Understanding and Addressing the Impact of Invisibility on Conflict-Related Male Sex Violence in Syria

The notion that the international community has a duty or "responsibility to protect" is not new. It has been raised not only in the context of armed conflict but also when addressing economic, social and cultural rights. In both contexts, the concept includes: the duty to respect; the duty to protect and; the duty to fulfil, that is, to work actively to establish political, economic, and social systems as well as infrastructure that provide access to the guaranteed right to all members of the population. While the responsibility to fulfil these obligations fall primarily to states within their own borders where a state fails or lacks capacity, that responsibility increasingly falls to the international community. Member states have, in turn, attempted to respond to the needs of individuals living in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States (FCAS) by developing protection interventions. Yet what is clear from existing academic research and UN reports, determining the most effective and appropriate protection interventions that affirm rights and mitigate physical or psychological harm poses a number of significant challenges for the international community.

In focusing on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), this proposal will address one such challenge and fill what we argue to be significant gaps in current research on male CRSV survivors. Drawing on the work of Jill Stauffer (2015) and Philipp Schultz (2018), we will apply Stauffer's concept of 'ethical loneliness,' defined as the "isolation one feels when one, as a violated person or as one member of a persecuted group, has been abandoned by humanity, or by those who have power" (1) to male CRSV survivors. We argue that in focusing on this subject group and adopting this conceptual framework, our research will engage four of the designated thematic areas of this call-Impact of Violations, Impact of Absent or Ineffective Protection Programming, Impact of Recognition Protection, Impact of Targeting on groups excluded from targeted protection/response. In his Ugandan study of sexual violence, Schultz argues that providing a better understanding of the "effects of externally imposed and gender-specific silencing" has a "wider utility beyond male sexual violence" allowing us to better understand and address the multiple needs of "survivors of political and wartime gendered violence more broadly." In focusing on male CRSV, the research and methods proposed will address each prong of the 'egg model' and:

1. Provide a comprehensive base for understanding the factors that lead to male CRSV, and its patterns of abuse;
2. Examine the impact of the initial violation and subsequent harm from the invisibility of male CRSV including: lack of access to appropriate, culturally and gender sensitive treatment and support for survivors and their family; impact on
societal cohesion of their community and; any further violence that may manifest.
3. Develop key strategies to address the layers of invisibility of male CRSV, and facilitate access to critical support and recovery services, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH), other medical care, Mental Health and Psycho-Social
Support (MHPSS), protection, and access to justice/reparations.

In each of these tasks, the research questions are designed to interrogate the drivers of invisibility (stigma, taboos, risks, gendered norms, absence or exclusion from policies and programming) which can leave male SV survivors behind. This, in turn, effects cohesion, stability and recovery within the wider community (including families - specifically women and girls, and community recovery post-conflict), and longer term, perhaps inter-generational transmission which has been seen for other atrocity crimes. The research design will also consider risk factors/victimology and typology, seeking to recognise risks and vulnerabilities of men and boys for CRSV in the first place (alert, prevention, protection).

There are a number of end-users to benefit from this proposed research. The first target group are male survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), their families and communities. Second, service providers for male survivors (including frontline humanitarian staff; health and psycho-social care workers, protection actors, justice actors, etc.). The third group are policy makers and donors, and finally, the academic community.

Survivors, their families and communities: By identifying risk factors, an alert system could quickly trigger appropriate protection interventions. Understanding drivers of invisibility illuminates paths for survivors to reach support services (and vice versa), improving prospects of recovery. The project is also designed to understand the radiating impact of unaddressed MSV. So far, there is little data on the ongoing sequelae of this violence. Through understanding this impact, communities will benefit from the development of more effective and attuned protection responses and services, reaching across primary, secondary and extending impacts of MSV. This benefits the families of survivors, and with the increasing visibility and tackling of stigma, better community attitudes, rehabilitation and cohesion should follow.

Service providers: These impacts allow these sectors to reach past invisibility (screening tools) and give them vital data on how to serve this community (impact data, invisibility drivers). This research is a multi-disciplinary collaboration which brings together practitioners and academics each of whom has extensive regional and/or in-country experience. Our ODA partner has extensive local knowledge and training in CRSV. Our UK partners are experts in the field of CRSV. Through context appropriate data collection, this work will help in developing protection and response mechanisms that reflect this particular context (religious, cultural and communal). Given the extent of MSV in Syria, survivor recovery will be a vital part of peace-building, stabilisation and community resilience.

Policy makers/donors: A body of research around CRSV service delivery suggests that restraints imposed by donors (often driven by policy agendas) impact agencies and NGO's abilities to include MSV programming in their strategic plans. This, in turn, manifests in less policy creativity with NGOs working to "donors' policy priorities" with "little room to develop their own priorities" (Bieber 2002, 28). For MSV, this has impacted in distinct ways. The first is that "policy discourses and practices in international organizations continue to operationalize sexual violence as male-on-female ... and portray male rape as aberrational," (Zalewski, Drumond, Prugl & Stern 2018: 2), a key driver of invisibility of MSV. The second is that service providers believe that any resources for MSV would divert from and reduce already limited funds for responding to violence against women and girls.
The project specifically aims to break this cycle by developing innovative and transformative approaches to alerts, identification, MSV stigma and gendered causes, and attuned services for male survivors. Specifically, partnering with a local Co-I, with access to and an understanding of the local context, creates conditions that are conducive to collecting data that is informed and substantive, and adheres to 'Do No Harm' principles. To date, much of the data collected on Syria (and MENA contexts) is qualitative, derived mainly small sample studies and outside of the conflict area (predominately in refugee camps). As we are proposing mixed methods, follow-up tracing of impact, in-country interviews covering risk factors, stigma, attitudes and practice, and radiating impact in communities, we believe that our approach will make an original contribution to the wider research and academic community that will extend well beyond our case study.