Journal of Management (JOM)

Volume 7, Issue 4, July – August 2020, pp. 1–11, Article ID: JOM_07_04_001
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/jom/issues.asp?JType=JOM&VType=7&IType=4
Journal Impact Factor (2020): 6.1633 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com
ISSN Print: 2347-3940 and ISSN Online: 2347-3959
DOI: 10.34218/JOM.7.4.2020.001
© IAEME Publication

ASSESSING THE INABILITY TO ATTAIN

SUSTAINABLE THREAT MITIGATION
STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN’S SECURITY IN
THE 21ST CENTURY
Abhiraj Goswami
Undergraduate Student, Department of International Relations,
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

Shreyosi Roy
Undergraduate Student, Department of Comparative Literature,
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

Prithwiraj Basu
Undergraduate Student, Department of Economics,
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

ABSTRACT
When we look ahead from the times when security was only comprehended as
mitigation strategies to do away with direct military threats to the sovereignty of a
state, the 21st century presents us with a wider dimension to review. When we speak
about peace and security of women, whether it is in a conflict zone or in a zone of
Socio-economic instability, it is the sustainability of threat mitigation strategies that
come into the radar during efforts of Post-Conflict reconstruction. When we look back
upon the initiatives that have been taken by the countries, pledging mutual
cooperation as the fundamental foundation to pave the way for safeguarding peace,
we find no coherence in contemporary International Politics to do the same. Whether
it was the Beijing Declaration in 1994 or the number of United Nations Security
Council Resolutions, every following report by the Secretary General has a rather
unfortunate story of failure in it. We find this lack of coherence ironical amidst the
contemporary international order that uses regional organizations, alliance politics
and the United Nations for the sake of attaining uniformity in its approach towards a
goal. Thus, using the operational methods and documents of the UN, its member states
and other international bodies, we wish to look back at the instances and analyze them
in light of the present world order to critically asses what leads to an imperfect
approach while successfully and sustainably secure women amidst chaos and conflict.
In this paper, we make an effort to analyze the political trend behind a failure to
properly do away with the threats to women security. The primary premise of the

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 Assessing the Inability to Attain Sustainable Threat Mitigation Strategies for Women’s Security in
the 21st Century

arguments that this paper puts forward is how the existing foreign policy juggernauts
between countries as a natural consequence of varied national interests pushes down
the broader goal of safeguarding women. This is highlighted by the cultural
distinction in civilizations, manifested directly in the form of separate legal
frameworks that are prioritized by the countries concerned, respectively. When we
speak about the importance to come up with sustainable mitigation strategies, this
paper shall bring to light the diverging pattern of the international recognition of
women’s rights and peace that directly questions the effectiveness of women’s security
in the 21st Century. As the world increasingly urges for consensus, how much of it is feasible
or is it really a farce? The research involved has been conducted through analysis of
secondary data sources.
Keywords: mitigation strategies, women’s security, united nations, threat mitigation
strategies
Cite this Article: Abhiraj Goswami, Shreyosi Roy and Prithwiraj Basu, Assessing the
Inability to Attain Sustainable Threat Mitigation Strategies for Women’s Security in
the 21st Century, Journal of Management (JOM), 7 (4), 2020, pp. 1–7.
http://www.iaeme.com/JOM/issues.asp?JType=JOM&VType=7&IType=4

