UK launch of The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security in which authors collectively take stock of what has been achieved and what remains incomplete about the WPS agenda.
The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security examines the significant and evolving international Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, which scholars and practitioners have together contributed to advancing over almost two decades. Fifteen years since the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), the WPS agenda has never been more salient on the agenda of states and international organisations. The Global Study of 1325 (“Preventing Conflict, Securing Peace”) commissioned by the UN Secretary-General and released in September 2015, found that there is a major implementation gap with respect to UNSCR 1325 that accounts for the gaping absence of women’s participation in peace and transitional decision-making processes. With independent, critical and timely analysis by scholars, advocates and policymakers across global regions the Oxford Handbook synthesises new and enduring knowledge, collectively taking stock of what has been achieved and what remains incomplete and unfinished about the WPS agenda. The Handbook charts the collective way forward to increase the impact of WPS research, theory and practice.
Speakers
Dr Toni Haastrup is a Lecturer in International Security and a Deputy Director of the Global Europe Centre (GEC) in the University of Kent. The focus of her current research interests is on the gender dynamics and processes of institutional transformation within regional security institutions. The focus of her current research interests is on the gender dynamics and processes of institutional transformation within regional security institutions, especially the Africans and European Unions drawing on feminist institutionalism. Toni is an elected Trustee of the British International Studies Association (BISA) and co-founder of the UACES funded research networks “EU as International Mediator” and "Gendering EU Studies." Toni is the author of 'WPS and the African Union' in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security.
Dr Henri Myrttinen is the Head of Gender and Peacebuilding with International Alert, a London-based peacebuilding organisation. He has around 15 years of experience of working on gender, peace and security with NGOs, UN agencies and governments as well as academically, including on engaging critically with men and boys as well as LGBTIQ inclusion, mostly in humanitarian crises and the aftermath of violent conflict. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where his thesis focused on masculinities and violence in Timor-Leste, and he has published widely on issues of gender, peace and security. Henri is the author of 'Locating Masculinities in WPS' in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security.
Dr Aisling Swaine is Assistant Professor of Gender and Security at the Department of Gender Studies, LSE, where she teaches primarily on the MSc in Women, Peace and Security. Aisling has consulted on issues of gender and security to UN Women, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court, among others. Aisling has also worked with the UN and international NGOs in humanitarian and post-conflict recovery settings. She managed violence against women, economic empowerment and gender equality focused programmes in contexts such as Darfur, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Burundi and Kosovo. Her book, Conflict-Related Violence Against Women: Transforming Transition was published by Cambridge University Press in February 2018. Aisling is the author of 'Pursuing Gender Security' and co-author (with Catherine O'Rourke) of 'WPS and CEDAW, Optional Protocol and General Recommendations' in The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security.
Professor Jacqui True is Professor of Politics & International Relations, Director of the Gender, Peace and Security Centre and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University, Australia. Her current research is focused on understanding the political economy of post-conflict violence against women and the patterns of systemic sexual and gender-based violence in Asia Pacific conflict-affected countries. Recent publications include Reframing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Security Dialogue with Sara E Davies and Scandalous Economics: The Politics of Gender and Financial Crises (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016) edited with Aida Hozić. Her book, The Political Economy of Violence Against Women (Oxford, 2012) won the American Political Science Association’s 2012 biennial prize for the best book in human rights and the British International Studies Association International Political Economy book prize in 2013. Jacqui is the co-editor (with Sara E. Davis) of the The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security and author or co-author of several chapters.
Bela Kapur (chair) is Visiting Senior Fellow in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. Bela’s research areas include the role of women in peace and political processes and the linkages between local and national processes, as well as transformational coalition building, agenda setting and influencing. Bela is the sole or lead author of numerous United Nations publications including reports of the High Commissioner on Human Rights on East Timor, as well as reports of the Secretary-General on the situation of Women in Afghanistan, and, most recently, the 2015 report of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. Bela is co-author (with Madeleine Rees) of 'WPS and Conflict Prevention' in the The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security.