Genocide

The Challenges of Gendering Genocide: Reflections on a Feminist Politics of Complexity

Citation:

Helms, Elissa. “The Challenges of Gendering Genocide: Reflections on a Feminist Politics of Complexity.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 22 (4): 463–69.

Author: Elissa Helms

Keywords: genocide, Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia

Annotation:

"When feminists and activists tackle the gendered dynamics of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and contemporary armed conflict, it seems safe to assume that their analyses and interventions are rooted in solidarity with the victims and survivors, in a desire to understand in order to contribute to the eradication of such violence and suffering. Yet some feminist or women-centered positions have sparked serious anxiety and anger among women war survivors and their advocates, rifts in feminist alliances, as well as disturbing political and material consequences for survivors and for the wider societies in which they live. The very collective nature of genocide and ethnicized violence makes them resistant to feminist critique – to scrutiny of the ways in which (ethno-) national collectivities create, and mask, power hierarchies within purported unity (McClintock, 1993) (...) This essay is a reflection on some of the issues and challenges for feminist scholarship and activism that emerge out of critical study of gendered war violence and the politics of collective ethnic and gender victimhood in a postwar setting" (Helms 2015, 463).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Genocide, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2015

The Role of African Women in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: The Case of Rwanda

Citation:

Issifu, Abdul Karim. 2015. "The Role of African Women in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: The Case of Rwanda." Journal of Pan African Studies 8 (9): 63–78.

Author: Abdul Karim Issifu

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of women in post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa via a look at the roles played by the Rwandese women during and in the post-genocide era. Data for the paper is from a secondary source, including articles, books, internet publications, and journals, etc. A thorough content analysis and critical document review of the secondary data, reveals that, despite a UN Security Council Resolution repeated appeals to respect the equal rights of women and their role in peacebuilding, millions of women and children in Africa continue to account for the majority of casualties in hostilities, marginalisation and discriminations. Hence, to help promote and ensure sustainable peace for women, it is recommended that the United Nations, African Union, the European Union, large donor countries, etc. should make a greater effort to financially support a broader spectrum of local actors who work in the gender dimension, and specifically in the women’s movement.

Keywords: conflict, genocide, peacebuilding, Rwanda, women

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2015

Gender and Sexual Violence, Forced Marriages, and Primitive Accumulation during the Cambodian Genocide, 1975–1979

Citation:

Tyner, James A. 2018. “Gender and Sexual Violence, Forced Marriages, and Primitive Accumulation during the Cambodian Genocide, 1975–1979.” Gender, Place & Culture 25 (9): 1305–21.

Author: James A. Tyner

Abstract:

Between 1975 and 1979 approximately two million men, women, and children died during the Cambodian genocide. These deaths are attributed to specific administrative policies and practices initiated by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), all of which were geared toward the basic objective of increasing agricultural production as a means of building socialism. A crucial question regarding these practices was whether the CPK implemented policies designed specifically to destroy the traditional family structure of Cambodia. Drawing on the work of Silvia Federici, this article argues that policies and practices forwarded by the CPK constitute a variation of primitive accumulation; and that transformations of the traditional family structure were conditioned by the overall social organization of production initiated by the CPK. However, a more pressing form of gendered violence is apparent – a mode that pivots on the social ordering of the CPK’s political economy.

Keywords: Cambodia, gendered violence, primitive accumulation, Silvia Federici, social reproduction

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Genocide, Political Economies, Sexual Violence, Violence Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia

Year: 2018

Impact of Gender Policy on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Security in Rwanda

Citation:

Svobodová, Karolina. 2019. "Impact of Gender Policy on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Security in Rwanda." African Security Review 28 (2): 124-38.

Author: Karolina Svobodová

Abstract:

The article analyses the relation between security and enhanced women’s participation in political, legal, and social matters in Rwanda after the genocide. Rwanda serves as a unique example of the fast empowerment of women in a developing state and hence as a model sui generis for investigating connections between greater female participation in post-conflict reconstruction and an improving security situation. The analysis consists of three research questions which examine the results achieved by women in legislation, civil society, and the judiciary, and their impact on the improvement of security in Rwanda.

Keywords: Rwanda, gender, security, post-conflict reconstruction

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Genocide, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Political Participation, Security Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2019

African Democracy and Development: Challenges for Post-Conflict African Nations

Citation:

Veney, Cassandra Rachel, and Dick W. Simpson, ed. 2013. African Democracy and Development: Challenges for Post-Conflict African Nations. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Authors: Cassandra Veney, Dick Simpson

Annotation:

Summary:
Various African nations have undergone conflict situations since they gained their independence. This book focuses on particular countries that have faced conflict (civil wars and genocide) and are now in the process of rebuilding their political, economic, social, and educational institutions. The countries that are addressed in the book include: Rwanda, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, there is a chapter that addresses the role of the African Diaspora in conflict and post-conflict countries that include Eritrea, Liberia, and Somalia. The book includes an examination of the various actors who are involved in post-conflict rebuilding and reconstruction that involves internal and external participants. For example, it is clear that the internal actors involve Africans themselves as ordinary citizens, members of local and national governments, and members of non-governmental organizations. This allows the reader to understand the agency and empowerment of Africans in post-conflict reconstruction. Various institutions are addressed within the context of the roles they play in establishing governance organizations such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone, the African Union, chiefs in Liberia, and non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, the external actors who are involved in post-conflict reconstruction are examined such as international non-governmental organizations and the African Diaspora. They both have their own constituents and agendas and can and do play a positive and negative role in post-conflict reconstruction. It is obvious that countries that are addressed in the book are in dire need of financial assistant to rebuild much needed infrastructure that was destroyed during the conflict. All of the countries covered in the book need schools, medical facilities, roads, bridges, airports, ports, and the government does not have the money to provide these. This is where the international non-governmental organizations and the African Diaspora play an important role. The chapters that address these issues are cognizant of their importance and at the same time, the authors realize that sovereignty can be undermined if Africans are not in the forefront of policy and decision making that will determine their future. There are chapters that provide a gendered analysis of post-conflict when it is appropriate. For example, it is clear that women, men, boys, and girls experienced conflict in different ways because of their gender. They all participated in the conflict in various ways. Consequently, the efforts at peace building are given a gendered analysis in terms of what has happened to women and girls in the demobilization and rehabilitation period including an excellent analysis of land reform in Rwanda and how that affects women and members of a certain ethnic group that are often overlooked in the examination of the 1994 genocide. In sum, this book provides a very good contribution to the literature on conflict and post-conflict African countries because of its depth and the vast topics it embraces. It provides an analysis of the internal and external actors, the role of gender in post-conflict decision making, and it provides the voices of ordinary Africans who were affected by the conflict, and who are determined to live productive lives. (Summary from Google Books)
 
Table of Contents:
1. No Justice, No Peace: The Elusive Search for Justice and Reconciliation in Sierra Leone
Sylvia Macauley
 
2. The Role of Ex-Combatants in Mozambique
Jessica Schafer
 
3. Memory Controversies in Post-genocide Rwanda: Implications for Peacebuilding
Elisabeth King
 
4. Land Reform, Social Justice, and Reconstruction: Challenges for Post-genocide Rwanda
Helen Hintjens
 
5. Elections as a Stress Test of Democratization in Societies: A Comparison of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
John Yoder
 
6. Partners or Adversaries?: NGOs and the State in Postwar Sierra Leone
Fredline A.O. M'Cormack-Hale
 
7. Chieftancy and Reconstruction in Sierra Leone
Arthur Abraham
 
8. The Role of African Diasporas in Reconstruction
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
 
9. The Role of the African Union in Reconstruction in Africa
Thomas Kwasi Tieku
 
10. Governance Challenges in Sierra Leone
Osman Gbla
 
11. Challenges of Governance Reform in Liberia
Amos Sawyer
 
12. Achieving Development and Democracy
Dick Simpson

 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, DDR, Gender, Gender Analysis, Girls, Women, Genocide, Governance, Infrastructure, International Organizations, Justice, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia

Year: 2013

The Masculine Logic of DDR and SSR in the Rwanda Defence Force

Citation:

Duriesmith, David, and Georgina Holmes. 2019. “The Masculine Logic of DDR and SSR in the Rwanda Defence Force.” Security Dialogue 50 (4): 361–79.

Authors: David Duriesmith, Georgina Holmes

Abstract:

Since the 1994 genocide and civil war, the Rwandan government has implemented an externally funded disarmament, demobilization and reintegration/security sector reform (DDR/SSR) programme culminating in the consolidation of armed groups into a new, professionalized Rwanda Defence Force. Feminists argue that DDR/SSR initiatives that exclude combatant women and girls or ignore gendered security needs fail to transform the political conditions that led to conflict. Less attention has been paid to how gendered relations of power play out through gender-sensitive DDR and SSR initiatives that seek to integrate women and transform hyper-masculine militarized masculinities. This article investigates how Rwanda’s DDR/SSR programme is governed by an oppressive masculine logic. Drawing on critical studies on men and masculinities and feminist work on peacebuilding, myths and the politics of belonging, it argues that Rwanda’s locally owned DDR/SSR programme places the military and militarization at the centre of the country’s nation-building programme. Through various ‘boundary-construction’ practices, the Rwandan government attempts to stabilize the post-1994 gender order and entrench the hegemony of a new militarized masculinity in Rwandan society. The case study draws on field research conducted in 2014 and 2015 and a discourse analysis of historical accounts, policy documents and training materials of the Rwanda Defence Force.

