A/HRC/27/21 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 21/15, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit to the Council, prior to its twenty-seventh session, an analytical study focusing on gender-based and sexual violence in relation to transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict situations, the effective participation of victims and the participatory procedures necessary to address the different needs and opportunities of women, men and children, including good practices of States in the field of truth-seeking, justice, reparation and institutional reform. 2. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) asked for contributions for the study. Information was provided by Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, France, Germany, Georgia, Guatemala, Iraq, Serbia, Slovakia and Switzerland, as well as by Redress.1 The Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict were consulted in the preparation of the study. II. Gender-based and sexual violence in relation to transitional justice 3. Gender-based violence is considered to be any harmful act directed against individuals or groups of individuals on the basis of their gender.2 Gender-based violence may include sexual violence, domestic violence, trafficking, forced/early marriage and harmful traditional practices. Sexual violence is a form of gender-based violence and encompasses “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting”.3 Sexual violence takes multiple forms and includes rape, sexual abuse, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced prostitution, trafficking, sexual enslavement, forced circumcision, castration and forced nudity. 4. An understanding and analysis of how gender intersects, for instance, with race, religion, economic situation, political affiliation and geography is also critical to understanding and addressing patterns and forms of gender-based violence. In some contexts, it is also important to take into consideration violence perpetrated against persons perceived as not conforming to traditional notions of masculinity or femininity, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. 5. Although men and boys are also targets of gender-based and sexual violence in conflict situations, the victims of such violence continue to be disproportionally women and girls. Experience shows that in conflict and post-conflict situations, and in periods of 1 2 3 The full text of the replies is available from the secretariat. See the Guidelines for Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings, issued by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee 2005. See also the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19 (1992). United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, citing the World Health Organization, in “Analytical and conceptual framing of conflict-related sexual violence” (2011), p. 1. 3