. Through a constructivist and de-essentialising theoretical lens, the study proposes to conceptualize SGBV in terms of continuities in forced migration occuring over time in interwoven territories and a variety of contexts from countries of origin to settlement.
Open Access
Geographies of shame: Diachronic and transnational shame in forced migrants with experiences of sexual and gender-based violencd
(Oxford University Press, 2022-06-30) Papoutsi, A.; Phillimore, J.; Akyüz, Selin; Bradby, H.; Goodson, L.; Vaughan, C.
This article investigates the shame that forced migrants bear because of experiences of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Using data from the UK, Turkey, Sweden, and Australia, we focus on shame experienced by women and LGBTQIA+ forced migrants throughout their journey, across borders and cultures. We propose three key ways to understand the complexities of shame from an experiential, temporal, and spatial perspective. First, we discuss how shame, often relating to family honour and stemming from survivors’ experiences in their home country, travels with them over time and space. We then move on to illustrate how prolonged and/or delayed feelings of shame impact on survivors’ self-confidence, self-worth, and trust in people and institutions. Finally, we consider the specific challenges LGBTQIA+ individuals face and how shame affected their settlement prospects. We argue that the SGBV experiences of forced migrants and the associated shame transcend time and space, forming landscapes of transnational and diachronic shame. Our analysis underlines the need for gender and sexuality-sensitive services for forced migrants in countries of refuge, which take into account potential ongoing effects of experiences of violence.
Open Access
“We are forgotten”: forced migration, sexual and gender-based violence, and coronavirus disease-2019
(Sage Publications, 2021-09-17) Phillimore, J.; Pertek, S.; Akyuz, Selin; Darkal, H.; Hourani, J.; McKnight, P.; Ozcurumez, Saime; Taal, S.
Adopting a structural violence approach, this article explores, with survivors and practitioners, how early coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic conditions affected forced migrant sexual and gender-based violence survivors’ lives. Introducing a new analytical framework combining violent abandonment, slow violence, and violent uncertainty, we show how interacting forms of structural violence exacerbated by pandemic conditions intensified existing inequalities. Abandonment of survivors by the state increased precarity, making everyday survival more difficult, and intensified prepandemic slow violence, while increased uncertainty heightened survivors’ psychological distress. Structural violence experienced during the pandemic can be conceptualized as part of the continuum of violence against forced migrants, which generates gendered harm.