About SEMA

With tremendous courage, survivors have come together to speak out and seek solutions for themselves and their communities.

SEMA – the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Sexual Violence – gathers victims and survivors of wartime sexual violence from 26 countries, acting in solidarity, mobilising collectively and advocating for justice and change. SEMA means ‘speak out’ in Swahili.

Collective action has enabled survivors to take a leadership role, speaking as experts at international advocacy and policy events. Their journey so far has been incredible: from joint statements to unprecedented mass demonstrations, they are speaking out powerfully and acting together.

The global network is rooted in survivor-led, activist networks at a local level, representing thousands of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. It represents and amplifies the voices of some of the most marginalised women and girls in the world.

Every survivor in this network knows the weight and cost of the stigma they face. This awareness fuels their resolve to break the silence, improve victims’ access to care, and hold perpetrators and states to account.

Evidence from our work with survivor-led networks shows their power to help survivors overcome stigma and become agents of change.