When mapping actors/perpetrators, investigators should thus be aware of the fact that structural power imbalances in society may lead them to treat victims of human rights violations as potential perpetrators, which may in turn exacerbate discrimination. Some victims of violations appear to support or to participate actively in militias or armed groups because they are forced to do so or otherwise lack meaningful choices. For example, girls have been kidnapped by members of an armed group, forcibly married to their captors and then coerced to bear children who would be shunned by their original communities. Investigators have reported that women and children rescued from Boko Haram, who may have little or no connection with violence or the group’s ethos, have been treated as fully fledged members, including by being enrolled in “de-radicalization” programmes.91 Past investigations have identified women alleged to be suicide bombers involved in indiscriminate attacks, alleged to have recruited children into armed groups, alleged to have gathered intelligence, disseminate propaganda and enforce female morality codes. Others have allegedly lured enemy fighters into ambushes where they were captured, tortured and/or killed. Women and girls may also play traditional gender roles, such as providing food or other domestic services for armed groups. In some instances, these roles have been understood as facilitating or “materially supporting” armed groups, and such allegations have been used to disproportionate effect against girls and women, for example by denying them asylum,92 when in fact they may have participated under duress. Over the last two decades a growing number of countries have increased the percentage of women in their armed forces, and in ever-broadening roles.93 It is now increasingly common for militaries and other fighting forces to integrate women, or alternatively, to have women-only brigades.94 Investigators must therefore bear in mind the importance of recognizing that women and others can be key sources of information on military matters. Investigators should seek information from a broad range of interlocutors on military structures and hierarchies, types of weapons, deployment dates and places, insignia, means of communication, and similar potentially probative facts. A/HRC/30/67 (29 September 2015), para. 31. A/64/211 (3 August 2009), para. 50. 93 United Nations Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325, Keeping the Peace in an Increasingly Militarized World, chapter 6, pp. 137-139. 94 Ibid. p. 137. For example, by 2013 all NATO countries had specific policies and legislation for women’s participation in their armed forces. Non-State actors also increasingly deploy women: the LTTE in Sri Lanka, for example, had two all-female brigades. In Syria, multiple armed groups have recruited women to fill their ranks, such as the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (PKK), of which women comprise as much as 40%. 91 92 COLLECTING AND ANALYSING THE INFORMATION 51