1. INTRODUCTION
Armed conflict still continues to be an approach if not a solution, for ending political tensions
and even through loss of lives through genocide and fatal injuries, worsening health and
abominable living conditions, loss of property, economic loss and instability are all effects of
war, the consequences faced by women as a result of war, are far more acute and intense in
nature. Women in zones of conflict have been subjected to some sort of sexual perpetration,
be it rape or sexual assault. These crimes of war like sexual violence against women cannot be
considered as direct consequences of war but rather actions of the people involved in the
armed conflict. Women who are such victims of war, stop appearing to be human but rather
become mere bodies up in which any kind of pain or harm can be inflicted. There exists the
assurance that a women in regions of political instability, who has been forced to be a sex
slave or some sort of a captive, does not have any value placed against her life. The
circumstances of the state are not alone when a missing woman report will be seriously
considered and the violators do not feel any guilt or remorse, before afflicting all kinds of
torture on the woman. War leaves half the female population in the conflict zone as widows
and many women resort to options like prostitution to support their basic needs and
necessities. Here, we aim to highlight the brutalities faced by women in conflict and post-
conflict zone and their role as its victims.
This paper fundamentally uses these instances to highlight how the absence of political
solutions to contemporary conflicts further aggravates the situation where it is impossible to
devise strategies that can mitigate the threats faced by women in armed conflicts in a
sustainable manner over a considerable period of time. We aim to highlight the brutalities
faced by women in conflict and post-conflict zone and their role as its victims. This paper is
about a political failure highlighted through the appalling state of women in a region of
political turmoil that in turn points out the existing deadlocks in International Politics that
happens due to opposing country policies. We aim to look at these factors and aim to question
about how women and their security are placed in conflict and post-conflict zones.

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2. INABILITY OF THE PARENT STATE TO ASSURE SECURITY

Every region that experiences a militarized political instability, women unfortunately bear the
brunt way more intensely as compared to other citizens who are non-participants to the
conflict. Categorical violence in the form of sexual oppression and torture by the belligerents
along with a continuous shrinkage in employment opportunities on part of the governments
further drive women into total deprivation from their basic rights, rights to the basic resources
and amenities, and in worse scenarios, their right to life.
It makes women acutely vulnerable to poverty, unemployment and the destruction of
assets such as homes. Essential health services become scarce, accompanied by a maternal
mortality rate that is 2.5 times higher on average, in contemporary conflict and post-conflict
countries. Often the only respite is to flee within countries or across borders.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, women comprise 49 per cent of the
refugees from conflict-struck areas. An overall volatile circumstance due to this instability
leads to a lot of loose ends in terms of border security that gets exploited for intense
trafficking of women and children that further corresponds to the existence of commercial
sex-trafficking networks, hurting the bodily integrity of these women. Irresponsible state
government policies that fail to secure women with a future with the basic amenities in terms
of food, shelter and a bare minimum income leads to women turning helpless under these
circumstances. This often turns these situations to be unopposed, no matter how ugly the
network becomes for these women. With political consensus on prostitution remaining far
from reality, women are deprived from even the bare minimum healthcare services that have
led to a boom in the number of STDs that spread across people who flee from war torn
regions.

3. EXTREMISM AND THE FATE OF WOMEN IN CONFLICT

Extremist groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram repeatedly use sexual violence because it
disrupts and further de-stabilizes families and communities, and stigmatizes women. With
every passing day, there is another story about the horrific violence Islamic State is
perpetrating against women and girls. ISIS fighters reportedly raped four women, and then
stoned them to death in February for “committing adultery”. In 2014 saw the ISIS leading a
massacre an estimated 5,000 civilians on Mount Sinjar in Iraq, that compelled hundreds of
people to flee and condemning their actions of forcing hundreds of Yazidi women to sexual
slavery. The stories from women who have escaped ISIS reveal extreme brutality. Journalists
and human rights organizations have tried to portray the severity of these atrocities that
comprise of sexual slavery, forced marriage, kidnapping and rape. Though each conflict is
unique, we have seen time and again that sexual violence is a systematic and strategic tool of
war – not simply an inevitable consequence. The abuses ISIS perpetrates find justification in
the name of religion sanctioned by referring to the Quran, based on their radical
interpretations. Sexual violence – and violence against women more has unfortunately
become a cornerstone of Islamic Radicalization and in particular, the ISIS‟s drive to build a
caliphate and as they keep exploring ways to de-stabilize the world, their activities keep
disrupting International Peace. Hence, we classify these acts as direct threats to International
Security and as women are being used as mere puppets to de- stabilize, we reach appoint
where we have no answers to the everlasting black hole in terms of securing women from war
crimes and violence.

