Gender Justice Training Session

The IIRE was the site of and co-sponsored with the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice a two-week Trainers' School on Gender and International Justice Mechanisms from 2-13 July 2001. This trainers' school sought to disseminate information about the possibilities for addressing gender-based crimes in the future International Criminal Court (ICC). The Netherlands was chosen as the best venue as it gave the participants an opportunity to visit the Tribunal on ex-Yugoslavia in The Hague in order to gain insight into the possible functioning of the future International Criminal Court, which will also be in The Hague. The IIRE offered the residential capacity, cooking facilities and meeting rooms and logistical support that the Women's Caucus was seeking.

The Women's Caucus for Gender Justice consists of groups and individuals who have come together since February 1997 to intervene from a gender perspective in the United Nations process of creating an International Criminal Court (ICC). (For more information visit the Women's Caucus web site at www.iccwomen.org.) The urgency of having the training session was augmented by the speed at which the ICC treaty is being ratified. It is estimated that the 60 ratifications required to establish the court will be reached by 2002. The Caucus therefore wanted to expand its existing network of trained people in order to be prepared to continue to make its influence felt.

The training session brought together approximately 25 women from different countries - all of whom are active in the struggle for gender justice at the local, national or regional levels. All participants had an institutional or organizational base, training experience on issues of women's human rights, and interest in exploring legal strategies to address issues of crimes against women. They came from around the world - from the former East Bloc countries (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Mongolia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moscow, Yugoslavia), Africa (Nigeria and Zimbabwe), Latin America (El Salvador, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, and Brazil) and Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.

The IIRE backed up the Women's Caucus organizers by helping with visa applications, arranging catering and cleaning and providing logistical and technical support. The arrangement amounted to a significant contribution to our budget as well as to a very satisfactory bargain for the Women's Caucus.