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Gender and Mass Atrocities

Gender must shape the prevention of and response to violence, including conflict and mass atrocities.

The Issue

Sexual and gender-based violence is, at its core, an expression of discrimination, patriarchy, and inequality. While the last 20 years have seen an increasing recognition of the occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence, the international community continues to fail to connect instances of violence to structural gender inequality. Therefore, effectively preventing and redressing violence requires holistic efforts that seek to address and transform its root causes and the patriarchal legal systems that enable it.

Our Approach

  • Reach an international consensus on the necessity of a structural, gendered approach to preventing and responding to mass atrocity crimes.
  • The central imperative to ensure human rights protections for all without discrimination guides domestic and international policy.
  • Multilateral systems like the UN are accessible to a diversity of civil society and enable their safe and meaningful participation.
  • Feminists engage with multilateral systems on a wide variety of issues, not only those explicitly related to women’s issues or gender equality