Armed conflict has a hidden, dramatic and disproportionate impact on women and girls.

The same pattern repeats itself in Asia, Africa, Europe and in the in the Americas. Despite agreements, resolutions and promises, the violence against women continues unabated.Human Rights Commission South Asia stop violence against women compaign goes into its second phase, focusing on the impact of armed conflict and postconflict situations on women and girls. Over six  monthwill release a series of reports exposing the violence, giving voice to survivors, and push for change. The women's and girls testimonies reveal the threats, violence and discrimination they face both form armed group and from their own families and communities. The failure of governments to pursue perpetrators with a real violence to continue.Women and girls are not just more likely to be the target of sexual violence, especially rape, than men. Women also face extra, sometimes insurmountable, obstacles to seeking justice, because of the stigma attached to the survivors of sexual violence and women's disadvantaged position in society. Their role as carers, combined with higer levels of poverty, means that the impact of war's destructions weights particularly heavily on women.At the same time, women are the backbone of the community. Their ideas, energy and involvement are essential to rebuilding society in the aftermath og war.To ensure lasting peace, women must be allowed to play a full part in all stages of the peace process.Over 70 percent of women in jail in Pakistan report sexual abuse by police officials. Despite the high incidence of rape and sexual torture of female detainees, no police official has been subjected to criminal punishment for these abuses. Moreover even basic protections -- including requirements that female detainees be interrogated only in the presence of a female officer are routinely violated. Over 60 percent of women prisoners in Pakistan are detained under the Hudood Ordinance, penal laws prohibiting sex outside of marriage, which have had a devastating impact on women's rights. In some cases women have been imprisoned because they were unable to prove a rape charge and were thus charged with impermissible sex and imprisoned pending trial. Double Jeopardy, co-authored by the Women's Rights Project and HRCSA, documents many cases of women who have been victims of Pakistan's discriminatory legal system and of police abuses and also makes recommendations to the government of Pakistan to end these abuses.