Credit: Shutterstock/beerlogoff Lead researchers: Dr Valerie Oosterveld and Dr Heather Flowe
Partner: University of Western Ontario
Duration: February 2024 – March 2025
Countries: Ukraine, Iraq/Syria, Sierra Leone/Liberia
Women and girls face multiple intersecting challenges during cross-border conflicts, often including a rise in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). This project looks at the role of technology in SGBV investigations in genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed against women and girls, in cross-border or interconnected conflicts. It examines how technology is currently used in investigations and what its future role could be. With a focus on SGBV investigations during conflicts in Ukraine, Iraq/Syria, and Sierra Leone/Liberia, the research asks what lessons these contexts provide for improving the role of technology in investigations in the future.
This project uses a dual-method approach to address each of the research questions. The first method is interview-based qualitative data collection. The team will conduct semi-structured interviews, including investigators, prosecutors, technologists, civil society representatives, and potentially a carefully approached subset of SGBV survivors who are also advocates. The second methodology followed is legal doctrinal research, which involves critical analysis and synthesis of the law. This desk research involves review of primary (such as UN resolutions, treaties, etc.) and secondary sources (articles, books, civil society reports, UN reports, etc.) to provide the academic basis for assessing the interview findings and case studies.
This project is one of several focused on women and girls in cross-border conflict contexts. The main output will be a research manuscript for submission for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or as an XCEPT research report.
For more information regarding this research, contact [email protected]