Peace and Security Council noted the existence of 15 conflict situations in Africa comprising ongoing conflicts or post conflict situations, a dozen of which were troubled by chronic vulnerabilities and all exhibited the crime of trafficking against women.6 As far back as 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 identified grave challenges women face in conflict such as displacement, loss of home, property, family disintegration and sexual violence. The situation of women in conflict has been compared to induce the same level of mortality and violence that male combatants face.7 Violent conflict is the most immediate trigger for forced displacement and this report studies the causality between the two phenomena and the consequences for women and girls. Apart from the harrowing hardships and risks displaced women face during flight, on resettlement they are affected by artificially induced social conditions, often without adequate support and protection systems. In the AU Concept note on the theme of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs, the AU Executive Council illustrated the grave humanitarian crisis and scale of displacement which has resulted in pandemic sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), trafficking, xenophobia as well as lack of adequate humanitarian assistance.8 Returnees often lack social services and economic support in the wake of conflict cessation, especially in the context of a weakened state. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 70.8 million children, women and men were forcibly displaced at the close of 2018, twice as high as 20 years ago, 2.3 million more than in 2017 and the highest number in it’s almost 70-year history.9 Of these, Africa hosted 31 percent by end of December 2018.10 Furthermore, half of the world’s ten countries registering the highest refugee population relative to national population are found in sub-Saharan Africa.11 Women tend to form the higher percentage of this demographic; the highest proportion of both 6 African Union ‘Remarks by the Commissioner for Peace and Security at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Trafficking of Persons in Conflict Situations’ 21 November 2017 7 McCarthy M K ‘Women's Participation in Peacebuilding: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle?’ College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal 2011 8 AU Executive Council ‘Concept Note and Roadmap Framework on the Theme of the Year: “Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa” EX.CL/1112(XXXIV)Rev.1 9 UNHCR ‘Global forced displacement tops 70 million’. Available at https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2019/6/5d08b6614/global-forced-displacement-tops-70-million.html 10 UNHCR ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018’2018 11 UNHCR ‘Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018’2018 17