Thursday, June 23, 2016

Call for Papers: Gender, Peace and Security Post-2015: Challenges and Opportunities

A call for papers has been issued for the third Women in War and at War Conference, to be held September 15-16, 2016, at The Open University. The theme is: "Gender, Peace and Security Post-2015: Challenges and Opportunities." The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2016. Here's the call:

The 3rd Women in War and at War Conference, organised by The Open University Law School, The University of Warwick and Aberystwyth University will be held on 15th and 16th September 2016 at The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Call for Papers

Abstracts of a maximum of 250 words should be submitted by 30th June 2016 to the organising committee. Authors of selected abstracts will be informed by 25th July 2016. Conference registration will open on 25th July 2016.

31st October 2015 marked the 15 year anniversary of the adoption of the landmark UNSCR 1325. The Resolution formed the basis for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda at the United Nations Security Council. Over the years, UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions gave recognition to a variety of issues associated with women, modern armed conflicts and security. These included the recognition of the impact of conflict-related sexual violence on women and girls, various roles played by women in armed conflicts; calls for a greater accountability for crimes committed against women and girls in conflicts; the need to include women in all stages of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction.

Despite these advances, modern armed conflicts provide a challenge to the effective protection of women and girls, but also unveil various roles and representations of women in conflict and post-conflict settings. For instance, the reports of enslavement and mistreatment of Yezidi women and girls are contrasted with the examples of active support and participation of women in ISIS operations. In addition, the protracted nature of the conflict in Syria resulting in mass conflict-related migration brought back the debates about the effectiveness of protection afforded to persons fleeing armed conflict or situations of gross human rights violations. Furthermore, the inclusion and active involvement of women in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction remains a major challenge.

How does international law as well as other disciplines respond to these developments? What do recent conflicts tell us about the contemporary representations of women in and at war? What lessons did we learn from the first 15 years of the WPS Agenda?

We invite proposals for papers in the following or related areas:

  • Gender and conflict
  • Women and conflict-related migration
  • Women and ISIS
  • WPS Agenda post-2015
  • International Humanitarian Law: effectiveness and challenges
  • International Criminal Law and the prosecution of gender-related crimes
  • Representations of women in and at war
  • Women, war and the media
  • Women in post-conflict settings.

Event details

Start date: 15 September, 2016 at 09:00
End date: 16 September, 2016 at 17:00

Location: Michael Young Building, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA

Event booking details

Conference registration will open on 25th July 2016.

Contact details

Name: Claire Wylde
Email: oubs-research-admin@open.ac.uk
Phone: 01908 332311