Women and Children: The Cutting Edge of International Law

Abstract

The lecture began at 5:00 pm, Wednesday, April 9, and was given by Radhika Coomaraswamy, former UN Special Representative of Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict; discussant was Diane Marie Amann, Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, University of Georgia School of Law; Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict, International Criminal Court, Office of Prosecutor. * WOMEN AND CHILDREN: THE CUTTING EDGE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW By Radhika Coomaraswamy ([dagger]) PREFACE Sometime at end of 2011, while I was still United Nations Special Representative of Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, I met an ambassador from an Asian country just before a United Nations Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict. He told me that I was leaving United Nations at right time, because the era of human rights is over, it has been shown up for what it is, a product of western liberalism and now a modern day foreign policy weapon of western imperialism. (1) A few months earlier I was in Central African Republic (CAR) with three generations of women from same family, who had been brutally raped by forces of Jean Pierre Bemba when he entered CAR from Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002. (2) They were getting ready to go to The Hague to testify against him. They described events in detail, and I could feel their sense of vindication and hope. Even if Bemba were not convicted, they found consolation in fact that someone had recognized crimes committed against them. This, then, is complexity of human rights in modern world. Increasingly, member states, along with individuals and groups in Global South, challenge both epistemology and practice of human rights. But despite their efforts, at grass-roots level there is a groundswell of support for idea of human rights, including women's and children's rights, as more and more groups have begun to use discourse and strategy of human rights movement to fight for equality and social justice. INTRODUCTION In traditional world of international law, issues of war, peace, and security have always taken precedence over other developments. (3) The Westphalian origins led to a focus on dispute resolution and establishment of an international order that will enable peace. Even today media attention of world remains on Security Council, whose proceedings dominate discussion of international law and international relations. However, hidden from view away from drama of use of force and international peace and security, there has been a quiet, creeping revolution in area of women's and children's rights at international level, which may have far-reaching consequences on how we think about international law and its place in modern world. I have divided this lecture into three parts: (I) I will identify five ways in which women's rights and children's rights have impacted substance and procedure of international law, especially during last few decades; (II) I will describe backlash against some of these developments that has led to a certain paralysis in their contemporary evolution; and (III) I will identify a way forward--always keeping interests of women and children in mind. Before I proceed, I would like to outline three short caveats. First, international human rights law is often seen as a sub-regime of international law. (4) In same way, women's and children's rights are a sub-regime of international human rights law, with a level of autonomy and integrity relevant to their specialization. Nevertheless, as we will see later, what happens in international arena to regime of human rights also affects issues relating to women and children and vice versa. Some traditional international lawyers may dismiss all this as issues within periphery of periphery, but in some ways they have already begun to play a significant role in international relations. …