Accountability for State Failures to Prevent Sexual Assault in Evacuation Centres and Temporary Shelters : A Human Rights-Based Approach

Abstract:
This chapter examines the role that legal actors can play in promoting accountability for, and thereby potentially contributing to the reduction in the incidence of sexual assault in situations of disaster displacement, particularly in evacuation centres and temporary shelters. It argues that justice-sector actors can contribute to accountability for and a reduction in sexual assault in evacuation centres and temporary shelters by advancing legal arguments through litigation in domestic and regional courts, as well as in wider advocacy initiatives. The chapter discusses a specific contribution to the literature on both gender-based violence in disasters and disaster displacement by focusing on the due diligence argument in the context of evacuation centres and temporary shelters. The result of an unsafe evacuation centre or temporary shelter is that women and girls in particular are exposed to a heightened risk of sexual assault than in everyday life.