Central Africa

Citation:

Martin de Almagro, Maria. 2018. “Hybrid Clubs: A Feminist Approach to Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 12 (3): 319-34.

Author: Maria Martin de Almagro

Abstract:

Critical approaches to peacebuilding have achieved a local turn wherein alienated indigenous experiences are the cornerstone of emancipatory practices – yet this emancipation of the ‘different’ risks perpetuating the discrimination and normalization of the challenged liberal peace. Using the case study of a feminist campaign to elect more women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this article’s feminist approach to critical peacebuilding utilizes storytelling to develop a conceptual grid that reveals the complexities of the politics of difference, and proposes the concept of the ‘hybrid club’ as a cluster of local and international actors coalescing to develop peacebuilding initiatives.

Keywords: hybridity, gender, Democratic Republic of the Congo, space, embodiment, experience, peacebuilding

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Governance, Elections, Indigenous, Peacebuilding Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2018

Citation:

de Almagro, Maria Martin. 2019. "Mainstreaming Gender in European Union Transitional Justice Policy: Towards a Transformative Approach?" In Gender Roles in Peace and Security, edited by Manuela Scheuermann and Anja Zurn, 149-64. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Author: Maria Martin de Almagro

Abstract:

The European Parliament awarded its prestigious Sakharov Prize in October 2016 to two Iraqi Yazidi women who were held as sex slaves by Islamic State militias. Some months before, the ICC issued its landmark conviction of Jean Pierre Bemba for his responsibility as commander-in-chief for sexual and gender-based violence carried out by his troops in the Central African Republic in May 2016. Both events are evidence of the increasing awareness at the EU, and internationally, of the need to amplify women’s experiences of violence and their claims to justice. In Guatemala, for example, a court recently convicted two former military officers of crimes against humanity for having enslaved, raped and sexually abused 11 indigenous Q’eqchi’ women at the Sepur Zarco military base during the armed conflict in Guatemala.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Criminal Law, International Organizations, Justice, Crimes against Humanity, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militias, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Violence Regions: Africa, MENA, Central Africa, Americas, Central America, Asia, Middle East, Europe Countries: Central African Republic, Guatemala, Iraq

Year: 2019

Citation:

Fanneron, Evelyn, Eunice N. Sahle, and Kari Dahlgren. 2019. "Transitional Justice, Gender-Based Violence, and Women's Rights." In Human Rights in Africa, edited by Evelyn Fanneron, 89-144. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Evelyn Fanneron, Eunice N. Sahle, Kari Dahlgren

Abstract:

In this chapter, Evelyn Fanneron, Eunice N. Sahle, and Kari Dahlgren examine sources of gender-based violence in the context of conflict. Further, they explore the gendered underpinnings of transitional justice drawing on transitional justice mechanisms (TJMs in Rwanda and Sierra Leone). The chapter pays particular attention to these TJMs’ approach to wartime sexual violence in order to assess the ways in which they have begun to account for gendered harms and the ways in which they have not yet achieved gendered justice. To achieve its aims, the chapter draws insights from feminist concerns regarding human rights discourse and TJMs’ approaches to gender-based violence and wartime sexual violence.

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, Transitional Justice, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Rwanda, Sierra Leone

Year: 2019

Citation:

Aroussi, Sahla. 2018. "Perceptions of Justice and Hierarchies of Rape: Rethinking Approaches to Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo from the Ground Up." The International Journal of Transitional Justice 12 (2): 277-95.

Author: Sahla Aroussi

Abstract:

Based on extensive fieldwork in South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this article considers the question of justice for survivors of sexual violence from the ground up. It argues that survivors of rape by armed groups or civilians in the DRC primarily conceive of justice as economic assistance and have limited interest in the prosecution of perpetrators. Such emphasis on economic assistance cannot be separated from the reality of poverty in which survivors live and local perceptions and practices of justice that are rooted in the concept of reparation. At the same time, survivors’ reluctance to pursue formal justice must be understood in the light of the inaccessibility of the Congolese criminal justice system and its failure to play a positive role in society. The article concludes by offering some recommendations for actors and scholars in this area.

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Justice, Reparations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2018

Citation:

Bayisenge, Jeannette. 2015. "Women’s Experiences of Land Conflicts in the Context of the Land Tenure Reform Program in Rwanda." International Journal of Gender and Women's Studies 3 (1): 118-33.

Author: Jeannette Bayisenge

Abstract:

Land is a highly important and contested resource in developing countries, and despite measures taken to ensure gender equality in land-ownership, women experience more land-related conflicts than men. The purpose of this paper is to explore women's experiences of land-related conflicts in the context of the Land Tenure Reform Program in Rwanda. Theoretically, a bargaining approach to land conflicts guides the understanding of the findings and their analysis. Empirical data are mainly collected from 480 women in the Musanze District, using survey interviews, semi-structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Findings indicate that only a small number of women reported having encountered land conflicts, which may be related to the culture of not exposing family issues to the public. Land conflicts that women face are mostly related to inheritance, polygamy and the daily management of land and its produce. Women reported that challenges such as lack of legal knowledge, as well as rejection of their claims by their husbands, families and community affect their willingness to pursue claims for their rights. The challenges that women are confronted with while claiming their rights are mainly influenced by the power structure that are based on male supremacy. Consequently, reforms aiming at strengthening women's land rights must be based on a good understanding of social and cultural norms

