Centre for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Genocide Prevention

The Centre on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Genocide Prevention advances interdisciplinary, transboundary research and practice at the intersections of domestic violence, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), mass atrocity crimes, religion, and migration. Situated within the Institute of Domestic Violence, Religion & Migration, the Centre connects violence experienced in private, communal, and institutional settings with violence perpetrated during armed conflict, genocide, displacement, and post-conflict migration.

The Centre’s work is grounded in the understanding that CRSV and genocidal violence are not isolated phenomena, but may be deeply entangled with pre-existing gendered, domestic, structural, and political forms of violence. By bridging domestic violence studies, genocide and atrocity prevention, forced migration research, and faith-based engagement, the Centre seeks to generate more holistic and contextually grounded responses to violence across the continuum from conflict to displacement and resettlement.

Our overarching aim is to contribute to the prevention of CRSV and genocidal harm, while advancing survivor-centred, culturally appropriate, trauma- and faith-sensitive responses that support healing, accountability, and long-term social repair in conflict-affected and displaced communities.

As a Centre, we are especially interested in:

• Developing culturally grounded and faith-sensitive responses to CRSV and genocidal violence, with particular attention to reducing survivor stigma, supporting social and spiritual healing, and promoting meaningful reintegration within families and communities.
• Advancing prevention-oriented research and practice on CRSV and genocide, including the study of risk factors, early warning signs, gendered and religious dynamics of violence, and the role of institutions, belief systems, and social norms in enabling or resisting mass atrocity crimes.
• Designing integrated interventions to address domestic violence and interconnected forms of violence in conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian, and displacement contexts, including refugee and IDP camps and post-conflict migration settings.
• Building on the Project dldl/ድልድል Model® to develop trauma-sensitive, spiritually informed models of care and prevention for survivors of CRSV and genocidal violence, engaging clergy, faith leaders, frontline practitioners, and communities in long-term, holistic responses.
• Strengthening survivor-centred accountability, documentation, and knowledge production, particularly through community-engaged, participatory, and ethically grounded research in conflict-affected and diasporic settings.

In addition to offering consultancy and advisory services in these areas, we run independent collaborative projects that are active or in development with several partner organisations, including the St Frumentius Theological College in Tigray, Ethiopia, Aksum University in Tigray, Ethiopia and the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, UK.

Centre Leads and Members