180 Attend Violence Against Women International Conference at AGS

With inspiring speakers from around the world and over 180 in the audience, the AGS conference on Violence Against Women that took place in Paris on November 28 accomplished its objective: raise awareness of the public and bring together policy-makers, diplomats, human rights activists, lawyers, scholars, journalists, and other practitioners to combine their efforts toward a common goal – eliminating gender-based violence.

Carrying on with the spirit of the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25), the conference covered the multiple aspects of this issue, from crimes against women in concept and law, to those deriving from religion, custom and tradition, to those committed in times of conflict.

Organized and moderated by Lorraine S Koonce Farahmand, Esq., an English solicitor, New York attorney and gender advocate who teaches international law at AGS, the conference started off with an impactful speech by Linda Weil-Curiel, the internationally-reknowned lawyer and human rights activist who has been fighting against FGM in France since the 1980's. Weil-Curiel spoke of the dignity of women and paid tribute to Awa Gréou, who used to perform FGM and is now against the practice, as well as to Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and author of Warrior Marks and Possessing the Secret of Joy, who said "Torture is not culture.” Weil-Curiel also spoke about the cases that she prosecuted, making France the first nation in the world to bring criminal charges against those who perform FGM.

Nazir Afzal OBE, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West of England, who is the first Muslim ever appointed Chief Prosecutor in England and an outspoken advocate against honor killings, forced marriage, and FGM, spoke about our duty to "be the voice of those who do not have a voice". Drawing from his personal experience of overseeing more than 100,000 prosecutions a year and managing 800 lawyers and paralegals, he spoke of the 10,000 girls who are victims of forced marriage every year in England, and those who are killed in the name of family honor. He insisted on the importance of giving prevailance to human rights over culture. “Women have been talking about these issues for a long time,” he said. “I’m not the first person to take up this fight in this country, I’m just the first man, and that makes it a lot easier.”

Another highlight of the conference was the speech pronounced by The New York Times journalist Marlise Simon, who spoke about her coverage of the international trials in which mass rape was judiciously declared a crime against humanity. She gave an extraordinary narration focusing on a brief history of mass rape in conflict and on the difficulty and courage of the victims who often face their rapist in open court, pointing out how their testimonies have contributed to the recognition that mass rape is a crime against humanity.

H.E. Ambassador Ursula Plassnik, former Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Ambassador to France, spoke of the multitude of gender-based acts of violence that are the products of war, such as mass rape, and specifically denounced Boko Haram's abduction of girls. She commented that not only are women the target of sexual offense, but men are as well, as demonstrated in the joint Congo-Rwanda military operations. She also spoke about Ban Ki Moon’s laudable stance on fighting violence against women. Referring to the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, she explained that this resolution on women, peace, and security marked the first time that the Security Council addressed the impact of armed conflict on women. Finally, she said: "If FGM had been MGM, this would no longer be a problem."

Carolina Lasén Diaz, the Head of the Gender Equality Unit at the Council of Europe, spoke on the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. She stressed that the Convention creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to preventing violence against women, protecting victims, and prosecuting offenders. She explained to the audience that under Art. 42 of the Convention, justifications on the basis of culture, religion or tradition may not be used in order to lessen punishment. This not only sends a strong message that such acts will not be tolerated, but also ensures that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Dr. Tobe Levin, the Vice-President of FORWARD Germany, a non-profit dedicated to fighting FGM worldwide, brought the audience's attention to the physical pain and the horrific physical consequences of genital mutilation practices. She spoke of the women’s fortitude in speaking about their experience. She explained that FGM is a mechanism operating under the cover of tradition to control women’s behavior and sexuality.

Jennifer Obaseki, whose London Law firm Obaseki Solicitors specializes in Immigration and Family Law, testified about the adversity faced by women who seek asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution. Her eloquent speech touched upon the challenges lawyers face when delicately questioning and extracting pertinent information from these women, and the extreme difficulties that immigrant women have in having access to justice, particularly if previous actions such as undeclared work or forced prostitution weaken their asylum claims.

Angela Melo, now UNESCO's Director for Ethics, Youth and Sport, shared her recent experience as the organization's Director of the Division of Human Rights, Philosophy and Democracy. Reminding the audience of the famous words that were first heard at the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, that "women’s rights are human rights", she stressed the importance that the international community recognize the relationship between gender and human rights violations.

Finally, the conference featured two AGSers, AGS alumna Erin Helfert and AGS professor Dr. Ruchi Anand. A gender specialist and policy advisor who has worked on various donor-funded projects with USAID, the UN, abd the US Dept. of Justice, Erin Helfert gave a personal testimony about pursuing a sexual assault legal case as a victim, revealing the dignity and courage of all survivors who have refused to be silenced by their gender abuse or their physical pain.

Dr. Ruchi Anand teaches courses on international relations, US Foreign Policy, environmental politics and gender studies at AGS. In her presentation, she addressed the complex issue of culture and pointed to how often human rights of women clash with cultural traditions such as patriarchy, which institutionalize and promote the debasement of the status of women and become a dominant force. She said that many pervasive forms of gender violence are heavily dependand on cultural customs and practices that often undermine human rights.

Lorraine Koonce Farahmand says: "The conference made it quite clear there is no single solution or means of putting an end to violence against women, which is the goal to be pursued. Addressing VAW without taking into account the wider context in which women evolve and the need to secure respect for women's fundamental rights is fatal. Putting an end to VAW is not the responsibility of one person, actor or group. Final eradication will require a collective response, in which everyone has a role to play men and women. When people struggle together, what was once unimaginable suddenly becomes imaginable."

View photo album on Facebook

Read blog article written by a student volunteer about the conference