This book draws together established and emerging scholars from sociology, law, history, political science and education to examine the global and local issues in the pursuit of gender justice in post-conflict settings. This examination is especially important given the disappointing progress made to date in spite of concerted efforts over the last two decades. With contributions from both academics and practitioners working at national and international levels, this work integrates theory and practice, examining both global problems and highly contextual case studies including Kenya, Somalia, Peru, Afghanistan and DRC. The contributors aim to provide a comprehensive and compelling argument for the need to fundamentally rethink global approaches to gender justice.

Based on original empirical research, this book explores retributive and gender justice, the potentials and limits of agency, and the correlation of transitional justice and social change through case studies of current dynamics in post-violence countries such Rwanda, South Africa, Cambodia, East Timor, Columbia, Chile and Germany.

A just and sustainable peace for Syria can only be attained through the equal participation of women’s rights defenders at the negotiation table and throughout the transitional process. Understanding the legal framework within which such participation takes place – and the challenges of promoting women’s rights through a gender-responsive constitution – is crucial. This publication, resulting from a collaboration between Euromed Feminist Initiative and the University of Padova, builds on the knowledge of academics and advocates, shedding new insights on those challenges. It aims at supporting institutional efforts being made to guarantee women’s participation in the Syrian reconstruction, as well as advocacy initiatives carried out to ensure women’s participation in political and economic decision-making in the country’s future.

This volume counters one-sided dominant discursive representations of gender in human rights and transitional justice, and women’s place in the transformations of neoliberal human rights, and contributes a more balanced examination of how transitional justice and human rights institutions, and political institutions impact the lives and experiences of women. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the contributors to this volume theorize and historicize the place of women’s rights (and gender), situating it within contemporary country-specific political, legal, socio-cultural and global contexts. Chapters examine the progress and challenges facing women (and women’s groups) in transitioning countries: from Peru to Argentina, from Kenya to Sierra Leone, and from Bosnia to Sri Lanka, in a variety of contexts, attending especially to the relationships between local and global forces

Transitional justice has become the principle lens used by countries emerging from conflict and authoritarian rule to address the legacies of violence and serious human rights abuses. However, as transitional justice practice becomes more institutionalized with support from NGOs and funding from Western donors, questions have been raised about the long-term effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms. Core elements of the paradigm have been subjected to sustained critique, yet there is much less commentary that goes beyond critique to set out, in a comprehensive fashion, what an alternative approach might look like. This volume discusses one such alternative, transformative justice, and positions this quest in the wider context of ongoing fall-out from the 2008 global economic and political crisis, as well as the failure of social justice advocates to respond with imagination and ambition. Drawing on diverse perspectives, contributors illustrate the wide-ranging purchase of transformative justice at both conceptual and empirical levels.

This major study examines the successes and failures of the full transitional justice programme in Sierra Leone. It sets out the implications of the Sierra Leonean experience for other post-conflict situations and for the broader project of evaluating transitional justice.

How can transitional justice institutions provide due diligence to the lived experiences of women during war and violent political upheaval? How can transitional justice provide redress to women for harms suffered? How can transitional justice help transform unequal gender relations post-conflict? These are some of the difficult but urgent questions addressed in this unique study. Providing a compelling case for greater sensitivity towards the needs of women and increased efforts to promote women's participation in transitional justice initiatives, Alam presents theoretical and conceptual analysis alongside revealing case studies from Kenya and Bangladesh. The study offers descriptive, normative, and prescriptive value intended to improve the practice of transitional justice institutions and elevate the status of women in conflict-affected societies. This is a timely resource especially in light of the forthcoming 15th anniversary of UNSCR1325, and will appeal to a wide range of scholars and practitioners in Security, Peace, and Conflict Studies, International Law, and Gender Studies.