Countries: Belarus
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"In response to President Alexander Lukashenko’s declaration of victory in the 2020 presidential election in Belarus, widespread protests over alleged electoral fraud erupted across six oblasts. The government responded with a massive and violent crackdown to suppress dissent, including excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and detentions, sexual and gender-based violence, torture and summary trials..." (para 1). "UN Special Procedures, OHCHR and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women have repeatedly raised alarm over the inhumane conditions endured by female political prisoners, including punitive measures such as solitary confinement, public humiliation, incitement of violence and sexual violence. UN mechanisms continue to report cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment...more

Countries: Barbados
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

For the given timeframe, 2020 to present, there has not been any documented evidence indicating that Barbados has experienced an armed conflict, war-related rape, kidnapping, trafficking, or forced labor of women and girls by government forces, military personnel, peacekeepers, rebel groups, or other armed actors. There have been reports published in January 2025 regarding police brutality in Barbados, which depict a general concern about police misconduct and accountability rather than a wartime trait or conflict-related practice. Therefore, there is no data regarding the Barbados government being accepting of rape or kidnapping of women and girls as weapons of war in times of conflict (MR-CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Bahrain
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

From 2020 to present, there are no documented instances of the Bahraini government or military accepting or perpetrating rape or kidnapping of women and girls as weapons of war, nor does its use appear to vary by ethnicity. No evidence of forced labor or peacekeeper misconduct was found. Bahrain does have an active subnational threat in the form of Iranian-backed Shia militant groups, most notably Al-Ashtar Brigades, though no documented instances of these groups using rape or kidnapping as deliberate tactics of war were identified. No government programs specifically addressing women victimized by soldiers or rebels were found (MR-CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Syria
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"Since rebels ousted the dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, panicked families and activists trying to help have regularly sounded the alarm on social media that women and girls from Syria’s Alawite minority have mysteriously disappeared or been kidnapped. Many fear that their sect is being targeted as retribution for the brutality of Mr. al-Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam" (para 5). "The Times verified the kidnappings of 13 Alawite women and girls, in addition to one man and one boy. Five said they had been raped. Two came home pregnant" (para 8). "The family of one [Alawite] woman [in Syria] said it...more

Countries: Sudan
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"’Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war. This is an abhorrent violation of international law and could constitute a war crime. It must stop’" (para 5). "‘Other UN investigations have blamed the majority of rapes on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), saying RSF fighters had a pattern of using sexual violence to terrorize civilians and suppress opposition to their advances,' the BBC noted on Tuesday. ‘According to evidence presented by international human rights groups, victims in the RSF’s stronghold of Darfur were often targeted because they were black African rather than...more

Countries: Iran
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1, DTCP-PRACTICE-1

"Iranian police officers are gang-raping imprisoned female protesters and then cutting out their uteruses to cover up the horrific torture – before shipping their lifeless bodies home to their families, according to a shocking new report" (para 1). "Prisoners suspected of participating in the nationwide anti-regime demonstrations that shook the nation last month are being terrorized, raped, and slaughtered daily by groups of militant police officers behind bars, an Iranian source told News Nation" (para 2). "'They [the Islamic Republic militants] are raping men and women in jail. They are being raped every day by [a] group of police. We are not people to [the regime]. People are getting raped...more

Countries: South Sudan
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"... Our [the researchers' team] findings show how adolescent girls are disproportionately at the greatest risk. Girls face acute danger that families often can’t easily prevent. Armed groups raid homes and camps, abducting girls or seizing them on roads and at checkpoints. Girls are singled out and subjected to sexual harassment and rape. Parents may try to travel in groups, change routes, or hide their daughters, but when men with guns stop a bus or enter a village at night, their protection options are limited. These risks intensify as poverty deepens and safe transport is scarce. These conditions leave girls visible, isolated, and at risk. One woman told us how...more

