Dataset

The Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) dataset measures reports of the conflict-related sexual violence committed by armed actors during the years 1989-2023.

The armed actors include government forces, pro-government militias, and rebel groups between 1989-2009 (SVAC 1.0), and government forces and rebel groups for 2010-2023 (SVAC 2.1, SVAC 3.0, SVAC 3.2, SVAC 3.3). The dataset includes information about the prevalence, perpetrators and forms of the reported sexual violence by each armed actor in each conflict-year. The SVAC 3.3 dataset includes all active state-based armed conflicts in the period 1989-2023, based on Harbom et al. (2008).

For older versions of the dataset and Codebook and User Guide, please see the Archive.

SVAC 3.3 1989-2023 (complete)

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This complete version (1989-2023) conserves the original dataset structure by including interim years and the first five post-conflict years.

SVAC 3.3 1989-2023 (conflict years)

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This smaller dataset (SVAC_3.3_conflictyears) includes only active conflict years (1989-2023). Because most analysts are primarily interested in sexual violence during active conflict years, we created this smaller dataset to facilitate the use of the data.

SVAC coding manual (Version 3.0)-February 2021 (851 KB)

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The SVAC 3.0 Codebook and User Guide can be downloaded using the link to the left. The Codebook and User Guide contains coding information about all the variables in the SVAC 3.0 dataset, details about the sources used to code the data, instructions on how to use (and not use) the data, and an extensive section of FAQ.