Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF):
Women in an Insecure World Project

I am closing in on the last week of my internship with DCAF's Women in an Insecure World Programme, in Geneva.  Here is a brief account of my time here thus far.

My task over these last months has been to take the first steps in developing DCAF's initiative, "Reporting Reality", which is concerned with the documentation of sexual violence in conflict and crises.  DCAF is a founding member of AllianceDARC (Alliance for Direct Action Against Rape in Conflicts and Crises), a coalition established by four Geneva-based organizations last year with the aim of mobilizing, and supporting existing, efforts to rebuild broken lives and redress wrongs, and to bring personal safety, report reality and reduce future sexual violence.  "Reporting Reality" is DCAF's first project under the auspices of the Alliance.

In the first week of my internship, with the guidance of my supervisor Megan Bastick, I developed a work programme and enumerated anticipated deliverables, which included an annotated bibliography on sexual violence in conflict, a list of key institutions engaged in work to document incidents, and a discussion paper identifying the major methodological challenge surrounding the collection, analysis and impact of documenting incidents, based on a review of existing reports.

The report has been completed, and circulated to AllianceDARC partners for comments.  The finalized document will form the basis for bilateral discussions with others doing work in this field, and for an expert meeting planned for later this year.  Throughout the process of developing this discussion paper, I have read extensively on sexual violence in conflict, and have met with others working in this area from a number of organizations, both within Geneva and farther afield.   

Nearly three months ago, I was a newcomer to nearly every aspect of this work.  I quickly found, however, that this topic - both disturbing and complex - absorbed me; I have learned a great deal, but more than that I have been affected in a way that motivates me to continue working on the themes of women, displacement and violence.  Now, days from the end of my time here, I feel grateful to have been a part of this newborn initiative, and hope that it will achieve the ambitious aims it has set for itself.