Gender, Sexuality, and the Changing Development Paradigm at the LJD Week

Submitted by Emelyne Calimoutou, PhD & LLM Candidate, Washington College of Law & Adjua Adjei-Danso 

On Thursday October, 21 at the LJD Week a panel on Gender, Sexuality, and the Changing Development Paradigm brought together as main speakers Kate Bedford, Reader in Law, Kent Law School, Fareda Banda, Professor of Law, University of London, Joseph Vess, Senior Program Officer, Promundo. This interactive discussion was moderated by the World Bank Group Senior Director on Gender Caren Grown, and co-organized by Professor Fernanda G. Nicola, Director of the Program on International Organizations, Law and Diplomacy at the Washington College of Law, American University. This discussion had a particular resonance because it occurred two days after doctor Denis Mukwege from the Democratic Republic of Congo became recipient of the Sakharov prize, Europe's top human rights prize for helping thousands of gang rape victims in the country. Doctor Denis Mukwege set up the Panzi hospital in eastern DR Congo in 1999 to treat women subjected to horrific sexual violence.

Two short video presentations introduced the topic of discussion on how gender and sexuality are treated in the policies of development finance institutions, looking at economic, emotional and feminist perspectives, domestic violence, and male inclusion. Each speaker during this session focused on socio-cultural influences on incidences and opportunities for work on prevention of both gender-based violence and Female Genital Cutting (FGM). The discussion was focused on states with burgeoning and/or fragile peace and the strongest correlation to male acts of violence against women related to wider community legacies of violence from war, as a manifestation of the trauma experienced by men as secondary victims of violence. In addition to socio-cultural influences, lack of enforcement and the economic burden acts of gender-based violence and FGM have on families and national healthcare systems were raised as central themes. The lack of focus on gender violence in the Millennium Development Goals was also mentioned as a concern. Each speaker noted that passive acceptance of acts of gender-based violence and FGM are generally related to socio-cultural practices and continuing influence, and are also coupled with a lack of legal enforcement.  

These discussions highlighted some progress in the area of prevention of violence as well as in reparations for victims. There was a shift in international institutions, which are now more and more willing to finance programs on sexual minorities and recognize a sexual and economic rights. The discussion emphasized on the projects financed by the World Bank such as the Great Lakes Emergency Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Women’s Health Project (US$107 million), which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi. Additionally, it is now common to see interdisciplinary approaches to the elimination of violence against women. Panelists also recognized that there is an enormous amount of normative legal protections regarding violence against women and pointed out the lack of implementation. Mr. Vess talked about a gender-transformative approach to integrate men in the prevention of violence against women especially when post-conflict was presented. Working with men to understand and change their role in the family is instrumental to end the intergenerational legacy of violence against women.

To conclude this conversation the panel emphasized on the fact that while many states have passed laws criminalizing gender-based violence and FGM, the gap in reducing incidences lies in the lack of implementation. According to the panel, weak or nonexistent implementation is partially created by the lack of accountability against leaders who do not make any efforts in ensuring the enforcement of the laws passed; while political capital exists to put such laws on the books, in many countries there is none ensuring the judicial system effectively implements the laws in order to punish current and thereby also deter future incidences of gender-based violence and FGM. From the perspective of one speaker working on the ground (Pia – Nairobi), the World Bank should take on reform of the judicial system in the African context, as was done previously in Latin America. This theme of a move to transformative equality through changing attitudes within the judiciary was echoed by another speaker, who noted that the key to prevention lies in raising voices about the issue and building political will to ensure incremental changes. As one speaker put it, what was once considered non-justiciable because it resided in the realm of a nation’s cultural makeup must now be taken up in judicial systems as acts not tolerated by law. Common to each speaker’s view on actions for change were the themes of identifying champions in government, and active involvement by civil society in order to effect change in cultural practices.