Global Justice Center E-News April 3, 2007
CSW 2007
From February 26th to March 9th, 2007, some 5,000 women participants from around the world descended upon the UN complex in New York City to attend the United Nations 51st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). As a part of this exciting annual convening, the Global Justice Center hosted two panels: one entitled "How War Crimes Tribunals are Advancing Women's Rights" and another entitled, "UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Practice".
How War Crimes Tribunals are Transforming Women's Rights
In a panel discussion at Colombia University Law School on February 27th entitled "How War Crimes Tribunals are Advancing Women's Rights," the Global Justice Center's President and Founder, Janet Benshoof, discussed her personal experiences with organizing and executing a conference on international women's human rights with the judges on the Iraqi High Tribunal. She was joined by Iraqi women activists, sisters Nada Hakki, a forensic doctor who specializes in treating post-trauma victims of sexual violence, and Zakia Hakki, the first and only Iraqi woman judge, who survived numerous assassination attempts under the Saddam Hussein regime for her outspoken approach to women's rights. Also on the panel was the Chief of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and former IHT trainer Simone Monasebian, who one of the only female prosecutors involved in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). This panel addressed the ways in which women's rights can be strategically advanced in times of transition. The precedential decisions that came out of the ICTR and ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia) regarding sexual violence in war must be referenced and utilized at the international level in order to maintain their weight and influence. The Global Justice Center's work with the judges on the Iraqi High Tribunal was intended to continue this progress toward the advancement of women's rights, and the panel highlighted the ways in which other criminal tribunals, including the International Criminal Court could also be used to further this momentum.UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Practice
On Tuesday, March 6th, Global Justice Center president Janet Benshoof addressed the need for women in conflict and post-conflict regions to be able to access Security Council Resolution 1325, and specifically pointed to the ways in which 1325 should be made stronger by having international groups rally around its enforcement. Ms. Benshoof emphasized that women's groups should treat SCR 1325 as binding international law, and mandate women's participation in all peacemaking and peacebuilding processes. This event was co-hosted by the International Women's Tribune Center (IWTC). Vicki Semler, the Director of the (IWTC) joined Ms. Benshoof in emphasizing the importance of SCR 1325 for women and children in conflict zones. They were also joined by a Burmese student-activist, Naw Musi who has been living in exile from Burma, and who was able to share her experiences as a member of one such group of women that is often excluded by U.N. policy.GJC Report: The UN "Stop Rape Now" Initiative
The "Stop Rape Now" initiative was presented at the 51st session of the CSW in in a panel entitled, "What the UN can do to intensify its efforts to end sexual violence in conflict." Distinguished panelists included Eve Ensler, the creator of the Vagina Monologues and V-DAY, and Fatou Bensouda, the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Unfortunately during the previous week of CSW, there was controversy surrounding a panel organized by the US mission entitled, "State-Sanctioned Mass Rape in Burma and Sudan." The UN removed the panel from their website because of the supposed offensive nature of the title to named member states. Burma and Sudan have experienced years of government-backed internal conflict, both of which can be classified by international legal standards as genocide. Mass rape of women in both conflicts is used as a systematic tool of war as women are targeted as a political objective. In Burma ethnic women are forced into sexual slavery, resulting in many unwanted pregnancies, and one of the highest maternal death rates in the world. In Sudan 96 percent of rapes ensue after women and children have been displaced from their villages. The Janjaweed target these women because the strong stigma of rape victims in their society completely alienates them from society. According to Medicins Sans Frontieres, in a four month period alone in Darfur, almost 500 women sought medical attention for rape, and it is believed that the majority of rape victims do not seek medical attention at all. De facto impunity for perpetrators is the rule, rather than the exception.The dire situations of women in Burma and Sudan demands international attention, and are the exact situations that the "Stop Rape Now" UN initiative was set up to address. The fact that UN was not willing to offend member states in order to expose the campaigns of sexual violence in those countries sends a very contradictory message to the international community. The UN's actions are also illustrative of the very mechanisms of impunity in place in society that promote sexual violence in times of conflict in the first place. Ending impunity of violators, whether they are a state or individuals, necessitates exposing their crimes, and if the UN is not willing to offend a state that is using rape as a systematic tool of war, then ending sexual violence of women in conflict will never happen. This is why the entirety of the international community must unite to stop sexual violence and demand that it is not an inevitable aspect of war.
Upcoming GJC events...
The Global Justice Center is excited to announce that Women's Link Worldwide's Monica Roa will be holding an informal talk at the GJC on Friday, April 6th at 1:00. She will be speaking about her victory in the fight to legalize abortion in the Colombian Constitutional Court and the new fronts on which she is now continuing the battle. Please bring your own lunch and feel free to invite interested colleagues.Women's Human Rights news from around the world...
Sudan's Bashir denies government role in Darfur" Reuters, 19 March 2007WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - Sudan's president on Monday denied his government was involved in widespread human rights abuses in Darfur, where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed in what the United States says is the first genocide of this century.
EGYPT: Women Appointed As Trial Judges For The First Time Adnoronos International, 15 March 2007Cairo, (AKI) - Egyptian authorities have appointed 31 women as judges and court presidents, a first for the country, independent local daily al-Masri al-Youm reported on Thursday. The women were selected in the first ever competition for women.
Global Coalition Says Implemntation of Rome Statute's Gender Protections at Turning Point Coalition for International Criminal Court, 8 March 2007New York, New York. The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) -- a global network of more than 2,000 groups advocating for a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC) today called on the Hague-based court to demonstrate more strongly its commitment to women and to implement its gender mandate.
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