Public Events

Tuesday | 8 October 2024 | 17:30 | European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) | Zossener Str. 55-58 (Aufgang D) | 10961 Berlin

Justice for conflict-related sexual violence remains a critical problem for global society today. This book addresses pressing questions for ‘international justice’: what do existing approaches to international justice offer to victims of war and societies in conflict? And what possibilities do they provide for feminist social transformation?

Kirsten Campbell develops a new feminist approach to 'international justice'. She examines two important contemporary examples of legal and feminist approaches to justice: 1) the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and 2) the Women's Court for the former Yugoslavia. Her focus is on their treatment of sexual violence as a gender-based crime. Drawing on feminist social theory, legal analysis and empirical research, Campbell offers an innovative feminist framework for understanding 'international justice' and new strategies for building feminist justice.

Welcome: Annelen Micus (Director of Institute for Legal Intervention, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), Regina Mühlhäuser (Senior Researcher at the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancment of Research and Culture; SVAC)

Presentation: Kirsten Campbell (Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London; SVAC)

Comments: Monika Hauser (Founder and chief executive, medica mondiale) and Kalika Mehta (Research Fellow Criminal Law, Humboldt University)

Moderation: Annelen Micus (ECCHR)

The event will be held in English. Admission free.

A cooperation between ECCHR Berlin, medica mondiale and SVAC.

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Montag | 14. November 2022 | 18:30 | Universitätsbibliothek Wien | Universitätsring 1 | A-1010 Wien

Es gehört zum Alltagswissen, dass sexuelle Gewalt in bewaffneten Konflikten allgegenwärtig ist. Gegenstand gesellschaftlicher Auseinandersetzungen und wissenschaftlicher Forschung wurde sie jedoch erst in jüngster Zeit. Die Frauen-, Bürgerrechts- und Antikriegsbewegungen der 1970er-Jahre hatten Vergewaltigungen im Krieg und im Frieden öffentlich thematisiert, aber erst mit der Gründung der Internationalen Strafgerichtshöfe für das ehemalige Jugoslawien und für Ruanda in den 1990er-Jahren begann man, sexuelle Gewalt als Kriegsverbrechen, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit und Akt des Völkermords zu begreifen. Im aktuellen Krieg in der Ukraine sind die Ermittlungen zur Beweissicherung von sexuellen Gewaltverbrechen bereits angelaufen. Dessen ungeachtet mangelt es bis heute an effektiven Gegenstrategien und an einem Verständnis für die Komplexität dieser Form der Gewalt. Die Autor:innen des Bandes "Plain Sight: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict" (Zubaan Publishers 2019) zeigen in Essays, Reflexionen und Gesprächen, in welch vielfältigen Konstellationen sexuelle Gewalt in bewaffneten Konflikten auftritt. Zusammengestellt im Rahmen der International Research Group »Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict« führt das Buch in die historischen Dimensionen ein und diskutiert zentrale politische und juristische Fragen der Gegenwart.

Begrüßung / Moderation: Sabine Genz, Referat Genderforschung und Institut für Bildungswissenschaft, Universität Wien

While sexual violence has gained public awareness since the mid-1970s and become today a subject in academic debate, national and international politics, efforts to understand this form of violence remain inadequate. How is sexual violence tied to other forms of violence? Who are the perpetrators? What are the consequences for individual victims and societies? How to prevent sexual violence? And what are the pressing questions today?

A roundtable discussion of the edited collection In Plain Sight. Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, with:

• Kirsten Campbell, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Visiting Professor at Sciences Po's Center for History and co-editor of In Plain Sight
• Elissa Mailänder, Associate Professor at Sciences Po's Center for History
• Fabrice Virgili, CNRS Research Director at Sorbonne University (Sirice)

Moderation by Anne-Laure Briatte, Associate Professor in German history and civilization at Sorbonne University (Sirice).

Introduction by Elissa Mailänder, Associate Professor at Sciences Po’s Center for History and a member of Sciences Po’s Gender Studies Programme (PRESAGE).

For more information visit Sciences Po Paris.

Today sexual violence is the subject of media coverage in a wide variety of scenarios. Still, the picture that emerges is characterized by ambiguity and omissions. There seems to be a particular reservation to deal with the question what actually happens when sexual violence is perpetrated. Who does what to whom? And how is it understood and reacted upon?

