Gender justice is an unfamiliar term to most people. Many assume it is merely a feminine (and therefore diminutive) form of justice, created by adding an awkward adjective to an abstract ideal.
But thanks to years of documenting gender-based crimes, pressure from women’s movements, testimony from victims and legal arguments, there is now a body of jurisprudence and a history of movements that define gender justice and promote it internationally. At an historic conference in April, organized by the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice (WIGJ) and the Nobel Women’s Initiative, fifty women gathered in a Mexican beach town to evaluate the progress of gender justice and set forth a three-year work agenda.
I had the good fortune and tremendous responsibility of being among the luchadoras -women who struggle-charged with beginning this task. Participants made a collective promise to work closely with organizations back home and with the International Criminal Court and other bodies to end gender-based crimes in armed conflict and attain justice.
No small task. In a place as orienting as the edge of the Pacific Ocean, I often found myself disoriented by the enormity of it. I was part of a world linked by common values, but fragmented by hundreds of seemingly senseless wars-each with a political complexity and historical intransigence that defied solutions. The room filled with the stories of how women from diverse cultures, rich in resistance but plagued by discrimination and traditions of gender violence, seek peace and justice in equally diverse ways.
Some are immersed in internationally recognized conflict situations, others in peace processes, and others in rebuilding post-conflict societies. The law provides some framework, albeit insufficient, for their demands for punishment and reparations for gender-based crimes. They are learning to use those legal tools.
But many of us from Latin America came from countries where conflict situations are not internationally recognized; peace in Honduras and Colombia has been restored, we are told, even as murder, displacement and crimes against women continue on a daily basis. Mexico’s growing violence against women in the context of the drug war and impunity is the dirt that is routinely swept under the political rug. We grappled with questions of where we fit into the international legal system, how we could build movements to stop gender-based crimes in low-level local conflicts, how a stronger gender perspective could help fend off the growing militarism that marks our lives.
Some women spoke the language of the courtroom and explained the international instruments that have been developed to document and punish gender-based war crimes. Other women talked of grassroots organizing tactics and how to build peace movements that take women’s demands and realities into account. Their experiences combined provided a broad and complex range of strategies. They reflected what Brigid Inder of WIGJ called “the tension between the punitive formal justice model and the more comprehensive and complex agenda for what we call transformative justice, where the finding of guilt or innocence is accompanied by efforts to transform both communal and gender relations.”
Common themes soon emerged. Testimonies from brave women revealed that within the hell of war lies a private hell. The hell of sexual violence-an inner circle shielded from scrutiny by the socially imposed shame of its victims and the willful ignorance of legal and political systems.
Our Latin American perspective required us to interpret from a framework of recognized conflict with an applicable body of international law, to a continent of emerging threats including the drug war and local battles over natural resources. The thread that united our experiences was the role of women as the leaders of social justice movements and the victims of conflict.
The sands beneath our feet shifted during the conference. Not when the tide rolled over during early morning walks on the beach-although those moments were also an important part of forging a common commitment-but when we heard survivors´ stories and statistics like these, from Joan Chittister:
* At the turn of the 20th century, 5% of war casualties were civilians
* In World War I, 15% were civilians
* In World War II, the figure leapt to a 65% civilian death toll, as whole cities were bombed
* By the mid-nineties, 75% of war deaths were civilians
* Today, 90% of the human war toll are civilians-the majority women and children
Forget the complaints of “collateral damage”. As military leaders brag that modern technology has produced the most accurate weapons in history, during war strikes in places like Iraq or Afghanistan, women and children die.
They are not the collateral damage-they are the targets.
When finally, through the efforts of women like those at the Dialogue, international agencies produce some statistics on rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict situations, the figures are so staggering, the stories so shockingly brutal, that all attempts to explain away the phenomenon as the acts of a few rogue soldiers or part of the pillage of war fall away. Rape is a calculated weapon of war. It decimates communities, destroys families, spreads disease and leaves deep physical and psychological scars. That is the purpose.
