Global Women's Court of Accountability

Public Hearing on Gross Violations of Women's Human Rights in Conflict and the Power of International Instruments to Address Gender-based Crimes

November 17-18, 2005
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
San Diego, CA

Court Findings of Law and Fact.

The Global Women's Court of Accountability at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) is an act of hearing the profound depth and cost of human rights abuses against women in conflict environments, as well as an examination of the global community's use of legal, moral, and ethical resources to call for an accounting of abstention from these crimes against humanity.

Through personal testimonies of survivors and witnesses, analyses by expert human rights defenders, and illumination of the international humanitarian agreements by a distinguished panel of judges and experts, this mock tribunal seeks to raise new voices for accountability and a more peaceful and just world.

The Global Women's Court of Accountability, presented as part of the IPJ Women PeaceMakers Program through the support of the Fred J. Hansen Foundation, will examine women's conflict experiences including genocide, child soldiering, rape, human trafficking, and abuses committed by peacekeepers, occupiers, governments soldiers, and radical fundamentalists. This program creates a space where women can bring their experiences and wisdom to build a fuller, more honest version of history and to inform our future choices on this small, shared planet.

Women's mock tribunals and world courts have been held worldwide, almost exclusively in the global South. Previous courts addressed general violence against women or specific forms of gender violence. Some explored the broader impact of war and conflict on societies. Topics have included military sexual slavery of women from twelve countries during World Was II, trafficking of women and girls, nuclear testing and waste dumping, different forms of violence against women in the Arab world, and, recently, U.S. war crimes committed in the name of confronting terrorism.

Global Women's Court Findings of Law and Fact
Global Women's Court Indictment
Brief Participant Bios
Press Release

“Echoes Linger from the First Global Women’s Court of Accountability” – an article by Dee Aker.

For more information please contact Dee Aker daker@sandiego.edu or Laura Taylor laurataylor@sandiego.edu