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4. SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS A TOOL OF WAR

Violence against women, has added the most unfortunate brand of shame to recent wars.
Conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Peru to Rwanda are characterized by girls and women
have been targeted for rape, imprisonment, torture and execution. Rape has been documented
in many armed conflicts including those in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, Liberia, Somalia
and Uganda. Systematic rape is a prevalently used weapon of war in 'ethnic cleansing'.
Muslim women have been sexually assaulted in Bosnia since fighting began in April 1992.
Teenage girls have been tortured in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, according to The
State of the World's Children 1996 report. The report also says that impregnated girls have
been forced to bear 'the enemy's' child. In some raids in Rwanda, virtually every adolescent
girl who survived an attack by the militia was subsequently raped. Many of those who became
pregnant were abandoned by their families and communities.
Sexual violation of women erodes the fundamental fabric of a community in a way that
very few weapons can. Rape's damage can be devastating owing to strong communal
reactions. The harm inflicted in such cases is an attack on her family and culture, as in many
societies women are viewed as repositories of a community's cultural and spiritual values.
Additionally girls and women are also subject to forced prostitution and trafficking during
times of war, sometimes with the complicity of military authorities. Many Asian women were
also involved in prostitution during the Viet Nam war. The trend continues in today's
conflicts. In the contested Kashmir Valley with India and Pakistan fighting over it since their
independence, atrocities and sexual violence perpetrated by both the countries have made life
miserable for women. Sexual violence on part of the AFSPA and the Pakistani Law
Enforcement Personnel has been brutal.

5. RELEVANT CASE STUDIES

Although the United Nations had adopted a policy of Zero Tolerance towards sexual
exploitation in terms of delivering humanitarian aid and its peacekeepers, the reality shows a
rather dismal picture of failure in addressing the plight of women stuck in conflict zones. Let
us take a look at some well-known cases-

5.1. Syria
 The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) concluded on an assessment of gender
based violence in the region last year to state that humanitarian assistance was being
exchanged for sex in various governorates in Syria. The report, entitled "Voices from
Syria 2018 spoke of examples where women or girls were marrying officials briefly
for 'sexual services' in order to receive food transportation and other basic amenities.
 Indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas has a dramatic effect on these societies and
its fabric. The effect of explosive weapons with respect to collateral damage extends to
wider dimensions leads to forced displacement, the erosion of social capital and the
loss of basic infrastructure which affect women disproportionately.
 Instability created by war has led to an increase in the use of individual small arms. The
proliferation of small arms has an impact on women leading to increasing levels of
domestic violence and restriction of their movement.
 The cracking down on activists since the beginning of the uprising in 2011 has led to
the arrest of innumerable women. Conditions of detention are appalling. Repression
and violence against women civil activists by the security forces is systematically
escalating. Activists face various forms of abuse, including arbitrary arrests, abduction

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and torture inside and outside the security branches and official and unofficial
detention centers. The regime has kept on accusing women activists of being terrorists
to justify their arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance and they are also
deprived of their basic rights. The regime has also applied psychological abuse and
harassment to force civil activists to leave the country.
 In areas controlled by the al-Nusra Front or the so called Islamic State (IS), there are a
lot of strict and socially biased rules against women. These include a restriction on
their movement and involvement in public life. In areas control by IS, Human Rights
Watch have reported numerous cases of sexual enslaving of women and girls.
 Contracting economic conditions have given rise to human trafficking in refugee camps
in Jordan and Lebanon. There are instances of wealthy men approaching families to
marry their underage girls in return for money. Poor living conditions force women
into prostitution. In April 2016, the largest ever human trafficking network was
uncovered in Lebanon in which 75 Syrian women were trapped into sexual slavery.
 Access to health services has been largely disrupted both in Syria and in surrounding
countries. Syrian medical facilities have been regularly targeted by military operations
 since 2011. The medical sector has also been suffering by the damages done to the
electricity and water infrastructure. A report submitted by MADRE to UN Universal
Periodic Review quotes pregnant women in Syria frequently being unable to access
hospitals for necessary care. To add to that, an increasing number of women have been
forced to give birth through cesarean sections to avoid traveling in insecure
environments while in labor. The UN Population Fund reported in 2014 that 200,000
pregnant women gave birth in unsafe conditions, lacking medical care.