No geographic region has a corner on barbarity when it comes to gender-based crimes. For example, women reported sex crimes and violence by paramilitary and military forces against displaced populations in Burma, Colombia and Sudan.
Many speakers noted that the use of women’s bodies as both the spoils and the battlefields of war appears to be on the rise. In some cases, women organizers for peace and justice have made progress, such as the fight against land mines and for peace in Northern Ireland, but new and terrible challenges have emerged in unexpected points of the planet, like Honduras. The opportunity to compare notes, to learn what works, what doesn’t work, who are allies and who are enemies gave renewed commitment and shared knowledge to women peace organizers who girthed themselves to return home to local battles.
Gender Justice is now an international issue
The International Criminal Court as a Tool of Gender Justice
The timing of the Dialogue responded to an immediate challenge: in early June the Assembly of State Parties will hold a 10-year Review Conference of the International Criminal Court. In addition, the year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Beijing World Conference on Women, the tenth anniversary of the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the dawn of a new “gender architecture” within the UN to promote women’s rights. As the organizers explained, “This is an opportune moment to reflect on the progress and work of the ICC, the possibilities embodied in the Rome Statute for the accountability of conflict-related crimes, and the responsibilities of the United Nations for the deterrence and resolution of armed conflicts, women’s global citizenship and gender-inclusive international justice.”
The ICC is currently hearing cases from four armed conflicts-Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and Sudan-and all include charges of gender-based crimes. It has provided a forum to seek justice and to create public awareness of these crimes and has launched innovative projects, including the ICC Trust Fund for Victims. For women involved in giving testimonies-women and girls who live with the scars of war-time rapes and mutilations-the work of the court may be far away but the concept of justice that it seeks to provide is at the core of their daily lives.
The ICC takes a case when national systems of justice will not or do not function. It can be a blow against impunity. It is easy to think of impunity as a sin of omission. The hand not raised in protest appears genteel alongside the hand stained with the blood of the victim. And yet we learned from the testimonies of women on the frontlines of the battle for gender justice that impunity not only perpetrates crimes against women, it teaches generation after generation how to continue the practice.
Dialogue members noted that the international system offers both opportunities and limitations. Joanne Sandler of UNIFEM warned that Resolutions are not always proof of resolve. Since the Security Council issued Resolution 1325, there have been 24 formal peace processes. Women have been only 10% of the negotiators and 2% of the signatories. Worse yet, she said, there doesn’t seem to be progress. More formal mechanisms are needed to assure compliance with gender policies. Without permanent pressure from women organizers and experts, legal advances could remain a dead letter.
From the Courts to the Streets and Back Again
Gender-based crimes require responses in three areas: Prevention, protection and reparation. Experts working in the international legal system noted that prevention, the most important of all, is given fewer resources because it does not have measurable benchmarks. How do you measure the number of lives not nearly destroyed by horrors we can scarcely imagine? Participants agreed that although bureaucrats have yet to come up with a formula, prevention should be our ultimate goal.
To prevent sex crimes requires nothing short of a revolution in cultural, political and social norms. This group has demonstrated its willingness to step up to the task. The Nobel Women’s Initiative was founded by six women Nobel Prize winners who refused to rest on their laurels. Then there is Yanar Mohammed of Iraq, who went out into a Baghdad street to speak on International Woman’s Day in a bullet-proof vest, following numerous death threats, and then went on to denounce the rape of women in detention centers and sex trafficking, and create a vibrant cultural movement for youth.
Or Gilda Rivera, who was kidnapped and beaten during Honduras´ dirty wars of the eighties, then saw the nightmare return when a military coup d’état took over her country in June of 2009. It would be enough to drive anyone into exile or retreat. It drove Gilda into the streets of Tegucigalpa. Every morning she marched against the coup and every afternoon organized with Feminists in Resistance to protect women and document the crimes against them.
