Ending Violence Against Women in Africa: Progress and Challenges

The last two decades have seen increased attention to violence against women (VAW) in Africa. States have signed on to various UN and regional agreements that seek to address the problem and have enacted corresponding national laws. Nonetheless, there is a large implementation deficit. Enforcement is often weak, social acceptance of many forms of VAW remains high, as does underreporting. It is within this context that the panellists will examine the strides that have been made in addressing VAW (particularly rape and domestic violence) in Africa and the factors that have hindered progress.

Please register to join this Roundtable event.

Speakers

Chair: Dr Emily Jones

Dr Peace Medie is a Research Fellow in the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) at the University of Ghana and an Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellow based at University College and the Blavatnik School of Government. Her research centers on the dynamics of violence during and after conflict and the efforts that state and non-state actors make to address this violence.

Dr Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Africa’s Asian Options (AFRASO) and a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on political relations in the global South; it particularly addresses the international relations of gender politics with an emphasis on transnational and postcolonial perspectives. She is the author of Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Ashgate, 2015) and co-editor of Negotiating Normativity: Postcolonial Appropriations, Contestations and Transformations (Springer, 2016) with Nikita Dhawan, Elisabeth Fink and Johanna Leinius.

Ms. Vicky Karimi is a women’s human rights lawyer whose work focuses on security and justice. She has over 12 years’ experience working with women’s organizations in Africa, including on issues of womens rights in situations of armed conflict, sexual and gender-based violence as well as enhancing legal frameworks. Vicky has an LLB from the University of Nairobi and an LLM in International Legal Studies form Georgetown University under the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) program. Her thesis focused on enhancing the prosecution of sexual violence under international criminal law. Vicky is a peace and security fellow of the African Leadership Centre/King’s College, London. Her research interests include peacebuilding, security and justice.