Organised by Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the Graduate Institute's Programme on Gender and Global Change

Sexual Violence is a consequence of militarization and occupation. It is said to be “inevitable” but how and why? Armed forces are subject to strict discipline, UN Peacekeepers are guided by zero tolerance policies and yet even a cursory examination of countries where there are bases for foreign troops, occupation or peace keeping shows that sexual violence and exploitation are prevalent.

The film, The Whistleblower, soon to come to Geneva, is a powerful depiction of the trafficking and sexual exploitation that went on in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is to have an internal showing at the UN in October. What lessons can we learn from the experience of Bosnia? What must be done to ensure that immunity does not equal impunity?

The eminent panel at this event will cover the range of situations from bases to peacekeeping and will seek to answer:

• How and why sexual violence occurs and how it becomes legitimized.
• The difficulties of trying to ensure that there is accountability whilst in missions.
• How to address the proliferation of sub-contracting to private companies and their accountability?
• The application of the Security Council Resolutions.
• The legal framework for accountability and how the new case law from the Strasbourg court should be applied.

In essence: How do we ensure that there is real prevention and real accountability?

The panel will be interactive with Elisabeth Prügl of the Geneva Graduate Institute putting questions to the panelists with questions from those attending being welcome.

The panel:

• Cynthia Enloe: Research Professor, Clark University, renowned academic and well known feminist writer with particular expertise on militarization;
• Hilary Charlesworth: Professor of International Law, Australian National University and one of the most known and respected of feminist international lawyers;
• Nadine Puechguirbal: Former Senior Gender Advisor for the peacekeeping mission in Haiti;
• Madeleine Rees: Former head of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, now Secretary General of WILPF.