This article is developed within the context of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg’s Special Quota Humanitarian Admissions Program, which provided protection to one thousand vulnerable women and children - primarily from the Yezidi religious minority in Iraq and its autonomous Kurdistan Region - who survived captivity and conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by Daesh (ISIS). Drawing on interviews with programme participants, the study analyzes the gendered assumptions embedded in the programme’s design, implementation and narratives.
The findings show that the exclusion of adult male family members from accompanying beneficiaries conflicted with the preferences of some survivors and limited their ability to maintain family unity. The article argues that such restrictions constrain women’s agency in determining the conditions of their recovery and long-term wellbeing. The programme is positioned as a significant precedent for international protection responses to conflict-related sexual violence, while highlighting the need for survivor-centered, gender-responsive policy design.