Too often the cry is not heard. Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, in a taped message, called rape “the silent crime against communities.” Then she immediately questioned the terminology, asking “Is rape really silent?” Women scream, yet far too often no one hears. Just sharing stories was a sort of catharsis for women who see far too much suffering in their work and lives. The Dialogue provided a forum to cry out to a gathering that will not only hear, but act.
What to do faced with such a daunting challenge?
The question was on the table, and since this was an action-oriented gathering there was no escaping it. The International Gender Justice Dialogue sketched out ideas for the coming years in three areas: peace talks and implementation, justice and jurisprudence and communications. Dialogue members came up with lists of tactics, hints, strategies and challenges for the coming years, from Nobel Laureate Jody Williams´ creative messaging in the successful campaign to ban land mines, to lawyers´ advice on using the court.
But the key message was just one: Don’t give up. Ever.
As I write this, we have just received word that human rights defender Bety Cariño was murdered by paramilitary forces in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. She was part of a humanitarian aid caravan and is the third woman murdered in the conflict in this region recently. Bety wasn’t necessarily singled out as a woman, but it’s no coincidence that she was one. The same concerns and qualities that make it imperative for women to be among the peace negotiators and the leaders in social reconstruction and justice proceedings are the qualities that led Bety to become a defender of grassroots movements and to be carrying aid to an autonomous indigenous community when she was shot to death.
Bety´s assassination, the recruitment of girl soldiers in the DRC, rape in Sudan all are issues of gender justice. Jody William points out that that doesn’t mean they are “women’s issues.”
Gender justice is not a subcategory of social justice; it’s an essential component.
This article was originally published by Open Democracy.
Copyright © Fluxxus Digital Limited 2010
(photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images) 24-year-old Manning, who faces 22 charges, was held in solitary confinement from July 2010 to April 2011.
(Image: Coalition of Immokalee Workers) The 
A brave soldier of freedom, tortured by the ghouls of war.
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Obama’s prisoner we should remember. One word from the White House, not needing any congressional input, would automatically improve his treatment.
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Obama is the Ghoul in Chief. His breath is rot, his words, polished vomit, his vision, shifting curtains of blood.
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I voted for Obama and I really want to know what’s up with him on this. Will he give us a statement? This cannot happen in this country and us turn a blind eye. The killing of Journalists by Americans cannot happen without our outcry. The killing of Pat Tillman by his own troop cannot happen without Outcry. Pres. Obama….Whats up???
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If I recall correctly, Obama has already delcared Bradley Manning guilty. This was before any charges were brought.
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Look what they did to the guys who protested Vietnam – They were accused of mutiny!! They were held at the Presidio in San Francisco.
Watch ‘Sir no Sir” If you threaten the 1% – They bring hell down on your head – Bradley will be remembered some day as the hero he is, just like the guys held at the Presidio are recognized as the heroes they are.
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Until Obama’s zionist masters are brought to trial, don’t expect anything to get any better. Zionist crimes agains the American People go back a way’s, for example:
remember the USS Liberty and the many US soldiers who died on it by Israeli air attack in June 1967! It was done to hide Israel’s attack plans on the neighboring countries who had no soldiers in position to attack Israel!
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Not only did Obama declare Bradley Manning “guilty,” also he was asked about the treatment he was receiving before he was transferred from Quantico:
President Obama tells us that he’s asked the Pentagon whether the conditions of confinement of Bradley Manning,
the soldier charged with leaking state secrets, “are appropriate and
are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…
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G_Orez
there’s more:
After State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley criticized Manning’s conditions of confinement, the White House forced him to resign. Crowley had said the restrictions were “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/i…
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I remember that as well.
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They hate our freedom
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Oblahblah already made a statement over a year ago. He declared Bradley Manning guilty.
