KRISTIN S. SCHARFFSCHER

Doktorgradsstipendiat samfunnssikkerhet (UiS)

Biography
Kristin Scharffscher is a PhD candidate in Safety and Resilience Management at the University of Stavanger, and she recently worked for UN-OCHA in connection with the Sri Lankan tsunami relief operation. Scharffscher holds a Masters degree in Safety and Resilience Management from Stavanger University College, specializing in the safety of women in Sierra Leonean refugee camps, and a Bachelors degree in Journalism from the University of Westminster, where she studied how the reporting of rape cases in the press affects women’s position in the British judiciary. Scharffscher has previously worked at the Centre for International Health in Tromsø. With her PhD project, she will investigate the organizational mechanisms that prevent or allow systematic implementation of gender-based protection in complex emergency operations.

Presentation
War renders women particularly vulnerable to certain types of gender-based violence (GBV) such as rape and sexual slavery. What is the nature of the mechanisms that trigger GBV in wartime, what is the nature and characteristics of war-related GBV, and how can international humanitarian organisations and health workers implement systematic protection for war-affected women and girls?