Exploring new spaces for women in transitional justice in Eritrea and Zimbabwe
Year: 2011
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Eritrea and Zimbabwe are African countries that have suffered from perilous cycles of violence. Albeit of varying degrees, the two countries have seen egregious violations of international law, including the perpetration of gender-based violence. As a result, girls and women constitute one of the major groups of victims of human rights violations in these countries. Taking Zimbabwe and Eritrea as emerging models of transitional justice in African, this paper explores the need to advance a gender-sensitive approach in the transitional justice agendas of these two countries. The discussion in this regard is based on national, regional and international commitments with regard to the promotion of women‟s rights including UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820, which call for the meaningful involvement of women in all such processes. The paper analyses the lack of „symbolic‟ spaces for dealing with violence against women in transitional justice mechanisms and the subsequent failure to deliver „physical‟ spaces for women‟s reintegration into communities. Alternative models, such as traditional justice systems, that specifically aim at restoring physical space for women at the community level are identified and analysed in terms of their ability to provide symbolic space for women‟s healing from violence, truth telling, reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness as part of the transitional justice process, with the ultimate objective of regaining physical space for victims and perpetrators of gender-based violence. Bibliographical references AIDS-Free World (2009) Electing to rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, available at http://www.aids-freeworld.org/content/view/339/198/ (accessed 21 January 2010). Bailliet, C.M. (2007) “Examining sexual violence in the military within the context of Eritrean asylum claims presented in Norway”, in International Journal of Refugee Law, Vol. 19. Bell, C. (2004) “Justice discourses in transition”, in Journal of Social and Legal Studies, Vol. 305. Bell, C., O‟Rourke, C. (2007) “Does feminism need a theory of transitional justice”, in International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol. 1, n. 1. Carpenter, R.C. (2006) “Recognizing gender-based violence against civilian men and boys in conflict situations”, in Security Dialogue, 37 Cobbah, J.A.M. (1987) “African values and the human rights debate: An African perspective”, in Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 9. Cornell, D., van Marle, K. (2005) “Exploring ubuntu: Tentative reflections”, in Africa Human Rights Law Journal, Vol. 5.
Authors: M.E.H. van Reisen, Daniel R. Mekonnen
Language: English
Topic: War, Law, and Justice
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1534603391