5.2. Yemen
 The conflict in Yemen has been nothing but catastrophic for its civilian population.
Lakhs have been killed and over 12 million people are now targeted for humanitarian
assistance. Under these conditions, women are more vulnerable than ever to violence
and exploitation. Yemeni women and girls are the ones who unfortunately pay the
price of war. Around 76 per cent of internally displaced persons are women and
children, and about 21 per cent of households of internally displaced persons as well
as host communities are led by women below the age of 18.
 The most urgent issues for women are in the form of the lack of medical care and the
consequences of economic devastation that has been an apparent trend. Reported
gender- based violence incidents hiked by 36 per cent in 2017, and child marriage
rates have risen up to 66 per cent, as of 2017. An estimated 1.1 million pregnant and
lactating women turned out to be malnourished as lack of humanitarian access to
conflict-affected areas and difficulties obtaining food and medical supplies persist,
according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
 According to UNFPA, since the time the conflict began, more than 3 million Yemeni
women and girls are at risk of gender-based violence, and 68,000 women are at risk of
sexual violence, especially in the form of rape. Many cases of gender-based violence
remain underreported, adding to an incomplete picture of the scale of violence against
women.
 Ever-rising food prices and the continuing blockade on imports of essential food items
further deteriorate the situation with innumerable women and girls in need of urgent
food assistance. In a typical Yemeni society men and boys have their meal first, and

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only then can women and girls eat. Even with food shortages, men still eat first, and
women and girls – including pregnant and lactating women – still eat last.

5.3. Kashmir
 Maintaining a very neutral political stance on the issue of Kashmir, let us try to accept
the fact that both in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Indian Occupied Kashmir
(IoK), violence against women have been experiencing a continuous upsurge
involving the army personnel as perpetrators. However, it is not only the Law
Enforcement Agents, but also the rebel groups that operate in the region, who have
committed war crimes against women and are responsible for the appalling condition.
 It is impossible to point out the exact number of conflict-related rapes that have been
committed in Kashmir, owing to a multitude of factors including deliberate obstacles
created on part of the Indian government into impartial investigations of these crimes.
Various rebel groups operating in the region have also been blamed of perpetrating
sexual violence, including rape.
 During these of anti-India armed insurgency, numerous horrific cases of rape have
been attributed to the rebel groups. In April 1990, rebels of the Jammu Kashmir
Liberation Front abducted a female nurse from the hospital where she worked, on the
suspicion of being a secret informer for the Indian army. Her mutilated body was
found abandoned on the roadside in Srinagar, Kashmir's capital city. Consequent
Investigations stated that Sarla had been raped before being shot dead. In March 30
1992, suspected armed rebels barged into a residential house of a retired lorry driver
Sohanlal in Srinagar's Kralkhud locality and killed his wife Bimla and daughter
Archana after molesting them.
 Apart from direct violence of sexual nature, the local populace is also exposed to
crimes such as sex-trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors. An elaborate sex-
trafficking scandal came into light in 2006 where about 100 Kashmiri women and
girls were forced into prostitution and pornography by the region's state bureaucrats
and political leaders.
 The Indian forces enjoy practical impunity even when it comes to the crimes such as
rape and sexual abuse. Out of the many reported cases of rape and sexual abuse, only a
few have been brought to investigation, none of them have ever resulted in criminal
prosecution. The deep-rooted culture of impunity is so endemic and that the high-
ranking officials in the Indian army are often found justifying rape and sexual abuse
under the pretext of "stressful conditions that military personnel face".
 A data available with State Commission for Women had reported that the Commission
received over 500 complaints of violence against women in 2015. The data speaks of a
majority of cases reported from Kashmir highlighting domestic violence and
harassment. As per the data most of the harassment cases comprise of eve teasing,
sexual harassment and molestation and domestic violence.
 Women have been used as human shields, as tools to infiltrate fear and hatred in the
region. In an attempt to bargain for their demands, both the countries in disputes have
committed a lot of violence in the region, specifically centered around women. The
AFSPA is hated, so is the enforced torture by the Pakistani State military.

