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Women, Peace and Security (LAWS90124)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2019
About this subject
Overview
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In 2000 the United Nations (UN) Security Council for the first time considered the impact of war on women through the adoption of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This has been followed by seven further resolutions, thereby creating an institutional agenda that encompasses women’s participation in conflict prevention and resolution, protection of women from sexual and gender-based violence in conflict, and humanitarian relief and recovery for survivors of sexual violence. The subject will critically examine the WPS agenda, its place in contemporary conflicts and its basis in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and human rights law.
The lecturer, Professor Christine Chinkin, has a long academic record in international law, especially the human rights of women. She is currently Director of the Centre for Women Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and has practical experience through advising UN and Council of Europe bodies and a House of Lords select committee on sexual violence in conflict, as well as having been a member of fact-finding missions in Gaza, Malawi, Mali and Colombia.
Principal topics include:
- The concepts of new wars and human security
- The evolution of the women, peace and security agenda
- The status of women, peace and security as a legal regime
- Women and war
- The four ‘pillars’ of women, peace and security.
- Participation of women in peace processes and peacekeeping operations
- Prevention of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and in so-called peacetime
- Prevention of armed conflict
- Protection against sexual violence in conflict
- Post-conflict reconstruction
- Women peace, and security and countering violent extremism
- Implementation of WPS through national action plans
- Addressing sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have a critical understanding of the legal and policy framework of the Security Council's Women, Peace and Security agenda
- Have a critical understanding of the gendered nature of conflict; of gendered violations of law committed in armed conflict and responses to those violations
- Have an understanding of the interplay between the legal regimes applicable to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, in particular human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law
- Have an understanding of the relationship between WPS and other international agendas
- Have an understanding of the challenges facing governments and civil society in developing and implementing National Action Plans.
Last updated: 3 November 2022