Event Recordings
GPS Seminar Series
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Same Battlefield Different Wars
Sex in the ruins of Empire: Historicising sexual violence in the Congo
Sexual violence in the conflict of eastern Congo is predominantly understood and represented as a ‘native’ phenomenon – a direct consequence of the economic civil war – unrelated to imperial violence. In this paper I offer a historicized perspective on Congo’s enduring conflict in which sexual violence continues to ruin lives. Drawing on extensive archival research I advance a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and patterns of sexual violence in the Congo Free State (1885-1908). I argue sexual violence is not a direct result of the regime's demand for resources but is an integral aspect of a patriarchal and capitalist order constructed by the colonial state. This has important consequences for current understandings of sexual violence in the conflict of DRC (and elsewhere). Sexual violence is deeply entangled in the colonial and capitalist project of resource extraction, slavery and forced labour, yet it cannot be reduced to economics nor is the violence inevitably calculated or planned. Positing colonialism in a non-linear frame, I unpack the ways in which rape occurs over multiple trajectories beyond the urgent politics of the present, and conclude that empire as globalized process and its role in producing sexual ruination is key to understanding contemporary wartime rape.The Istanbul Convention as a response to violence against women in Europe
The signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) in May 2011 was a significant development in the protection of women against violence. The Istanbul Convention confirms that States have an obligation to protect women and others against violence. A new book on the Convention, International Law and Violence Against Women Europe and the Istanbul Convention, edited by Johanna Niemi, Lourdes Peroni and Vladislava Stoyanova, highlights the place of the Convention in the landscape of international law and policies on violence against women and equality. The authors argue that the Convention with its emphasis on integrated and comprehensive policies has an important role in promoting equality, but they also note the debates on “genderism” that the Convention has triggered in some member states. The book analyses central concepts of the Convention, including violence, gender and due diligence. It takes up major commitments of the parties to the Convention, including support and services to victims, criminal law provisions and protection of migrant women against violence.Women’s rights in armed conflict under international law: A focus on WPS-CEDAW
Laws and norms that focus on women’s lives in conflict have proliferated across the regimes of international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international human rights law and the United Nations Security Council. While separate institutions, with differing powers of monitoring and enforcement, implement these laws and norms, the activities of regimes overlap. Drawing on research from her new book, Women’s Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020), the seminar addresses challenges posed by legal fragmentation and the relatively weak legal status of many women’s rights norms in conflict. The seminar will focus on the potential for synergies between CEDAW and WPS to enhance the protection of women’s rights in conflict.Violating peace: Sex, aid, and peacekeeping
Jasmine-Kim Westendorf's discomforting book investigates sexual misconduct by military peacekeepers and abuses perpetrated by civilian peacekeepers and non-UN civilian interveners. Based on extensive field research in Bosnia, Timor-Leste, and with the UN and humanitarian communities, Gender and Violent Extremism Research Series
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Women, Terrorism, and Counter-Terrorism
Dr. Joana Cook is a Senior Project Manager at ICCT, and Editor-in-Chief of the ICCT journal. She is also an Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence in the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University. Her research more broadly focuses on women and gender in violent extremism, countering violent extremism, and counter-terrorism practices. More recent scholarly interests include non-state actor governance, and factors and pathways to radicalization.Understanding incel violence
Bruce Hoffman has been studying terrorism and insurgency for over four decades. He is a professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and also the Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis Visiting Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the George H. Gilmore Senior Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. Hoffman previously held the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and co-founded and was the first director of St Andrews University’s Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, where he is currently visiting Professor of Terrorism Studies. Hoffman was appointed a commissioner on the 9/11 Review Commission by the U.S. Congress and has been Scholar-in-Residence for Counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency; adviser on counterterrorism to the Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq; and, adviser on counterinsurgency to Multi-National Forces-Iraq Headquarters, Baghdad, Iraq. He is a recipient of the United States Intelligence Community Seal Medallion, the highest level of commendation given to a non-government employee, and the author of the award-winning book, Anonymous Soldiers (2015). Hoffman’s most recent books include Inside Terrorism (3rd edition, 2017), cited as one of the 25 most notable books published by Columbia University Press on the occasion of its 125th anniversary; and, The Evolution of the Global Terrorist Threat (2014). He holds degrees in government, history, and international relations and received his doctorate from Oxford University. 
Jacob Ware is the research associate for counterterrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations and a graduate of Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program.Tunisia’s missionaries of Jihad
Tunisia became one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for the Islamic State—even though the country stands out as a democratic bright spot of the Arab uprisings and despite the fact that it had very little history of terrorist violence within its borders prior to 2011. Tunisian women have been involved in jihadist activity both in Tunisia and more militarized activity abroad since the 2011 revolution. The role and prominence of Tunisian female jihadists grew even more as they joined IS abroad. Drawing on findings from his new book, Your Sons Are at Your Service, Aaron Y. Zelin uncovers the longer history of Tunisian involvement in the jihadi movement and offers an in-depth examination of the reasons why so many Tunisians became drawn to jihadism following the 2011 revolution, including women. He highlights the longer-term causes that affected jihadi recruitment in Tunisia, including the prior history of Tunisians joining jihadi organizations and playing key roles in far-flung parts of the world over the past four decades. He contends that the jihadi group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia was able to take advantage of the universal prisoner amnesty, increased openness, and the lack of governmental policy toward it after the revolution. In turn, this provided space for greater recruitment and subsequent mobilization to fight abroad once the Tunisian government cracked down on the group in 2013.Consortium of W/GPS Centres and Institutes Online Events
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The role of academia in realising the promise of the WPS agenda
COVID-19 and violent extremism: Gender perspectives
Sexual and gender-based violence in the time of COVID-19: A hidden pandemic?
The risks and opportunities of the global ceasefire call in the time of corona
The COVID-19 crisis response: Putting women at the centre
COVID-19: A gender perspective on the growing humanitarian crisis
Australian Launch of the Gender and Security Toolkit
This event launched the Toolkit in Australia with three of the Tools being presented by authors Lisa Denney (Policing and Gender), Eleanor Gordon (Justice and Gender) and Henri Myrttinen (Security Sector Governance, Security Sector Reform and Gender). The event is co-hosted by DCAF, Monash GPS and the Law and Justice Development Community of Practice. The Toolkit is jointly published by DCAF, OSCE/ODIHR, and UN Women and is available online here: https://dcaf.ch/gender-and-security-toolkit. DCAF acknowledges the support of Switzerland, Sweden and UK DfID in the production of this Toolkit.