“In Plain Sight: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict” is an attempt to get deeper insights into these questions. The book is the result of cooperation between researchers from various disciplines, with different regional and cultural backgrounds, who work in the “International Research Group ‘Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict’” since 2008. Dealing with war, power, violence, sexuality, gender and representation, it investigates fields in which sexual violence takes place and coins everyday life as well as military practices.

The evening will commence with introductions by Joanna Bourke (Birkbeck); the editors of ‘In Plain Sight’, Gaby Zipfel, Regina Mühlhäuser, and Kirsten Campbell; followed by talks by Dubravka Žarkov and Urvashi Butalia.

A drinks reception will follow with the opportunity to speak with the editors and contributors, as well as fellow invited guests.

For more information and the program visit the Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters research project (SHaME)

Admission free

Organized and kindly supported by the Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters research project (SHaME) ; the Gender of Justice Project; Feminist Review ; Zubaan Books and the International Research Group »Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict« 

Auf Englisch / In English

Bereits Mitte der 1970er-Jahre, auf dem Höhepunkt der Frauenbewegung, warfen feministische Aktivistinnen und Forscherinnen Fragen auf, die bis heute nichts an Aktualität verloren haben: Wie können wir sexuelle Gewalt als gesellschaftliches und individuelles Phänomen verstehen? Warum tritt sexuelle Gewalt in kriegerischen Konflikten regelhaft auf? Wer übt wann und auf welche Weise sexuelle Gewalt aus? Und wie können wir die Verletzungen erfassen, die die Opfer erfahren?

Obwohl sexuelle Gewalt in den letzten Jahren in öffentlichen Debatten an Bedeutung gewonnen hat und zu einem Thema internationaler Politik und wissenschaftlicher Forschung geworden ist, sind die Bemühungen, diese Form von Gewalt zu verstehen und Strategien zu ihrer Verhinderung zu entwickeln, nach wie vor unzureichend. Der gerade erschienene Sammelband der International Research Group Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) möchte zu einem tiefergehenden und differenziertem Verständnis sexueller Gewalt in bewaffneten Konflikten beitragen. Er verfolgt einen interdisziplinären Ansatz und stützt sich auf vier zentrale Untersuchungsfelder: Krieg|Macht, Gewalt|Sexualität, Geschlecht|Selbstermächtigung und Sichtbarkeit|Unsichtbarkeit.

Die Buchvorstellung ist der Auftakt zu einem nicht-öffentlichen Treffen der Forschungsgruppe, und viele der Autorinnen und Autoren und weitere Gäste aus Indien, Pakistan, Japan, USA, Australien, Südafrika, der Demokratischen Republik Kongo, Portugal, Frankreich, Bosnien und Herzegowina, Serbien, der Ukraine, den Niederlanden und England werden anwesend sein. Mit einigen Inputs möchten wir dazu einladen, ins Gespräch zu kommen:

Sexual Violence and Intersectional Analysis – A Critical Intervention
Dubravka Žarkov (International Institute forSocial Studies, Den Haag, und Belgrad)

Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia
Urvashi Butalia (Zubaan-Verlag, Neu Delhi)

With an Introduction by the Editors, Gaby Zipfel, Regina Mühlhäuser (both Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur) and Kirsten Campbell (Goldsmith College, University of London).

Im Anschluss besteht die Möglichkeit, die Diskussion bei einem Getränk fortzusetzen.

Eintritt frei.

In Kooperation mit dem Buchladen Osterstraße und Zubaan Books.
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur.

Leaflet Buchvorstellung (PDF)

The Lectures are held in German or English

Programm und einführende Bemerkungen
6 March 2018
Christa Hämmerle (Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien), Sabine Grenz (Institut für Bildungswissenschaft/Institut für Germanistik/Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien)

Sexuelle Gewalt – zur Genese ihrer Erforschung seit den 1970er-Jahren
13 March 2018
Gaby Zipfel (Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur)

Von Sexualisierung zu sexueller Gewalt? Das Beispiel des Ersten Weltkriegs
20 March 2018
Christa Hämmerle (Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien)

Sexualisierte Gewalt im Zweiten Weltkrieg und die deutsche Erinnerungskultur
10 April 2018
Sabine Grenz (Institut für Bildungswissenschaft/Institut für Germanistik/Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien)

The Politics of Memorialisation: Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery during the Second World War
17 April 2018
Maki Kimura (Department of Political Science, University College London)

Sexuelle Gewalt als Angriff auf die Ehre – wessen Ehre?
24 April 2018
Ute Frevert (Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungswissenschaften / Forschungsbereich Geschichte der Gefühle, Berlin)

