This report documents research conducted in 16 countries to assess governments’ progress on their commitments to gender equality, women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and violence against women and girls.  Villela, W; Nilo , A . Gestos - Brazil, 2008. Countries: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Peru Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, South Africa, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela.

The report is the first of its kind to emerge from such a high level within the UN and is momentous in its scope and assessment of violence against women as a major international human rights violation stemming from systematic discrimination against women worldwide.  It documents the persistence of all forms of violence against women and seeks to strengthen political commitment to end such violence.

Strengthening Resistance is designed as an overview of the most salient issues, and is meant for activists and policy makers alike who may be familiar with HIV/AIDS, violence against women or human rights but not necessarily the nexus across all of these areas. The report highlights nine creative advocacy initiatives from different countries and regions, offers recommendations to a range of actors and contains a resource section for further study.

This report was the result of WHO consultative expert session on "Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS: Setting the Research Agenda" from 23-25 October 2000. This report adds to the international recognition that the rapid spread of the HIV epidemic is linked to the high prevalence of intimate partners and domestic violence, as well as inability of women to negotiate the circumstances in which intercourse takes place.

This report is a follow-up to a seminar which was held in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 16, 2003. The report summarizes the speakers' presentations as well as the discussions in smaller working groups. Concluding the report is a set of recommendations and priorities intended for use by governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as others interested and involved in the support of victims of sexual violence in armed conflict when working in international legal procedure.

F. Nduwimana (2004) International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development

This report focuses on the plight of the women in Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of rape during conflict in those countries. It argues that under international human rights and humanitarian law, these women have the right to reparations for their suffering, including guaranteed access to antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV / AIDS.

2003. Human Rights Watch

The 40-page report documents human rights abuses that women and girls suffer at each stage of their lives and that increase their risk for HIV infection. Girls face sexual abuse and violence, in and out of school. Women in long-term relationships risk violence if they insist on condom use or refuse sex. Widows are discriminated against in property and inheritance rights. And women and girls are raped in war and civil conflict, where rape is used strategically as a weapon.

Program on International Health and Human Rights, Department of Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health. (2006)

This is a review of publications addressing aspects of the intersection between gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV.

FHI (Family Health International) newsletter Network (2005)

This issue of Network describes the variety of means by which children, adolescents, and adults - men and women alike - are pressured to have sexual relations that they do not want. Nonconsensual sex may be a major contributing factor to such reproductive health problems as unintended pregnancy and its complications, as well as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

P. Gordon and K. Crehan (2000), United Nations Development Programme, Social Development and Poverty Elimination Division (SEPED) Conference Paper Series #1

This preliminary overview of available literature suggests that within the context of gender and the HIV epidemic, sexual violence is a complex phenomenon with multiple determinants, consequences and manifestations. UNAIDS estimated that by December 1997, 30.6 million people around the world had been infected with HIV, with more than 70% of these infections occurring through unprotected sexual intercourse. The overall proportion of these infections that are attributable, directly or indirectly, to sexual violence is unknown. Nonetheless, existing evidence on gender and sexual inequality and available information on the nature and scale of sexual violence (particularly against women and girls), suggests that it is likely to be significant.

A.Guedes (2004), USAID

This document provides a literature review and analysis to the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Bureau for Global Health (GH) on programs in developing countries that have addressed or challenged gender-based violence with a link to the reproductive health (RH)/HIV sectors.