Perceptions of sexual violence: A discourse analysis of documents from the Peace and Security Council of the African Union 2010-2020

Abstract: This thesis dives into the issue of conflict-related sexual violence through the empirical case of the African Union and its Peace and Security Council (PSC), aiming at understanding how conflict-related sexual violence is constructed within the PSC between 2010-2020. Applying a feminist power theory and through a discourse analysis, the thesis asks four open-ended questions regarding: conflicts, perpetrators, victims and solutions to the materials consisting of meeting documents from the PSC. The results show a broad understanding and variety of conflicts discussed with cross-cutting themes touched upon. Non-state actors and AU-troops were most frequently viewed as perpetrators. A wide range of victims were discussed with a dual perception of victims as ‘weak’ and ‘survivors/agents’ as the overarching victim-characteristics. Lastly, the main solutions for sexual violence were ending impunity, alongside a smaller discourse of dealing with root causes of structural gender inequality. The PSC neglected parts of the accountability for conflict-related sexual violence as they overlooked governmental forces as perpetrators as well as low accountability within AU-mandated peace operations. The conclusion is that the PSC balances between understanding structural power assumptions embedded in sexual violence but simultaneously still adhering to a narrow understanding of sexual crimes.