A/HRC/44/29 further affecting the physical and mental integrity of women and girls. 43 Armed and criminal groups often use diverted arms to force women and girls into slavery, including sexual slavery.44 The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences has reported extremely high levels of violence against women perpetrated by gang members, which includes forcing young women and girls to become gang members’ sexual partners and to smuggle weapons into prisons. 45 According to UNODC, an estimated 500,000 illegal weapons were used to systematically perpetrate thousands of cases of sexual violence, including rape and sexual slavery, in one country alone during a six-year period.46 The Somali Human Rights Association has indicated that women and girls who leave camps for internally displaced persons to relieve themselves or collect firewood are often subjected to sexual and gender-based violence by men with unregulated small arms.47 Women and girls who are forced to flee their homes due to the uncontrolled availability of arms are also at a higher risk of sexual violence, including exploitation by human traffickers.48 18. The Secretary-General has highlighted that ownership and use of arms are closely linked to specific expressions of masculinity related to control, power, domination and strength.49 Correspondingly, the overwhelming majority of small arms owners are men, and young men perpetrate the vast majority of armed violence.50 Gender-based violence against women is rooted in these and other gender-related factors, such as the ideology of men’s entitlement and privilege over women, social norms regarding masculinity, and the need to assert male control or power, enforce gender roles or prevent, discourage or punish what is considered to be unacceptable female behaviour.51 In turn, these factors contribute to the explicit or implicit social acceptance of gender-based violence against women, often still considered a private matter, and to the widespread impunity in that regard. 52 19. Addressing the gendered impact 53 of diversion of arms and unregulated or illicit arms transfers therefore requires an understanding of gendered root causes of violent behaviour and the recognition that bringing about changes in gender roles is an effective tool for preventing human rights violations and conflict more broadly. It also requires an acknowledgement that women and girls should not only be perceived as victims of genderbased violence. In many countries, they have demonstrated remarkable resilience 54 in the 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 See the contributions of the Office for Disarmament Affairs, UNIDIR, UNODC, Project Ploughshares, the Somali Human Rights Association and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. See the contributions of UNIDIR and UNODC. See A/HRC/33/46/Add.1. See the contribution of UNODC. See the contribution of the Somali Human Rights Association. See the contribution of the Office for Disarmament Affairs. See also the contribution of Project Ploughshares, citing: Gianna Robbers, Gunta Lazdane and Dinesh Sethi, “Sexual violence against refugee women on the move to and within Europe”, Entre Nous, No. 84 (2016), p. 27. Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament, p. 39. See also UNODC, Project Ploughshares and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament, p. 39. See also the contribution of Switzerland. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35, para. 19. Ibid. Although in the present report the High Commissioner focuses on the gendered impact of diversion of arms and unregulated or illicit arms transfers on women and girls, these may also have a gendered impact on men and boys. For example, men and boys accounted for the vast majority of violent deaths, including homicides and armed conflict in 2018. See the contribution of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, citing Small Arms Survey, “Global violent deaths in 2018”. Available at www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/W-Infographics/SAS-GVD-March2020-update.pdf In Somalia, for example, they have played a fundamental role in the survival of internally displaced families for the past 29 years by creating microenterprises and performing manual labour to generate income. See the contribution of the Somali Human Rights Association. 7