Countries: Iran
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"According to the regime-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, a 22-year-old woman named Saghare Etemadi was severely injured during protests in Farsan, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. She was shot multiple times in the head with pellet bullets and is currently hospitalized in intensive care" (para 7). "In Mashhad, Donya Sabouri (20) and Yekta Darzadeh (20) were arrested during protests on January 2. Elham Gharekhani (33) was arrested by security forces in Mashhad and has been held incommunicado, with no official information about her whereabouts or physical condition. Hasti Karimi (16) was abducted by plainclothes agents near Palestine Square in Mashhad. Raheleh Zardkouhi, mother of a 7-year-old girl, was also arrested" (para...more

Countries: Iran
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"Dr. Sheyda Riyahi, a doctor at Seyedoshohada hospital in Isfahan, was arrested by the IRGC forces in her house on January 9th. There has not been any contact or news about her well-being since the arrest. While arresting her, the IRGC forces told her family the charges were because she was actively involved in treating wounded protesters who were brought to the hospital" (para 1). This information suggests that detention is being used as a tool of repression against women engaged in civic and humanitarian roles. It also raises concerns that detained women may be instrumentalized by the regime as leverage or strategic tools in the context of escalating tensions...more

Countries: Haiti
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"More than half of the patients being treated at the Pran Men'm clinic, which opened a decade ago in Port-au-Prince, were attacked by multiple members of armed groups, the charity, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, said in a new report. 'Over 100 individuals were attacked by 10 or more perpetrators at a time,' it said, noting an average of three perpetrators per case. The clinic has treated nearly 17,000 patients in the past decade, including 2,300 alone in the first nine months of last year. More than 350 of those patients are boys and men, MSF said" (para 4-6). "Gangs control an estimated 90 per cent of...more

Countries: Argentina
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

There is no evidence that the Argentinian government facilitated or was accepting of the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war between the years 2020-2025. During that period, Argentina was not involved in an armed conflict. Rebel groups/armed insurgencies did not exist in Argentina during that period. (NAC - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Algeria
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

There is no evidence that the Algerian government facilitated or was accepting of the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war between the years 2020-2025. During that period, Algeria was not involved in an armed conflict. The insurgent group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) may have had a small presence in the country between 2020 and 2025, though reporting on their activities is scarce and no reports have been made regarding their use of sexual violence as a weapon of war during that time. (NAC - CODER COMMENT).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"The Taliban, who enforces a harsh interpretation of Sharia, impose draconian restrictions on women and girls. Their rule is marked by arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, widespread gender-based violence, unlawful killings, obstruction of humanitarian aid, and public executions...Hazara women and girls exist at a triple axis of persecution of their ethnic identity, religious affiliation, and gender" (2). The Hazara are a religious minority in Afghanistan subject to targeted attacks by the Taliban. While this article does not directly describe their kidnapping and/or rape by Taliban forces, it can reasonably be assumed that these actions (which are being undertaken against non-minority Afghan women) are also being used against the Hazara, perhaps at...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"It would be no surprise for a Taliban official to feel free to inflict forced marriage, rape, assault, nonconsensual filming, and blackmail. The question is how many such cases go unheard. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, they systematically dismantled structures to combat violence against women and girls. These include shelters, legal assistance programs, and specialized prosecution units and courts tasked with enforcing the country’s 2009 Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women. All of that is gone now. Journalist Ruchi Kumar corroborated facts about Elaha’s case and said Taliban officials have similarly targeted female relatives of other former government officials with violence to punish their male...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"A devastating Amnesty International report reveals harrowing testimonies of sexual violence, torture and extrajudicial killings carried out between March and May of this year [by warring groups of rebels from Congo and Rwanda]" (para. 2). "Within the latest Amnesty report, one woman said she was raped by five M23 fighters inside a military camp in Bukavu: 'When I see someone in a military uniform, I'm traumatised. Since that day, I do not go out. When I see them, I feel pain in my heart. It's like a heart palpitation'" (para. 22)."In total, Amnesty interviewed 14 survivors of sexual violence – eight were raped by M23, five by Wazalendo, and one...more