Conflict-related Violence Against Women and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, Dr Aisling Swaine

Transitional Justice Institute: Public Lectures and Events

As attention to conflict-related violence against women has grown in recent years, the need to ensure response to the realities of that violence beyond narrowly confined ideas of ‘rape as a weapon of war’ has become more and more evident. In her new book, ‘Conflict-Related Violence Against Women: Transforming Transition,’ Aisling Swaine examines the contexts of Liberia, Northern Ireland and Timor-Leste to identify a spectrum of forms of gender violence. She analyses their occurrence, and the relationship between them, within and across different points of pre-, mid- and post-conflict. Swaine proposes that a transformation rather than a transition is required in the aftermath of conflict, if justice is to play a role in preventing gender violence. In her talk, Swaine will provide an overview of current approaches to understanding conflict-related violence against women and will comment on the relevance of these to the future of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

Dr Aisling Swaine is Associate Professor of Gender and Security at the Department of Gender Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science. She is author of Conflict-related Violence Against Women: Transforming Transitions (Cambridge University Press, 2018) which is based on the doctoral research she conducted at Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute.

This seminar was delivered on February 26, 2020 as part of the WPS@20 seminar hosted by the Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security by the United Nations Security Council. Learn more about the series at www.ulster.ac.uk/wps20.