The United Nations and Bibliothèques Sans Frontières launch global partnership to combat conflict-related sexual violence

New York, 21 September 2022: On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Patrick Weil, President and Founder of the NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF), announced a wide-ranging partnership to combat conflict-related sexual violence.

The main focus of this partnership will be the creation of innovative safe spaces for the care and psychological reconstruction of survivors in areas where these crimes are committed. Based on BSF’s “Ideas Box” -a mobile multimedia centre- these new spaces will provide, all in one place, a wide range of support and care services for survivors and their children. In addition to mental health services and psychosocial support to help them overcome their trauma, users will be offered legal support to assert their rights after the assaults. Educational activities and vocational training will also allow them to gain a new outlook on life and achieve financial independence, in a context where survivors often find themselves abandoned by their communities of origin, thus suffering a tragic “double trauma”. 

This innovative “holistic” care for survivors will be made possible by the gathering, within the Ideas Box spaces, of different specialized actors working in this field (NGOs, public services, UN members of the UN Action network against sexual violence in conflict…). The technical characteristics of the Ideas Box also make it a particularly suitable tool for this specific use.

The Ideas Box

Developed by BSF with the help of famous designer Philippe Starck, the Ideas Box is a mobile, energy self-sufficient multimedia centre that creates safe and creative hubs in the most difficult contexts (war zones, refugee camps, post-natural disaster contexts…), where they provide educational, legal and cultural resources to “rebuild the mind” after the body has been saved.

The Ideas Box, a mobile and modular multimedia center ©Starck Studio

Through the partnership, the United Nations also intends to leverage BSF’s innovative “offline internet” technologies to allow health personnel working in remote areas access rich digital training content.

170 Ideas Boxes are currently being operated in 24 countries, in a great variety of contexts ©BSF
"This partnership honors and commits us. It is intolerable to see the extent to which sexual violence persists in conflicts around the world. We are determined to put all of our expertise at the service of this urgent and necessary fight."
Patrick Weil, President and Founder of Bibliothèques Sans Frontières

The announcement of this joint initiative coincides with the launch of a vast fundraising campaign aimed at financing its implementation in the 17 countries most at risk targeted by the UN, after a pilot phase in Ukraine.

The OSRSG-SVC and BSF have also undertaken to build a coalition bringing together public actors, civil society organizations, private companies and experts, in order to raise awareness and strengthen the impact of the initiative.

For more information, or if you want to commit to the initiative either personally
or through your organization, please reach out to :

Edouard Delbende
Deputy Executive Director @BSF
edouard.delbende@bibliosansfrontieres.org