Gendering Constitutional Design in Post-Conflict Societies

Over the past quarter-century, many countries have experienced deeply divisive and highly destructive armed conflicts, ranging from Afghanistan to The Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda, East Timor, Northern Ireland, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Each of these countries is at a different point on the spectrum of emerging from and addressing the causes of conflicts. Moreover, with varying degrees of intervention and assistance from the international community, each is responding in highly differentiated ways to the challenges of emerging from conflict, as well as rebuilding or creating new institutions to allow movement forward

Gendering Consitutional Design in Post-Conflict Societies

This article commences with a discussion of transitional constitutionaldesign and the ways in which the branches of governmentrelate to one another, focusing on the consequences of these structuresfor women. We are convinced that an analysis of the rights-bearingportions of a constitution alone is insufficient to fully capture the wayin which power is structured and experienced. Consistent with otherscholars, we start from the view that “constitutions are derived froma social contract between the constituents who will be governed andthe political actors who will govern; they explain how the societyand government will operate and under what parameters.” This articleoffers preliminary proposals on how to make gender central toconstitutional drafting, providing positive examples. We follow withan assessment of constitutional drafting rhetoric and initiatives inmultiple post-conflict societies. We will explore their value and limitationsfor women and offer, in both cases, a set of pragmatic reflectionson ways to undertake constitutional drafting in such a way asto dismantle masculinities currently in effect during constitutionalnegotiations, as well as to give women a voice through constitutionalmandates and implementation

Women in the Post-Conflict Process: Reviewing the Impact of Recent U.N. Actions in Achieving Gender Centrality

The post-conflict terrain provides multiple opportunities for transformation on many different levels: protecting civilians, providing accountability for human rights violations committed during hostilities, reforming local and national laws, reintegrating soldiers, rehabilitating and providing redress for victims, establishing or re-establishing the rule of law, creating human rights institutions and new governance structures, altering cultural attitudes, improving socioeconomic conditions, and transforming gender roles and women’s status. This Article explores the effort to make gender central in the various legal and political regimes and processes in operation post-conflict, and specifically reviews SCR 1325 and its successor resolutions to assess their real contributions towards achieving gender centrality. Section I introduces the significance of gender in the conflict and post-conflict context, while Section II turns to the U.N.’s efforts to address gender in a series of Security Council resolutions, beginning with SCR 1325 in 2000, and evaluates the relationship of these efforts to concepts of gender security applied in the aftermath of conflict. Section III explores how the resolutions have been implemented, reviewing both country specific resolutions developed in an attempt to foster compliance with SCR’s, as well as the approach of various nations in preparing their national action plans (NAPs) that establish goals for putting the resolutions into practice. Section III then provides examples of post-conflict, field-based activities undertaken in the years after passage of SCR 1325 and some of its successors to illustrate the impact (or lack thereof) of the resolutions on peacekeeping, and humanitarian and post-conflict operations in the field. Section IV sets out recommendations for moving forward and concludes that while the resolutions may offer some major momentum in creating a normative framework for building gender concerns into most aspects of peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding plans and processes, they have done little, as yet, to centralize women in these same processes

Linking Gender Security with the Armed Conflict to Peace Continuum

In the immediate aftermath of armed conflict, security is critical to the possibility that refugees, displaced persons, and former combatants will return home, that the rule of law can be established, and that the state can move forward positively. Security in a post-conflict society is critical to preventing further conflict. Available empirical evidence suggests that conflicts are highly cyclical and for societies experiencing internal conflict there is up to a 50% risk that conflict will again reignite. Security issues are at the heart of the reconstruction process for the local population, national leaders, and the international community. Security is also central to the psychological notion of safety and well-being at the individual and communal level. But what does “security” mean? We work from a layered conception of security, meaning security that encompasses both security from further state-supported armed groups and militia (typically conceived of as encompassing only public violence) and security to live in civil society without violence inflicted by post-conflict state actors in public societal settings as well as in the home. This essay examines the essential issue of security and its link to the establishment and maintenance of peace for women. It explores the multiple and contradictory versions of security that arise in societies transitioning away from violence. Our interest lies in ascertaining how women fare in these variable settings, and how concepts and implementation might be improved to make conflict transitions gender attentive. The analysis then unmasks the roles that gender and gendering play in security, showing how security priorities accord with masculine conceptualizations of safety, and critiquing the state-centric approach which focuses on public violence. Our micro analysis is focused primarily on security sector reform because that is the vehicle by which security in many post-conflict societies is conceptualized and delivered. We point to the weaknesses and limitations of existing frameworks and the ways in which gender bias is structured into existing solutions. Finally, we suggest a new paradigm for future efforts at security transitions that affects, and effects, equity between genders. We encourage a rethink of how conflict management processes manage and implement safety to the overall benefit of both men and women

Understanding Sanctuary Cities

In the wake of President Trump’s election, a growing number of local jurisdictions around the country have sought to disentangle their criminal justice apparatus from federal immigration enforcement efforts. These localities have embraced a series of reforms that attempt to ensure immigrants are not deported when they come into contact with the criminal justice system. The Trump administration has labeled these jurisdictions “sanctuary cities” and vowed to “end” them by, among other things, attempting to cut off their federal funding. This Article is a collaborative project authored by law professors specializing in the intersection between immigration and criminal law. In it, we set forth the central features of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans and its campaign to “crack down” on sanctuary cities. We then outline the diverse ways in which localities have sought to protect their residents by refusing to participate in the Trump immigration agenda. Such initiatives include declining to honor immigration detainers, precluding participation in joint operations with the federal government, and preventing immigration agents from accessing local jails. Finally, we analyze the legal and policy justifications that local jurisdictions have advanced. Our examination reveals important insights for how sanctuary cities are understood and preserved in the age of Trump