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6. LACK OF SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE THE

THREATS: A CONSEQUENCE OF FOREIGN POLICY
JUGGERNAUTS
6.1. Reflection in Voting Trends at the UNSC
The fundamental divergence in foreign policy has witnessed its most apparent manifestation
through the voting trends at the Security Council. The UNSC has witnessed numerous vetoed
Resolutions when it has tried to address the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian
Authority under Bashar al Assad. The Russian Federation being the most noteworthy
backbone behind the Assad Authority has successfully used its veto power as a permanent
member at the Security Council at least 13 times since 2015. On the other hand, when in April
2018, it authored a Resolution trying to condemn airstrikes in Syria led by USA, UK and
France; it also got vetoed by all the three mentioned countries. The UNSC has historically not
been able to come together and formulate any effective resolution which directly addressed
the accountability of any particular country since in every major contemporary conflict zone,
foreign intervention from the major powers has disrupted any proposed action.
We cannot expect Russia to not veto a proposed resolution that questions the Syrian
authority or the United States of America to not protect Israeli accountability using the same
at the UNSC. Hence, while we wish to address the security of Women in conflict zones
through Threat Mitigation strategies, the question of Sustainability remains in a permanent
state of uncertainty owing to this disruptive nature of International Politics that gets
manifested this way. We must realize that to alleviate the state of women in conflict zones, a
political settlement is the most sought after result this world should tend towards. However,
that remains a distant reality going by the way opposing blocks and foreign policies clash and
hold on to the deadlock which is a natural consequence of disagreement the different policies
propagate. We might have moved years past the bipolarized Cold War, but every Conflict
shapes up into two polar opposite perspectives as foreign interventions continue to obstruct
convergence and solidification of actions through the United Nations.

6.2. Lack of Unanimity in Foreign Policies

As this paper approaches the fundamental crux of its hypothesis, let us understand why
foreign policies across countries turn out to be the main hindrance while formulating effective
threat mitigation strategies for women in regions of Conflict and Political Instability that are
sustainable and long-lasting.
We have comprehensively analyzed the factors determining the severity of the threats
women face today. In most of the situations, we must understand that a political solution to
the conflict with respect to the condition of women is the most favorable solution. However, a
political solution involves all the parties to the conflict/dispute to be sitting together and
achieving a middle ground through negotiations and deliberations. With this underlying
understanding in place, we face the most important question- How open are countries to reach
a middle ground that compromises with their National Interest? It is the national interest that
guides foreign policies of countries. A nation is nothing but an accumulation of people, of
minds who want to maximize their interests and hence, it is extremely irrational for any
country to compromise on it just for the sake of attaining a political solution to resurrect the
state of female civilians out of its‟ borders. The entire question of ethics behind foreign
interventions come into play, which is again nothing but an act of displaying political power
and might. It is always the major powerhouses of International Politics, namely countries like
Russia, China, UK, France and USA who are most familiar with the concept of interventions
in matters outside its territory. When you find Russia intervening in Syria and backing the

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Assad regime, you will never find it condemning any actions by state agencies that violate the
integrity of women. On every question of state violence and torture on women, whether in the
form of the army raping civilians or the state depriving women from resources and
opportunities, that will be asked by the world, Russia will never take an effort to stop it or
make the perpetrator face the consequences just because it can‟t afford to jeopardize its
foreign relations with Syrian Authority by criticizing it as it would be a compromise on its
national interest. Similarly, the western block of USA, UK and France will always overlook
the consequences of its airstrikes on civilian women; will continue to ignore violent acts
committed by the rebel groups in Syria as it might make its position less firm among the
groups which would weaken its efforts to counter Russian influence over the conflict.
Similarly if we have a look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, firstly, it is impossible to bring
the two parties to conflict to the table for discussion since Israel doesn’t recognize the state of
Palestine comprised of Arab Nationals, neither does Palestine consider Israel as anything but
a Zionist regime. Secondly, assaults on part of Israel will always find US-backing, primarily
the reason why USA left the UNHRC post the intense criticism of Israeli Human rights
violations.
Violations on part of Extremist factions on part of the Palestinians also exist which are
again overlooked by the major Islamic blocks in the form of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation which has Russia as an observer.

