SOMETIMES YOU BEGIN to use phrases and acronyms so often that they lose their meaning. However, there comes a time when their true meaning comes back and hits you with such a shock.

Last week, as a government minister, I sat with women survivors of conflict in Ethiopia, bringing that reality home.

My briefing documents for the visit made repeated references to SGBV (Sexual and Gender Based Violence). It’s not exactly a pleasant term, but it’s not until you sit across from women survivors that the true horror is brought to life.

Some of these testimonies are shocking and may upset you, but their stories matter. 

These witnesses told me how a woman in their village was gang raped by 15 soldiers. Another woman was thrown on top of the body of her dead brother and raped. Another person told how she was forced to watch a man have sex with her sister at gunpoint before they were both shot.

These shocking testimonies were difficult to listen to. Sadly, these are not isolated cases.

Rape continues to be used as a weapon of war. The reports we hear from Sudan, where women are subjected to inhumane levels of cruelty, are similar.

And it is not just in conflict zones.

In Addis Ababa, we visited a refuge whose youngest patient was two and their oldest was 70. The average age of a woman in their care is just 14.

In rural Uganda, we met a group of women – girls if I’m honest – who had all been subjected to Sexual and Gender Based Violence. Through tears that streamed down her face, one young woman told us how she was taken away for a month, aged 13, by four men from her village to be their sex slave. Another told how her husband beat her every day.

The minister visits a centre for war survivors in Addis Ababa. DFA DFA

In the same region, we visited a school supported by Irish Aid and committed funding to construct a new dormitory for girls. Walking to school is simply too dangerous for many girls.

Globally, the statistics on gender based violence are nothing more than shocking. Concern Worldwide, in a recent report, outlined that one in three women will be affected by gender based violence. That amounts to 840 million people in 2025.

UN Women has said that in humanitarian crises, 70% of women have experienced some form of GBV, as opposed to a global average of 35%.

Concern tells us that child marriage increases by four percentage points in conflict situations. Indeed, climate change also has a disproportionate impact on women and girls. In Ethiopia, increased drought has led to more girls being sold into early marriage in exchange for livestock, for example.

But what does this mean when we look past the numbers? What is Ireland doing about this? In recent years, progress has been made in Ireland from a legislative and enforcement point of view to tackle violence against women. However, there is clearly a long way to go in Ireland and globally.

The mantra that Irish Aid goes by is that we aim to reach the furthest behind first when it comes to our international development programme. In the vast majority of cases, women and girls are the people worst affected by conflict and global instability. They shoulder the majority of the burden of conflict and war, the climate crisis, natural disasters and all other crisis situations.

The youngest children in the centre for war survivors in Addis Ababa. DFA DFA

That is why the Irish Government put women and girls at the centre of our development work.

Since being appointed to the role of Minister of State with responsibility for International Development and Diaspora, it has been my goal to visit each of the countries in which Irish Aid has operations. Ethiopia and Uganda were my ninth and tenth.

In each of these visits, I have seen how Irish Aid and the Irish Government put a priority on combating GBV against women and girls.

Sudan is a conflict that is often overlooked in an ever-more destabilised world. The real human impact and cost is being shouldered disproportionally by women and girls in Sudan and in other crisis zones.

Recently, I announced further funding to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for their work across six countries in Africa, including an additional €1.5 million to support women and girls in Sudan.

The Minister with Irish Aid and local workers at a centre for war survivors in Ethiopia. DFA DFA

Irish Aid and its partners do the most incredible and important work, working with women and girls in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances.

As the world enters an even more fractured and destabilised epoch, it is essential that an emphasis is placed on the protection of women and girls in the Global South so that they can realise their full potential.

As outlined in a recent report by World Vision Ireland, “every girl has the right to dream big, to be educated, to lead, and to live without fear”.

On International Women’s Day, and every day, it is this mantra that drives Irish Aid and our development programme in the Global South, with women and girls at the centre.

Neale Richmond is the Minister of State with responsibility for International Development and Diaspora.

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