A union between United Nations peacekeeping and conflict-related sexual violence against women : a critical analysis of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), its Gender Unit and its strategies towards conflict-related sexual violence against women in Mali

Abstract

Mali has been in conflict since 2012 and since 2013 the United Nations has been present in the country with their United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Their presence has been consistent over the last nine years and the mandate of the mission has just been renewed. One of the greatest problems’ women face in conflict is conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), affecting not only themselves but their families and their communities as well. In this thesis, there will be a critical analysis of MINUSMA, its Gender Unit and its strategies towards CRSV against women which is based on available information and feminist theory. The United Nations provides this work with several reports and documents, which are supplemented by a variety of other sources to provide a critical analysis. Both MINUSMA and the Gender Unit face numerous difficulties while exercising their mandates, facing a deterioration of the social and political situation in Mali, and a global COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding CRSV there are some critical points, especially concerning the root causes of this type of violence that still need to be tackled and where improvement is highly necessary.