Social ecosystems of trafficked conflict-related sexual violence survivors and their children: navigating and coping with intersecting stigma and violence in Nigeria and Iraq.
Outcomes: Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Community-level social and gender norms are central drivers of stigma toward women and girls who survived trafficking and conflict-related sexual violence and their children born of war. Norms surrounding premarital sex and childbirth, virginity, purity, family honor, marriageability, paternity, and community identity interact with conflict-related fear and perceptions of affiliation with armed groups. Importantly, community stigma can undermine initial family acceptance over time. The authors argue that short-term sensitization alone is insufficient; sustained reintegration requires addressing the underlying unequal gender and social norms that produce victim blaming and stigma while rebuilding community relationships and safety.
Objectives The study explored how formerly trafficked survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Nigeria and Iraq navigate and cope with stigma directed toward themselves and their children born of war, with particular attention to how stigma intersects across mother-child relationships and different levels of the social environment.
Methods This qualitative study was conducted in Borno, Nigeria, and Nineveh, Iraq. Researchers conducted 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews and eight focus group discussions with survivors, community and faith leaders, government workers, service providers, caseworkers, and other community stakeholders between October 2021 and October 2023. Focus groups specifically explored social norms using free-listing and vignette exercises. Data were analyzed inductively using thematic network analysis and organized within social ecological frameworks to examine stigma, violence, resilience, and interactions across individual, family, community, institutional, and broader societal levels.
Results Survivors and their children experienced interconnected stigma across social ecological levels. Stigma was rooted in patriarchal gender and cultural norms and intensified by conflict-related factors, including perceived association with armed groups, children’s paternity, religious conversion, and changed or aggressive behaviors. Community stigma was particularly influential and could produce isolation, restrict service access, and eventually undermine family acceptance. Protective factors included support from female relatives and faith leaders, community sensitization, relocation, and, in Iraq, a Yezidi religious decree that established a new norm discouraging victim blaming—although this protection did not extend to children born of war.
Conclusions Addressing stigma requires system-strengthening and holistic approaches that operate beyond individual survivors to families and communities. Interventions should address both longstanding unequal gender norms and newer conflict-related stigma, strengthen protective family and community resources, and recognize that stigma can persist and change across time and generations.
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