As a rule of thumb, more than 75 percent of these destitute displaced people are women and their dependent children. That proportion of women and children may rise to 90 percent in some refugee populations, when husbands or fathers die, are taken prisoner or drafted as combatants. Most take refuge in remote, poorly developed areas and face huge problems of security.
Protection is at the heart of the responsibility the world bears toward refugees.
At the heart of that protection is freedom from assault. Despite the strength and courage that has carried them out of their homelands, refugee women have special needs in terms of shelter, supplies and health care. They also require attentive preventive action to protect them from sexual violence and exploitation at all stages of their flight. Based on recommendations by field workers experienced with rape and piracy attacks, they aim to provide other field workers with practical, non-specialist advice on the medical, psychological and legal ramifications of sexual violence. Women who face inhumane treatment because of perceived transgressions of social mores should also be eligible for refugee status.