Truth Commissions and Conflict Related Sexual Violence
Sexual violence committed during war is one of the great global challenges. UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which had its 20th anniversary in 2020, commits the international community to take account of the gendered experience of conflict and violence and launched the Women, Peace and Security agenda. An otherwise large literature on transitional justice has paid virtually no attention to how truth commissions interact with this policy agenda.
This presentation investigates how Latin American and African truth commission since the early 1980s have dealt with conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) throughout their operations and in their recommendations. It aims to assess how TCs may have contributed (or not) to this global agenda, taking changing international norms and legal frameworks into account
This presentation forms part of a ROUNDTABLE for the TRUTH COMMISSION & SEXUAL VIOLENCE PROJECT.
The roundtable provides an outline of an ongoing international interdisciplinary research project investigating how African and Latin American truth commission since the early 1980s have dealt with CRSV throughout their operations and in their recommendations. Some of the core questions addressed by the project are: To what extent have changing international norms and legal frameworks shaped the agenda of truth commissions when it comes to CRSV? How have truth commissions contributed to advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda (set by UN Security Council Resolution 1325) and its focus on the gendered experience of conflict?
By establishing a first-ever database on the connections between truth commissions, CRSV, and international law, the project will provide an empirical basis for cross-regional research and analysis on the impact of collective truth-seeking in addressing legacies of CRSV. This research has direct relevance to scholarly and policy discourses on transitional justice in Africa and Latin America and informs wider theoretical and policy discussions. One of the ambitions of the project is to generate policy implications for the design of truth commissions and recommendations that are of direct relevance to improving how CRSV can be addressed.
013 // CST - Roundtable
Wednesday, 1:45pm - 3:15pm,
Casa Hispánica Room (and virtual)
Truth Commissions and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. African and Latin American Experiences
Session Organizer: Adriana Rudling, Global Research Institute at William
Chair: Rachel Sieder, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social
Discussant: Pilar Domingo, ODI
Presenters:
Sinqobile L Makhathini, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
Lesego Sekhu, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
Elin Skaar, Chr. Michelsen Institute
Jemma Blacklaw, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
https://africa.lasaweb.org/en/