Von »Sittlichkeitsdelikten« zu einem umfassenden strafrechtlichen Schutz der sexuellen Integrität – Rückblick, aktuelle Rechtslage und Ausblick
8 May 2018
Katharina Beclin (Institut für Strafrecht und Kriminologie, Universität Wien)

Sexuelle Gewalt als Kriegsstrategie. Zur Entwicklung eines Konzepts seit den 1970er-Jahren bis heute
15 May 2018
Regina Mühlhäuser (Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur)

Gender Justice and Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in the former Yugoslavia
29 May 2018
Kirsten Campbell (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Transgender Military Service and Sexual Violence in the U.S. Armed Forces
5 June 2018
Aaron Belkin (Political Science, San Francisco State University / Palm Center)

Victimologies, Vulnerabilities, Vindications: the Politics of Sexual Violence in Contemporary India
12 June 2018
Atreyee Sen (Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen)

Konkrete Unterstützung für gewaltbetroffene/traumatisierte Frauen und Mädchen
19 June 2018
Maria Rösslhumer (Verein Autonome Österreichische Frauenhäuser, Wien)

#MeToo. Sexualisierte Gewalt in der öffentlich-politischen Debatte
26 June 2018
Birgit Sauer (Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Universität Wien)

PROGRAMM FOLDER

Admission free

Concept and Moderation by Christa Hämmerle & Birgit Sauer (both University of Vienna)

Organized by L'Homme. Europäische Zeitschrift für Feministische Geschichtswissenschaft; Forschungsverbund »Geschlecht und Handlungsmacht« at the University of Vienna; and the International Research Group »Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict«

This Lecture series is kindly supported by the Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte Wien / Abteilung Frauen – Familie; Forschungsverbund »Geschlecht und Handlungsmacht«; Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät; Professur für Gender Studies; Forschungsschwerpunkt »Diktaturen – Gewalt – Genozide« der Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät; and the Referat Genderforschung (all University of Vienna).

During colonization, Congolese women were sexually abused and raped by the colonial administration and soldiers. The rape of women was so intense that in the early 1960s, the republic of Congo was called, by people in Malawi, “Congo Bolo Matadi” (Congo Penis Matadi). The penis, thus, was perceived as the symbol of power. Rapes of women continued in post-independence Congo. The recent conflicts in eastern Congo foregrounded rape in Congo (DR).

Dubbed the capital of rape, rape became an international issue and was discussed by Congolese NGOs and often mentioned on national media. However, the discourse on rape was imported and not initiated within the Congo. Rape in Congo (DR) is defined and discussed abroad and, generally, by Congolese males. Women through NGOs enact, speak about rape but do not articulate its nature and significance. When rape is spoken by women the discourse is circumscribed. Moreover, because rape empowers rebel groups to be heeded, women become even more vulnerable.

To be successful in eradicating rape and enabling women to speak, films aiming at the Congolese female, should be made. Women should become academic subjects and military leaders should be trained to respect women and become accountable. Women and their subjectivity need to be integrated into the general curriculum, so they can own their space, question their given African female identity by examining its construction during the colonial and postcolonial Congolese eras. Women, moreover, need to gain ownership of their bodies and voices by questioning theological male definitions of Congolese female identity.

Nwarasungu Chiwengo is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of English Studies, University of Creighton, USA. She teaches courses at Creighton in World Literature and African Literature, and is the faculty moderator of the ‘African Students Association’ and the faculty coordinator of Creighton’s Black Studies Program.

Admission free

This public lecture is kindly supported by the Center for Social Studies and the Faculty of Econimics at the University of Coimbra as well as the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture.

Since its establishment in 1994, the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women (UNSRVAW) has studied the forms, prevalence, causes and consequences of violence against women; it has analyzed legal and institutional developments in the protection of women against violence as well as the remaining challenges; and has provided key recommendations to Governments and to the international community to overcome such challenges. Although, progress has been achieved in advancing women and girl’s human rights at the national, regional and international level, there are gaps and challenges that have not been adequately addressed, including in respect of violence against women. One of the challenges identified by Rashida Manjoo (who held the position of the UNSRVAW from 2009 to 2015) has been the normative gap under international human rights law i.e. the lack of a specific legally binding instrument to hold both State and non-state actors accountable for this pervasive violation, as a human rights violation in and of itself. The lecture will address the gap, as well as the resistance to acknowledging and addressing the gap.