Keywords: DDR, gender, militarization, peacebuilding, Rwanda, SSR

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Combatants, Female Combatants, DDR, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Security Sector Reform Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2019

Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Gender Analysis in Kosova

Citation:

Corrin, Chris. 2000. "Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Gender Analysis in Kosova." International Feminist Journal of Politics 3 (1): 78-98

Author: Chris Corrin

Abstract:

Gender relations fluctuate in times of violent change with flight, exile, displacement and return and relations of inequality between men and women can prevent women from fully participating in the reconstruction processes and gaining political voice. Undertaking a gendered analysis of Kosovar women's involvement in the emerging feminist reconstructive politics highlighted the ways in which international governmental responses at times hindered women's progress. The central concern in this Gender Audit is the extent to which encouragement has been given to increasing women's social,economic,educational and political participation - in both informal civic fora and organizations and at the formal levels of power. The Gender Audit assesses the gaps in policy-making, service provision, data collection and in co-ordination and monitoring of projects designed to increase the participation of women and girls. In post-conflict situations it is vital that all people are enabled to contribute their ideas, expertise and skills in reconstruction and rehabilitation processes leading to democratization and democracy-building. Working in coalitions combining local, national and international elements is providinga positive contribution for somewomen in Kosova.

Keywords: feminism, gender relations, Kosova, participation, peace, post conflict, rehabilitation, reconstruction

Topics: Civil Society, Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Genocide, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Kosovo

Year: 2010

Accompanying Maya Women: Armed Resistance and Transitional Justice Struggles

Citation:

Lykes, M. Brinton. 2019. "Accompanying Maya Women: Armed Resistance and Transitional Justice Struggles." Social Justice 46 (1): 49-64.

Author: M. Brinton Lykes

Annotation:

Summary:
"Those of us who position ourselves as “intermediaries” (Merry 2006), grounded in international human rights norms and feminist transnational activist scholarship in partnership with local women and children working at the grassroots, contribute in particular ways to feminist peacemaking and peacebuilding. Over 25 years ago, having completed a PhD in community-cultural psychology and while teaching university students in the Global North, I responded positively to an invitation from a Maya Ixil woman, whom I had worked with when she was in exile in Mexico, to facilitate a workshop with women in a rural town in the Guatemalan Highlands. I had been training community-based health promoters—mostly men—during my summer breaks from university teaching, and I was eager to experience a rural community and work with women. Since then, I have returned annually, living and working with Maya women and children in contexts of war and postgenocide transitions. I draw on some of these experiences of coconstructing knowledge(s) from the bottom up as one small contribution to a collective feminist/womanist1 effort to build the more equitable, just, and peaceful world in which we seek to live" (Lykes 2019).

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Genocide, International Law, International Human Rights, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 2019

Gender, Resistance and Transnational Memories of Violent Conflicts

Citation:

Stoltz, Pauline. 2020. Gender, Resistance and Transnational Memories of Violent Conflicts. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Pauline Stoltz

Keywords: memory, transitional justice, resistance, gender, transnationalism, conflict

Annotation:

Summary: 
This book investigates the importance of gender and resistance to silences and denials concerning human rights abuses and historical injustices in narratives on transnational memories of three violent conflicts in Indonesia. Transnational memories of violent conflicts travel abroad with politicians, postcolonial migrants and refugees. Starting with the Japanese occupation of Indonesia (1942–1945), the war of independence (1945–1949) and the genocide of 1965, the volume analyses narratives in Dutch and Indonesian novels in relation to social and political narratives (1942–2015). By focusing on gender and resistance from both Indonesian and Dutch, transnational and global perspectives, the author provides new perspectives on memories of the conflicts that are relevant to research on transitional justice and memory politics. (Summary from Palgrave Macmillan)

Topics: Armed Conflict, National Liberation Wars, Occupation, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Refugees, Conflict, Gender, Genocide, Justice, Transitional Justice, Rights, Human Rights, Violence Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2020

Forced Pregnancy versus Forcible Impregnation: A Critical Analysis of Genocidal Rape during War/Armed Conflict.

Citation:

Banwell, Stacy Louise. 2019. "Forced Pregnancy versus Forcible Impregnation: A Critical Analysis of Genocidal Rape during War/Armed Conflict." Paper presented at the 75th American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November 13-16.

Author: Stacy Louise Banwell

Abstract:

Forced pregnancy and forcible impregnation are contested terms in relation to genocidal rape. The International Criminal Court (ICC), for example, defines forced pregnancy as ‘the unlawful confinement of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population’ (Rome Statute of the ICC, 2011). Whereas, The Holy See suggests that the Statute need only criminalize the act of forcibly making a woman pregnant and not the subsequent act of forcibly keeping her pregnant. Thus, they suggest the term forcible impregnation rather than forced pregnancy (Grey, 2017). This paper unpacks the implications of the ICC’s definition of forced pregnancy in relation to the rape and sexual slavery of Yazidi women in Iraq and Syria. Evidence suggest that ISIS engaged in a genocidal campaign against the Yazidis. Many women and girls were forcibly impregnated, resulting in unwanted pregnancies (Genocide Network, 2017; Human Rights Council, 2016). However, forced impregnation (as defined by the ICC) cannot be applied to this case. Drawing on Grey’s (2017) notion of ‘reproductive violence’ - violence that violates reproductive autonomy - I review international criminal law and the reproductive justice available to women and girls raped and impregnated by ISIS.

Keywords: law, rape

Topics: Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Girls, Genocide, Health, Reproductive Health, International Law, International Criminal Law, Rights, Reproductive Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq, Syria

Year: 2019

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