Perceptions of sexual violence: A discourse analysis of documents from the Peace and Security Council of the African Union 2010-2020
(2021) STVM25 20211Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- This thesis dives into the issue of conflict-related sexual violence through the empirical case of the African Union and its Peace and Security Council (PSC), aiming at understanding how conflict-related sexual violence is constructed within the PSC between 2010-2020. Applying a feminist power theory and through a discourse analysis, the thesis asks four open-ended questions regarding: conflicts, perpetrators, victims and solutions to the materials consisting of meeting documents from the PSC. The results show a broad understanding and variety of conflicts discussed with cross-cutting themes touched upon. Non-state actors and AU-troops were most frequently viewed as perpetrators. A wide range of victims were discussed with a dual... (More)
- This thesis dives into the issue of conflict-related sexual violence through the empirical case of the African Union and its Peace and Security Council (PSC), aiming at understanding how conflict-related sexual violence is constructed within the PSC between 2010-2020. Applying a feminist power theory and through a discourse analysis, the thesis asks four open-ended questions regarding: conflicts, perpetrators, victims and solutions to the materials consisting of meeting documents from the PSC. The results show a broad understanding and variety of conflicts discussed with cross-cutting themes touched upon. Non-state actors and AU-troops were most frequently viewed as perpetrators. A wide range of victims were discussed with a dual perception of victims as ‘weak’ and ‘survivors/agents’ as the overarching victim-characteristics. Lastly, the main solutions for sexual violence were ending impunity, alongside a smaller discourse of dealing with root causes of structural gender inequality. The PSC neglected parts of the accountability for conflict-related sexual violence as they overlooked governmental forces as perpetrators as well as low accountability within AU-mandated peace operations. The conclusion is that the PSC balances between understanding structural power assumptions embedded in sexual violence but simultaneously still adhering to a narrow understanding of sexual crimes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9045065
- author
- Melin-Higgins, Freya LU
- supervisor
-
- Markus Holdo LU
- organization
- course
- STVM25 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Sexual violence, conflict-related sexual violence, African Union, Peace and Security Council, discourse analysis, feminist power theory
- language
- English
- id
- 9045065
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-06 11:04:07
- date last changed
- 2021-07-06 11:04:07
@misc{9045065, abstract = {{This thesis dives into the issue of conflict-related sexual violence through the empirical case of the African Union and its Peace and Security Council (PSC), aiming at understanding how conflict-related sexual violence is constructed within the PSC between 2010-2020. Applying a feminist power theory and through a discourse analysis, the thesis asks four open-ended questions regarding: conflicts, perpetrators, victims and solutions to the materials consisting of meeting documents from the PSC. The results show a broad understanding and variety of conflicts discussed with cross-cutting themes touched upon. Non-state actors and AU-troops were most frequently viewed as perpetrators. A wide range of victims were discussed with a dual perception of victims as ‘weak’ and ‘survivors/agents’ as the overarching victim-characteristics. Lastly, the main solutions for sexual violence were ending impunity, alongside a smaller discourse of dealing with root causes of structural gender inequality. The PSC neglected parts of the accountability for conflict-related sexual violence as they overlooked governmental forces as perpetrators as well as low accountability within AU-mandated peace operations. The conclusion is that the PSC balances between understanding structural power assumptions embedded in sexual violence but simultaneously still adhering to a narrow understanding of sexual crimes.}}, author = {{Melin-Higgins, Freya}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Perceptions of sexual violence: A discourse analysis of documents from the Peace and Security Council of the African Union 2010-2020}}, year = {{2021}}, }