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I’m a veteran and retired superior court judge from NH. Manning’s pre-trial imprisonment and torture are aimed at getting him to plead guilty to lesser charges. So far, he has managed to withstand his abusers and force this thing to the show trial that it is bound to be. No doubt, in the interest of “national security” (which has nothing to do with the security of the people of the US and everything to do with the military industrial complex), the evidence that would help Manning and enlighten the rest of us will be excluded by the court. Only if we have a judge with the integrity and courage of Judge William Byrne, who freed Daniel Ellsberg, will justice be done for Manning and the people of the US and the world. We should all do our best to be there for this young Manning and show the world and Manning where we stand!
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Absolutely Correct ArtBrennan..America really must get calmly to common ground on this one.. everyone cannot be a movie star !! At least theymust control their individual egos and get the job done UNITE WITH CALM LOVING STRENGTH .This is the force that changes the status quo.Not the screaming.!
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No it would not shock me. Some of our servicemen are nothing more than thugs in uniform that follow orders and act in a predictable way. As military service turns more and more to the political right you will see more and more behavior that would shock ordinary Americans, such as Manning. He made an oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and he meant it as few are prepared to do. In the service to your country, you might be placed in a position to sacrifice your life but you may also be asked to sacrifice less — such as a career or your freedom. Bradley Manning knows what I am talking about. Giving your life may be an act of physical courage. His sacrifice was one of moral courage which I believe is much more rare in today’s military or among our elected officials. We need more Bradley Mannings, especially in high places.
You have my life-long salute sir.Full disclosure: former LCDR, USN
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Under the Uniform Military Code of Justice, and the Geneva Convention, a soldier is required to report acts of war crimes.
Bradley Manning was doing his duty as a soldier and should be given a medal and a promotion, not drumhead justice.
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Sickening.
It is for actions such as these that I hate the U.S. military.
We could slash their budget by half and still be the strongest in the world, while having hundreds of billions of dollars more to spend on the good things, such as infrastructure and helping the less fortunate and therefore making America a MUCH better place.
Why are such a high percentage of American citizens so cowardly that they think if we slash the military budget by half, we would not be safe??
Those who don’t want to substantially cut the military budget and foreign bases are a bunch of cowards and bullies.
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Sadly, show trials are nothing new. In the CCCP, people were often tortured to the point of confessing to anything they were accused of. Then they were allowed to “confess” to their crimes in show trials, implicating anyone they were told to, with the promise that if they didn’t, the torture chambers awaited them.
I don’t think Bradley has the chance of a snowball in a blast furnace, unless they cook up a deal to use him to get Julian.
Next, it will be Room 101.
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Mr. Manning: A very brave, patriotic and honorable soldier, being made an example, by an evil, cowardly, kangaroo government court, to discourage any other brave, patriotic and honorable soldiers from following in his footsteps.
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Yes the Nazis like to torture people.
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US torture.
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That latest decision from the judge doesn’t bode well, but I’m miserably not surprised. Every veteran I’ve ever talked to about this case knows Manning doesn’t stand a chance, and unfortunately some have no sympathy. They think he should have waited till he got out to do any leaking. One laughed at the level of information. He’d been privy to Top Security info, and was amazed at the tame stuff that Manning leaked. Well, let’s push that idea further, my man. What have you got? Any possibility you could do something with it? Ahhh, he wasn’t the type to do any such thing as to save some of that info and get himself martyred.
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“But it will be transformed. All the present systems will be transformed. People are not fools. I remember your President Lincoln saying that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Their common sense, their instinct for decency and justice, will bring them together. Don’t scoff! It has happened before. It can happen again, on a much larger scale. And when it does, the rulers of society, with all their wealth, with all their armies, will be helpless to prevent it. Their servants will refuse to serve, their soldiers will disobey orders.”
from Howard Zinn’s play Marx in Soho
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Hey, he’s guilty right? Didn’t the “Commander In Chief” say so? Obama could order him killed tomorrow!. He could order him tied to a big goddam stake out in the middle of a field and damn-well drone-hit!, So Manning better shut up and take what’s coming to him! Obama’s being kind, generous and lenient toward Manning and he’s not even grateful!
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I doubt that Bradley Manning was “tortured” or even came close to torture. I am sure he was on a very close suicide watch.