Keywords: women, land conflicts, land tenure reform, Rwanda

Topics: Conflict, Resource Conflict, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Households, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2015

Citation:

Kindervater, Lisa, and Sheila Meintjes. 2018. "Gender and Governance in Post-Conflict and Democratizing Settings." In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict, edited by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Haynes, and Nahla Valji, 468-484. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Authors: Lisa Kindervater, Sheila Meintjes

Abstract:

Women have the opportunity to make significant economic, political, and sociocultural gains during transitions to peace and democracy; however, these gains are frequently lost when competitive electoral politics resumes. This chapter identifies the key mechanisms responsible for this loss, providing examples from several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These mechanisms include institutional constraints, historical political conditions, donor-driven agendas, prevailing cultural norms, and the nature of the women’s movement. The chapter suggests that while the enactment of laws and policies related to women’s rights are an important first step, a feminist and transformational agenda in post-conflict societies requires focus on patriarchal cultures and practices. The chapter argues that such transformation is aided by the fostering of strong relationships between grassroots women activists and politically elite women.

Keywords: post-conflict, electoral politics, patriarchal cultures, feminism, women's movement, donor agenda, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Class, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Political Participation, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Davis, Laura. 2019. "Women Peace and Security: Adrift in Policy and Practice." Feminist Legal Studies 27 (1): 95-107.

Author: Laura Davis

Abstract:

This comment refects on how the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda has been translated into policy and put into practice by the European Union and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the WPS agenda has enabled many gains by women peacebuilders, this comment identifes important challenges from these two very diferent contexts. First, situating WPS policy areas within a broader feminist political economy analysis demonstrates how little infuence the WPS agenda has across government. Second, the WPS agenda is being (mis)used to promote heteronormative, patriarchal understanding of ‘gender’, stripped of any power dynamics and excluding any gender identities that do not conform. The result, then, is that WPS policies and practice are adrift in the patriarchal policy mainstream.

Topics: Feminisms, Feminist Political Economy, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Peacebuilding, Peace and Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS Regions: Africa, Central Africa, Europe Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2019

Citation:

Buss, Doris. 2018. "Conflict Minerals and Sexual Violence in Central Africa: Troubling Research." Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 25 (4): 545-67.

Author: Doris Buss

Abstract:

This paper explores “conflict mining-related sexual violence” as a type of conflict sexual violence, tracing the dynamic process by which this category is defined in and through the production of research. Focusing on two “conflict minerals” initiatives, I explore how data on sexual violence are positioned as an indicator for assessing armed conflict and human rights abuses in mining areas in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. I trace the methodological decisions and epistemic claims that shape what is knowable about mining-related sexual violence and which erase the significant methodological challenges in researching sexual- and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Conflict, Resource Conflict, Gender-Based Violence, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2018

Citation:

Jennings, Kathleen M. 2019. "WPS and Peacekeeping Economies." In The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace, and Security, edited by Sara E. Davies and Jacqui True, 237-47. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Author: Kathleen M. Jennings

Abstract:

In recent years, scholars have sought to understand the relationship between international interveners and locals within peacekeeping communities. To do so, these scholars explore the everyday encounters between these actors through their interactions in the “peacekeeping economy.” Peacekeeping economy refers to the formal and informal economic activity that would or would not occur at a lower scale and pay-rate, without the presence of international peacekeepers and peace-builders. They are highly gendered in ways that accord to common understandings of “women’s work” and “men’s work.” However, the venues and services of the peacekeeping economy offer the rare opportunity for peacekeepers and “ordinary” locals to meet, transact, and interact in peacekeeping environments. This chapter examines the peacekeeping economies in Liberia and the DR Congo gaining unique insight into how the goals of “protection” and “prevention” are understood and embodied in the largely informal, “everyday” spaces that populate peacekeeping environments. Drawing on these case studies, this chapter argues that the everyday political-economic contexts in which peacekeeping missions unfold challenge the WPS aims of gender equality.

Keywords: DR Congo, Liberia, peacekeeping economy, everyday spaces, women's work, men's work

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Peacekeeping Regions: Africa, Central Africa, West Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Blakemore, Sarah, Rosa Freedman, and Nicolas Lemay-Hébert. 2019. "Child Safeguarding in a Peacekeeping Context: Lessons from Liberia." Development in Practice 29 (6): 735-47.

Authors: Sarah Blakemore, Rosa Freedman, Nicolas Lemay-Hébert

Abstract:

This article reviews how peacekeeping officials safeguard children from sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in Liberia, more than 15 years after the landmark reports published on this issue. Based on original fieldwork conducted in Liberia and in New York, the article introduces an innovative framework to assess whether or not organisations effectively safeguard children from SEA. It reviews three interrelated issues: reinforcing the institutional environment in the country, strengthening prevention of and accountability for child SEA by UN actors. The article concludes with specific policy recommendations for actors involved in peacekeeping activities.

Keywords: aid, accountability, aid effectiveness, civil society, NGOs, gender and diversity, youth, Rights, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Age, Youth, Civil Society, Gender, Girls, Boys, NGOs, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Americas, North America Countries: Liberia, United States of America

Year: 2019