All refugees, men, women and children need protection, but some are more vulnerable than others. Refugee women and children who make up some 80% of the world refugee population are particularly at risk and need special attention because of their vulnerability. However only recently have refugee women become part of refugee history.

Persecution of a woman will often take the form of sexual assault which the victim may be reluctant to divulge or which may be difficult to prove even if she is willing to talk about it. Women may also be sexually assaulted or otherwise persecuted by national authorities, not because of any activities they may have undertaken themselves, but in order to harm their husbands.

Rape, abduction, sexual harassment, physical violence and the obligation sometimes imposed on women to grant 'sexual favours' in return for documentation or relief goods remains a distressing reality for many refugee women along escape routes and in border area camps, settlement and urban centres, and is well documented.

Sex directed persecution is related to the discrimination of women in her own country. For instance, in Iran, the norm is that women remain inside their home. A woman who works outside, as a lawyer for example is gradually 'removed' by the authorities. In case she resists she might be threatened, arrested, beaten, raped once, twice and on and on. She can no longer live a normal life. She has broken the codes of her country and she is persecuted on the grounds of her sex. If she had been a male, working as a lawyer, she would not have been persecuted.

Sex directed persecution occurs against women in Eritrea, while crossing borders to seek asylum these women are put in a vulnerable position. During flight along overland routes, they may be raped, abducted or otherwise sexually abused, particularly in border areas which are sparsely populated or where national authorities exercise limited control.

Sex directed persecution also emanates from the direct surroundings or from a differently thinking part of the population. An example, being a lesbian, a sexual orientation which in a country where heterosexuality is the absolute and only norm. For such a woman living a normal life is made impossible. They are not accepted by their community, jobs are not granted, they are bullied and constantly intimidated.

In some cultures, a stipulation to marriage is that the girl must be a virgin. If she cannot fulfil this condition, be it willingly or unwillingly (in the case of a refugee woman) her honour and especially the honour of her family has been jeopardised. In these circumstances the daughter is disowned, or often in rural areas the girl is killed by her father or eldest brother.

Piracy attacks on asylum seekers travelling by boat in South East Asian waters is another well known phenomenon, which has highlighted the vulnerability of women refugees. "This is what usually happens when a refugee boat is attacked by pirates" said a social worker working in a refugee camp in Thailand.

"The pirates board the boat and search all passengers for valuables. They also conduct body searches on men as well as women and children. Then the women are forced to move to the pirate boat while the men stay behind. The women are raped repeatedly by the crew and often only returned to the refugee boat after two or three days. It can also happen that the pirates call other pirate/fishing boats whose crew will also search for valuables and rape or abduct the women".

The sexual exploitation for purposes of prostitution constitutes a particular form of abuse of refugee women. Prostitution occurs in a large number of refugee situations and involves primarily single refugee women or girls, those that are unaccompanied. Sometimes the fact that a refugee woman lives alone in an urban area immediately taints her as a prostitute. The cause of prostitution amongst refugee women are, however, more complex. They include the fact that refugee women often do not have an alternative means of income which in itself may be the result of difficulties in obtaining work permits, their lower education and training generally and the difficulties they encounter in finding someone who can take care of any children while they work.

If you've not been through the experience, it is almost impossible to imagine what it is to be a refugee. To have your whole world turned upside down, to have fled, leaving behind not just the physical things, home, farms, tools, animals, but also the emotional ones, friends, a culture, a way of life.