Torture: that was left up the those in the previous “torture kept us safe” team (read: Bush-Cheney-Yoo-Addington-Gonzales-Rice-Rumsfeld-Bybee, and a few others).
— Dan Francis (Watertown, NY – near Fort Drum) and former Marine Corps interrogator (1stLt., USMC (Ret.)
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Are you kidding? You are kidding, right? They were using classic no-touch torture techniques on him. Drugging him (on “antidepressants” they said vaguely, many of which now are combined with neuroleptics, just like they gave the dissidents of yore in the USSR). Solitary. Waking him constantly “to see if he was OK”). Making him strip naked and stand to attention for all to see. Calling it suicide watch even though the prison psych experts reported that he wasn’t suicidal.
I guess you’re one of those “no blood, no blame” types, or you’d better get better at your irony act, because it’s not coming through with any force, and many on these threads couldn’t see irony even if it were fashioned by Mark Twain.
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You should see what they do to a normal regular person in the military if they are on ‘profile’ as a suicide watch. It’s called LOS (line of sight). You are placed somewhere where someone can watch you at any time, this could be in a really noisy game room (so you can’t sleep) or at a lone desk in a lone room with nothing to look at or read and no place to rest (so you can’t sleep) or in a janitor’s closet in a dilapidated building at the unused end of a military base with an armed guard standing outside (I guess so the can shoot you if you decide to try to kill yourself). THIS is what the call suicide prevention in the military. If you ain’t useful, you are as good as dead to the MIC. It’s all collateral damage and you know how much we care about that.
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No country ever hold political prisoners. Always there are some other “charges” used to cover the panic of corrupt authorities at having their crimes outed. And torture . . The mere idea is impossible in the USSA.
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You obviously don’t understand psychological torture. As I understand, Bradley Manning was keot confined in a cell, naked, under a bright light, for 23 hours a day. At “night” he was awoken every 20 mins or so to be asked if he was ok.
If you don’t think experiencing those conditions, for 11 months nonstop, is torture, I’d suggest you give it a try.
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It’s always heartwarming to see a Judge … a man who has dedicated his life to justice … stand up for what’s right and demonstrate his personal honor and integrity in what is probably the most important case he will ever try.
All those in the legal profession no doubt respect him for the jurist and man he is. His parents, wife and children should be proud of him. I’m sure he is just a reflection of the men and women of quality and honor who sit on the bench across this proud land.
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Army Col. Denise Lind,
presiding over a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, agreed with
prosecutors that the extent of any damage is irrelevant to the 22
charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning.
http://www.newstimes.com/news/…
This particular man is a she…
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“This particular man is a she…”
My error. Too bad, I hoped the female professionals would improve the profession. I was naive.
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Come join Courage to Resist and Bradley Manning Support Committee to protest Obama at Fox Theater this coming Monday, July 23rd at 3 PM. It’s right near 19th St. BART Station.
“They hide the truth from the American people, protect corporate criminals and punish the truth tellers. And will continue their assault on demopcracy here and around the world until the American people stop them.”
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Is it not about time for citizens to arrest these satanic people whom think they have a right to treat people any way they like ?who really are these people? the President was voted by the people for the people!! all that progresive rhetoric Ha! to really enslave a nation? it is the most shameful constant invasion on the collective soul of humanity..Get smart now OWS its surely time to retaliate ..the Law is manipulated to suit those disgusting people whom you voted in to lead you to a happier expression and born human right dignity and freedom to love ..grow and have education .. health care across the board not enslave you to fear and mistreatment ..That has you yelling on the streets.you are the power!! Bradley is the unfortunate soul to show you just how twisted your government,police force and military relly are.Bradley will be free..tou could always storm the Pentegon? The White House? after all .
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Obama: The New Manchurian Candidate???
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The West invented torture! It started in Western Europe. Secret trials in ancient Germany were of the type that people had no right to confront accusers and would always be found guilty and executed often in the most brutal manner. A little history.
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