States have the primary obligation to provide reparations. A State provides reparations for acts or omissions that are attributable to it and that breach its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. In addition, where an individual, legal person, or other entity is found liable for violations of applicable law, courts or other competent mechanisms may order that actor to provide reparations.

Where liable parties are unable or unwilling to meet their obligations, States should endeavour to establish reparations programmes (and, where relevant, assistance measures) for survivors.

Reparations for gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, may help to:

• address its severe consequences
• restore the lives and dignity of survivors
• increase women’s empowerment
• shift structures of discrimination
• contribute to post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding

Common constraints on providing reparations include political resistance or a lack of urgency, limited institutional capacity and resources, and unclear processes that impede access. Where gender-based violence has occurred, other barriers may comprise stigma, fear of retaliation, and gender-discriminatory norms. These may further suppress reporting and obstruct uptake.

International standards commonly describe five forms of reparations: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. Adequate reparations often require a combination of these forms, calibrated to the gravity of the violation and the harm suffered.

Gender-responsive reparations integrate gender analysis at all stages – design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation – so that reparations do not reproduce existing inequalities but instead help transform them. They:

• Acknowledge and respond to gender-related patterns of discrimination that reinforce exclusion, including in reporting, documenting, proving, and addressing harms.
• Build on a fair assessment of the harms inflicted, including differences between women and men, and recognize specific harms experienced by women, girls, men and boys, and children born of rape.
• Close gaps in gauging the full extent of women’s losses, such as limited data on women’s economic contributions through unpaid care work.
• Provide equitable access to and benefits from reparations as fundamental to transforming patterns of gender-based discrimination.

Some different forms of reparations that may be used alone or together include the following:

Restitution

This typically responds to harms such as the loss of property and/or security of tenure and/or housing as well as damages to physical health, or the interruption or cessation of education or lost employment.

Specific measures to facilitate restitution for property and/or housing for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, for example, might include:

• prioritizing their claims
• establishing legal mechanisms to secure their property rights or security of tenure
• providing flexible and prompt procedures, including where documents are not available
• offering education and training on the productive use of land and other property.

Compensation

Payments for moral and material harm caused by conflict-related sexual violence can have transformative potential if they are grounded in careful consideration of the harm to be remedied and gender equality principles.

Compensation must avoid reinforcing stereotypes or discrimination and uphold confidentiality and security. It should be designed and provided with a full understanding of both the benefits, such as financial independence for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and risks, such as use by other household members. In providing compensation for lost income, especially where women’s work has an economic value that is difficult to define, the process should consider all evidence of lost earnings and missed opportunities. Compensation can be paid as a lump sum or by periodic payments (for example, pensions/benefits), depending on what best supports safety, confidentiality, and survivor agency.

Satisfaction

This form of reparations generally involves apologies, commemorations, or the building of monuments. Satisfaction also includes acknowledgement of violations through judicial judgements or truth commission reports. Any satisfaction measure must be designed to avoid exposing survivors or triggering stigma.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation provides all essential services that survivors need to move forward and live in dignity, including but not limited to physical and mental healthcare. Rehabilitation may be a first step in helping survivors to benefit from other forms of reparations, such as compensation or restitution.

Providing rehabilitation requires gender-responsive and culturally sensitive approaches. Trauma, for example, is defined and treated in different ways. Services provided by people with expertise in conflict-related sexual violence help prevent risks of further harm and secondary victimization. Rehabilitation should not be understood as limited to health services; it may include legal, social, and educational support as needed to restore dignity and autonomy.

Guarantees of non-repetition

Such measures account for the causes of conflict-related sexual violence and strive to prevent recurrences. One element is having a coherent national policy on conflict-related sexual violence that provides the capacity and resources to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and punish such crimes.

Such a framework may guide legal reforms to transform discriminatory social and economic structures. Examples include temporary special measures to increase women’s roles in decision-making and equality in personal status and property laws. Training and education on conflict-related sexual violence are also important, including for criminal justice officials, physicians, psychologists, social workers, and members of human rights institutions.

Broadly speaking, all survivors of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, should be treated with respect in reparations processes. This encompasses fully upholding their rights and avoiding further harm and trauma. Reparations initiatives should apply the principle of “do no harm” and address protection or security concerns.

The process should be free of all forms of discrimination, whether based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, age, disability, political affiliation, class, marital status, nationality, religion, or any other status. Further, it should recognize and respond to the ways that gender discrimination can interact with and compound other forms of discrimination.

The United Nations applies several core principles in supporting States to provide reparations for conflict-related sexual violence, in particular. These may provide reference points for survivors and activists seeking reparations. They include:

• Reparations for survivors should be adequate. They should be proportional to the gravity of the violations and the harm suffered. As warranted, and based on the perspectives of survivors, they may combine different forms of reparations.
• Judicial and/or administrative reparations should be available to survivors, upholding their right to obtain prompt, adequate, and effective remedies. Availability includes addressing barriers to seeking reparations, such as stigma, fear, and psychological distress. A comprehensive public policy on reparations should provide a framework for judicial remedies and out-of-court administrative programmes. In cases with many victims, the latter may be more accessible and inclusive but should not preclude the use of courts.
• Individual and collective reparations should complement and reinforce each other. Collective reparations are not a substitute for individual reparations, although they may help to prevent stigma and uphold confidentiality, especially among survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
• Reparations should be transformative in their design, implementation, and impact, seeking to trigger important changes even if they alone cannot uproot the causes of conflict-related sexual violence. Guarantees of non-repetition have important potential, as they imply the need for structural and institutional reforms.
• Development cooperation should support States’ obligation to provide reparations, recognizing that reparations and development are distinct rights with potentially positive effects on each other. Further, an approach to development grounded in human rights requires specific attention to vulnerable rights-holders, including survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
• Survivors should meaningfully participate in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of reparations. Consultations should steer reparations to respond to needs, achieve intended impacts, remain accessible, and avoid exclusion. Special measures can address obstacles to participation.
• Since reparations are often provided many years after a conflict or violations, urgent interim reparations help to address immediate needs and avoid irreparable harm. They are not the same as social or humanitarian assistance measures, since reparations are grounded in States’ responsibility to provide a remedy for violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
• Adequate procedural rules in judicial and administrative proceedings should be specific to sexual violence and protect the interests of survivors. Important precedents exist to expand the scope of evidence and ensure that procedures and evidentiary approaches are adapted to sexual violence claims and protect survivors (including confidentiality and safety), while respecting fair trial rights. In reparations proceedings, courts may apply an evidentiary standard that is lower than the one required for criminal convictions when determining facts relevant to reparations.