Hidden violence is a silent rape: A participatory assessment of sexual & gender-based violence determinants in female and male refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands

Sexual violence is globally recognized as a major public health issue, a violation of human rights and in some cases as a crime against humanity. Although women, youth and refugees are considered as particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, little research has focused on prevention of sexual violence against young refugees in. Hence, this study explores the nature as well as risk and preventive factors of sexual and gender-based violence against young female and male refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Applying Community-based Participatory Research, the Socio-ecological Model and the Concept of Desirable Prevention, qualitative as well as quantitative data were gathered in Belgium and the Netherlands. In-depth interview (n=223) were conducted with refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants from Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Roma, the former USSR and Somali origin.

Our results indicate that 166 respondents were either personally victimized (87) or had one to several close peers (78) being victimized since their arrival in the European Union. They reported 332 experiences of gender-based violence mostly afflicted upon them by (ex)partners (102) or asylum professionals (87). Of these victimizations, 188 are cases of sexual violence which varied from sexual harassment (89), sexual abuse (40) to rape/forced sodomy (111) and sexual exploitation (40). The research population identifies risk and preventive factors mainly in the sphere of human and social capital and stressed their eagerness to participate actively in prevention.

Young refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in and the are extremely vulnerable to gender-based violence and specifically to sexual violence. Given the interplay of several determinants making them prone to ill-health in general, we argue that prevention of sexual and gender-based violence should consist of radical, comprehensive and participatory interventions, focusing on the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and policy level concordantly.