Welcome to the public opening event of the Missing Peace Symposium 2017 in Oslo. The event will focus on how international criminal prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence impacts peacebuilding and contributes to preventing relapses into new conflicts.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ends its work at the end of this year. The ICTY has been crucial in the fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and more than a third of those convicted by the ICTY have been found guilty of crimes involving sexual violence. The ground-breaking work of the tribunal has been of utmost importance but it has also revealed shortcomings.
Peace, reconciliation and a sense of justice is not necessarily delivered through criminal prosecution of CRSV but it is an integral part of transformative efforts to bring peace and stability to war-affected societies. In opening the Missing Peace Symposium 2017, the speakers at this event will address how and in which ways criminal prosecution of CRSV interacts with peacebuilding efforts; its effects and impact.
Bineta Diop, the African Union's Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, speaking at the opening event of the Missing Peace Symposium in Oslo, 7 December 2017
Bineta Diop, the African Union's Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, speaking at the opening event of the Missing Peace Symposium in Oslo, 7 December 2017 Photo: Lien, Kyrre
This public opening event is a follow-up to a side-event organised in Norway by the British Embassy Oslo in 2014 that coincided with the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London. The Global Summit was an important event for the United Kingdom's Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), an initiative founded in 2012 by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and former Foreign Secretary William Hague. Currently leading the PSVI work at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is Lord Ahmad, the UK Prime Minister's Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Lord Ahmad will give the public opening event's closing address.
The public opening event will also kick-off the Missing Peace Symposium 2017. The overall aim of the Symposium is to take stock of what the legal responses to conflict-related sexual violence have accomplished, where they fall short, and how combatting sexual violence is integral to peacebuilding. We hope that this public opening event will set the tone for the whole symposium.
Please note that this page refers to the public opening event. More information about the Symposium, which is by invitation only, can be found here.
Panel of high-level speakers at the opening event of the Missing Peace Symposium in Oslo, 7 December 2017
Panel of high-level speakers at the opening event of the Missing Peace Symposium in Oslo, 7 December 2017 Photo: Kyrre Lien
PROGRAMME
09.00–09.30 Registration and refreshments
09.30–09.35 Welcome
Henrik Urdal, Director of PRIO
09.35–09.45 Opening remarks
Marianne Hagen, State Secretary, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
09.45–10.00 Opening address
Pramila Patten, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
10.00–11.15 How does international criminal prosecution of conflict related sexual violence impact peacebuilding and contribute to preventing relapses into new conflicts?
Reflections and discussion with:
- Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
- Lord Ahmad, UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
- Bineta Diop, Commission of the African Union's Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security
- Christine Chinkin, Emerita Professor & Director, LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security
- Patricia Sellers, International Criminal Lawyer & Special Advisor for Gender to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
Moderator: Inger Skjelsbæk, Research Professor, PRIO
11.15–11.45 Q&A with the audience
11.45–12.00 Closing address
Lord Ahmad, the UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
This public opening event is co-organised by the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security and the British Embassy Oslo.
Contact: Julie M. Hansen, julhan@prio.org
