Book Launch and Roundtable: Women's Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law

Transitional Justice Institute: Public Lectures and Events

This is the recording of the launch of Dr Catherine O’Rourke’s new monograph, Women’s Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law(Cambridge University Press, 2020).

This event included comments from Catherine O'Rourke and Christine Bell, and featured a roundtable discussion chaired by Debora Kayembe with the following high-level experts from the fields of women's rights, conflict and international law:

• Madeleine Rees, Secretary-General of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

• Bandana Rana, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

• Adrian Johnson, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

• Vanessa Murphy, International Committee of the Red Cross

• Emily Kenney, UN Women

Hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University and the Political Settlements Research Programme at Edinburgh Law School.

Women’s Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law examines the protection of women’s rights in armed conflict under international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international human rights law and the United Nations Security Council. Through a series of case studies (DRC, Colombia, Nepal) and emblematic violations, the research identifies and proposes several opportunities to strengthen the legal status of specific protections to women’s rights; to improve how key institutions comply with and implement their own guarantees of women’s rights; to improve coordination amongst key institutions; and to maximise the strengths of different monitoring and enforcement procedures in order to enhance the overall protection of women’s rights in conflict under international law. A policy brief drawn from the book is also available.