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Professor Leah Wing to take part of the Gender Principles for Dealing with the Past

Last September the Belfast-based Legacy Gender Integration Group
produced Gender Principles for Dealing with the Past. This innovative
document was the first of its kind to be produced and was well received
by all parties in the run into the intensive negotiations on dealing
with the past last November. The Gender Principles show how the impact
of the conflict on women can be more fully understood, investigated and
acknowledged and the link with the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the UN Security Council
Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, to which the British and Irish
Governments are parties.

On Friday, April 15th a delegation of the Legacy Gender Integration
Group will brief the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the US
Congress on efforts to incorporate gender principles into post-conflict
truth, justice, and reparations in Britain and Ireland.

The delegation will be addressing the Congressional members and will be
meeting with key policy advisors in Washington to discuss the need to
find appropriate and responsive mechanisms to deal with the past. The
briefing tour is very timely as negotiations on the implementation of
the Stormont House Agreement mechanisms to deal with the past are likely
to begin again in earnest following the May Assembly elections, a matter
of weeks away.

The briefings will feature prominent NGO representatives and academics
who will provide an analysis of the existing mechanisms and proposals
for dealing with the past currently under negotiation. Specifically, the
delegation will discuss gendered gaps in victims' access to truth,
justice, and reparations. They will explore how the application of a
gendered lens and gender principles for dealing with the legacy of the
past can contribute to the effectiveness, quality and scope of what
future legislation and processes could deliver.

The Briefing will take place at 10am on Friday 15th April at 2255
Rayburn House Office Building.

SPEAKERS AND BIOS:

DR CATHERINE O'ROURKE is Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and
International Law and Gender Research Coordinator at the Transitional
Justice Institute, Ulster University, Northern Ireland. She has an
ongoing role in gender and conflict research and policy-making for the
United Nations, the British and Irish governments, and for a number of
non-governmental organisations.

ANDRÉE MURPHY LLM is Deputy Director of Irish NGO Relatives for
Justice, which supports persons and families bereaved and injured by
conflict. Andrée is involved in legacy advocacy in RFJ including
developing strategic litigation and broader partnership work aimed at
establishing a truth recovery process post conflict for families.
Andrée has been centrally involved in the development of Relatives for
Justice mainstreaming of gender in all of its support and research
programmes, resulting in the publication of "Dealing with the Past in
Ireland: Where Are the Women" published and launched by Relatives for
Justice in February 2015.

MARY MCCALLAN qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales, working in
private practice before moving to the voluntary sector. Mary was
responsible for WAVE Trauma Centres Advocacy and Casework Service,
supporting families practically and emotionally to seek information
about their bereavement or injury. She has undertaken an LLM in Human
Rights & Transitional Justice and is as a Legal Member of the Appeals
Tribunals.

LEAH WING is Senior Lecturer, Legal Studies Program, Department of
Political Science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a member of
Healing Through Remembering (Belfast).  Leah has been a consultant to
the UN and over 100 governmental, NGO, and educational institutions on
the integration of equality into conflict resolution and reconciliation
processes.  She is co-director of the National Center for Technology and
Dispute Resolution.


EDITORS NOTES:

_The Gender Principles for Dealing with the Legacy of the Past have been
developed by the Legacy Gender Integration Group, an informal network of
individuals with gender expertise from civil society and academia came
together in April 2015 to work for the integration of gender into SHA
legislation and implementation. These women are Claire Hackett (Falls
Community Council), Yasmine Ahmed (Rights Watch UK), Emma
Patterson-Bennet and Gemma McKeown (Committee on the Administration of
Justice), Mary McCallan (WAVE Trauma Centre), Andreé Murphy (Relatives
for Justice), Catherine O'Rourke (Transitional Justice Institute,
Ulster University), Patricia Lundy (Ulster University, IRiSS,) and Leah
Wing (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)._

_The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission works to promote, defend and
advocate internationally recognized human rights norms as enshrined in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant human
rights instruments, in a nonpartisan manner, both within and outside of
Congress. Further information on the Commission and its membership can
be found at: __https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/_ [1]

News Type: 

  • Faculty News