Epilogue—The Move from Rhetoric to Reality—2021–2022

Abstract

In this journey of 33 years of activism, we took you on a journey to have the prevention of rape and sexual abuse of women enshrined in law and policy. We engaged with refugee women in the fight to implement these through the involvement of refugee women in decision making in all aspects of their lives and to level the gender equality playing field. The inclusion of refugee women and men has now moved beyond tokenistic and acknowledges their strengths, knowledge, and experience. The notion of ‘mainstreaming’ women, girls and gender into oblivion has been transformed into articulation of their different needs and capacities. With refugee activists and colleagues from around the world, we contributed to the recognition of the knowledge of refugees and the contributions they can make. These came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Refugee women have now taken a lead, and UNHCR and stakeholders around the world are responding. In a tragic postscript, we acknowledge that in 2021, the war in Ukraine has illustrated just how far we still have to go.