Rashida Manjoo is currently a Professor in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is the co-convener of the Human Rights Program in the Law faculty where she teaches, supervises and advises students. She is also the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. 

Admission free

This public lecture is kindly supported by the International Research Group “Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict”, the Centre for Feminist Research, the Feminist Review, the Unit for Global Justice, and the Gender of Justice Project at Goldsmith College, University of London.

Yuki Tanaka (Hiroshima Peace Institute)
Gaby Zipfel (Hamburg Institute for Social Research)
Moderation: Regina Mühlhäuser (Hamburg Institute for Social Research)

In 1975, at the peak of the Women’s and Student Movement and against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Susan Brownmiller’s path-breaking analysis about rape in war and peace appeared. »Against Our Will«, one of »100 most important books of the Twentieth Century« (New York Public Library), opened the door to questions that are still pressing today. Her study has inspired feminist activism and research. Today, sexual violence has gained public awareness and became a much debated subject in national and international politics.

Theaters of armed conflict in the 21st century reveal that this form of wartime violence is still ubiquitous. Despite recent public awareness, efforts to understand and strategies to prevent this form of violence remain inadequate. The presence of Susan Brownmiller in Hamburg opens up the opportunity to rediscover how this important debate emerged while also reflecting on the current state of the art.

Leaflet (PDF)

Admission free

This public event is kindly supported by the Gender of Justice Research Project at Goldsmiths University / European Research Council (ERC-313626), the Hamburg Institute for Social Research, and the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture.

The event opens the internal SVAC conference »Against Our Will« Forty Years After: Exploring the Field of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict.

Joanna Bourke in conversation with Kendrick Oliver about testimony on rape during the war in Vietnam, with reflections on sexual violence in current conflicts.

With an introduction by Kirsten Campbell.

Joanna Bourke is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of (among other books) Rape: A History from the 1860s to the Present (London: Virago, 2007).

Kendrick Oliver is Professor of American History at the University of Southampton. He is the author of (among other books) The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006).

Kirsten Campbell, SVAC, is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Principal Investigator of the ERC funded project »The Gender of Justice«.

Leaflet Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts: Film, Testimony, and the Vietnam War (PDF)

The event will be followed by a drinks reception. It is sponsored by the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and opens the internal SVAC Workshop »Cultures of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict«.

Introduction & Moderation:
Regina Mühlhäuser and Gaby Zipfel, Hamburg Institute for Social Research

The subject of sexual violence has long been ignored in official historiography of the War of Annihilation and the Holocaust. Already during WWII, however, stories about rape and sexual enslavement of Jewish women by Nazi men began to circulate in newsprint, liturgy, and literature within the Jewish communities of North America and the Yishuv (pre-state Israel). After the war, they could be heard in Europe as well.

The lecture explores such narratives, when and where they first emerged, and how they compare to the historical record. These stories are shown to have played an important role in making sense of the Holocaust in the Jewish communities in which they circulated. Their particular social-political contexts matter as they affected reception and dissemination, and led to particular narratives becoming dominant while others remained unspeakable. Indeed, many of the stories had a profound symbolic impact as well as an actual silencing effect on Holocaust survivors in these communities. They were taken to be historically accurate, and hindered the exploration of actual experiences of sexual violence for decades.

Leaflet Sexual Violence in the Concentration Camps (PDF)

This public event is organized by the International Research Group "Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict", the Hamburg Institute for Social Research and the Department of Germanic Studies, University of Texas at Austin. It opens the internal SVAC Workshop »Constellations and Dynamics of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, Part II: A Close Reading of Sources«.

Introduction: 
Elissa Mailänder, Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po

Chair & Moderation:
Claire Andrieu, Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po

• Examination of a War Crime: Hagiang (French Indochina) march 1945
  Fabrice Virgili, Directeur de recherche, UMR IRICE-CNRS
• Framing Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: What We (May) Fail to See
  Pascale Bos, Associate Professor, The University of Texas, Austin
• Between Analysis and Politics
  Gabi Mischkowski, Program Advisor on Gender Justice, medica mondiale
• The Idea of an international, interdisciplinary Research Network
  Regina Mühlhäuser, Researcher, Hamburg Institute for Social Research

Leaflet Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (PDF)

This public event is organized by the Centre d'Histoire de Sciences Po, the UMR »Identités, relations internationales et civilisations de l'Europe«, the Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violences and the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. It opens the internal SVAC Workshop »Constellations and Dynamics of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict«.