Women and conflict: sexual violence and international protection mechanisms

Sexual violence in conflicts cannot be understood outside other severe violations of human rights against women, product of the huge inequalities and the discrimination that they continue to suffer all over the world. Nor can it be isolated from the gender violence that takes place during peace time. 

The High-Level Summit about Sexual Violence in Conflicts celebrated in june of this year has reflected this, as well as the need for the governments to aquire real compromises that are effective and not just rhetorical, in order to end with sexual violence as a war weapon. This is an international crime that affects hundreds of thousands of women all over the world and that constitutes one of the main themes in the international agenda about women, peace and security, thanks to the active work of women organizations worldwide. 

This course will provide the necessary tools for understanding the sexual violence phenomenon inside the frame of the contemporary armed conflicts from a perspective of gender along with the main international instruments for it's protection and denunciation. The goal of the course is to empower the participants for the defense of women through academic training and action.

Organized by Escola de Cultura de Pau  and Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya

: 170€

: 150€

Unit 1: Introduction to the study of armed conflicts from a gender perspective 

Introduction to armed conflicts analysis 

Definition of armed conflict 

Incorporation of the gender perspective to the armed conflict analysis

Unequal impacts for men and women during armed conflicts 

Case studies: Middle East, Balcans, Nepal and Sri Lanka

Unit 2: Sexual violence in armed conflicts

Sexual Violence: definitions and approaches 

Sexual violence in conflicts and sexual violence as a war weapon

Political economy of conflicts and sexual violence

Responses to sexual violence 

Case studies: Middle East, Balcans, Myanmar and DR Congo 

Unit 3: Access to mechanisms of international protection of human rights 

?International mechanisms of human rights for women's rights protection 

This course is addressed for members of women’s organizations, activists and defenders of human rights as well as other transformation agents that work for women’s rights. 

MARÍA VILLELLAS ARIÑO, she is a researcher at the Escola de Cultura de Pau in the Armed Conflicts and Peace Construction Program. She specialized in analysis of the gender dimension and armed conflicts in Southern Asia. @mariavillellas

PAMELA URRUTIA ARESTIZÁBAL, she is a researcher at the Escola de Cultura de Pau in the Armed Conflicts and Peace Construction Program. She specialized in analysis of armed tension and peace construction in the Middle East Region and Northern Africa.  @pamela_urrutia

ANA VILLELLAS ARIÑO, she is a researcher at the Escola de Cultura de Pau in the Armed Conflicts and Peace Construction Program. She specialized in analysis of armed tension and peace construction in Europe and Central Asia.  

JAUME SAURA I ESTAPÀ, president of the IDHC and Public International Law professor at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has written several articles and publications on human rights and he has participated in numerous missions of international electoral surveillance.

During the seven weeks of the course, students will be able to count with the assistance of a tutor.