6.3. Divergent Foreign Policy as a consequence of the Traditional Differences in

Civilizations
While understanding the fundamental difference between the West and the East in terms of
their perspectives about women security and development, we will understand why in this
world, the West and the East hardly reach international consensus with respect to women.
The Women's Right movement in the 19th century and the Feminist Movement of the
20th century in the West has been progressive because the Western world acknowledged the
discrimination faced by women and concentrated on empowering them by giving them the
same rights and status as men. The Western society looked at the female as her own
individual and decided to fight for her rights which included right to live free from violence,
slavery and discrimination, Right to be educated, to own property, to vote, to earn a fair and
equal wage.
Their effort has been more fruitful for they tried to fix the problems in their community
by also trying to change the existing laws and policies. The oriental part of the world,
especially the Middle East, has been noted to be far more regressive in their approach towards
women.
Families form the basic unit of state in the Middle East therefore the woman acts as a birth
giver more than an individual with her own dreams and passion. Her desires whether to have
children or not, is not considered. The Middle East conforms to tradition, religion and culture
which has always placed women in that particular socio-political region under the existing
reigns of patriarchy. The male dominance is always asserted and everything the female wants
to do need a stamp of approval from the male. The Middle-Eastern woman has to obtain
permission before taking up work and she cannot divorce without her husband's cooperation.
Islamic fundamentalists respect traditionalism to that extent where women are brought up to
train as housewives and not independent women with careers and they have restricted access
to political life and a rigid dress code. Wahhabi is a form of Islam that makes women submit
to male guardianship their whole lives. Women's Right in the East has therefore not
developed because of their affiliation with tradition and the strict laws they impose with

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accordance to their biased mentalities. Thus, we finally reach absolute recognition of lack of
International coherence purely due to the divergent pattern of foreign policy that gets doctrine
based on a country‟s ideology, society and lifestyle.

7. CONCLUSION
All in all, we can conclude with the fact that the United Nations and the international
community has accepted in a way that consensus cannot be achieved in a political system
wherein a large number of fronts and opinions are dealt with on a regular basis, most of which
are conflicting. Going by the traditional method in which foreign policy is formulated, it is to
be noted that sovereign states aim to maintain their stronghold over what they consider to be
cultural property. This gives rise to the fact that the various ideas of women empowerment,
with each nation pursuing their unique idea, are at loggerheads with each other, and the
international community has always tried to fight their way around the problem and not nip it
in the bud. The United Nations has also admitted to failing to meet its objectives, as it has
been reported time and again in both 2015 and 2016. They have admitted to the fact that
women have not only been a prime victim of armed conflict but have also been omitted from
usual peace-making processes.
Nipping the problem in the bud would include sovereign states making a compromise as
far as their foreign policies and geopolitical interests are concerned. The 1995 Beijing
Declaration was a significant inception as far this discourse is concerned. It achieved
momentum once again owing to various United Nations Security Council resolutions (like
1325). However, the implementation on ground differs vastly from the model that is presented
as a part of the discourse.
The silver lining, however, is the role of regional organizations that have gained
prominence due to the shortcomings of the United Nations. These bodies like the SAARC,
ASEAN, EU, OAS, etc. help in creating a common lobby for the breeding of similar ideas. A
number of states are members to more than one regional organization. This is essential as
there is a permeation of ideas and the discourse broadens beyond the local region, which helps
in the creation of echo chambers, a concept that works well in this regard. While the
Millennium Development Goals have already exhausted in 2015, largely failing to meet its
objectives as far as women empowerment is concerned, the renewed efforts under the Agenda
2030 bring new hope as there seems to be a silver lining owing to pro-active steps being taken
at the United Nations to increase representation and elevate the role of women, a tactic that
will ultimately help in re-shaping the discourse, a solution that does seem plausible at
hindsight. Consensus mostly appears to be a farce.

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