9:00 – 9:30 Formal opening of the 2017 Bergen Exchanges
Jan Oskal Engene (Chair, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB)
Ottar Mæstad (Director Chr. Michelsen Institute)
Siri Gloppen (LawTransform Director)
9:30 – 11:30 When gender harms – what can law do about it?
9:30 – 10:00 Key Note Address: Rashida Manjoo Former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women/University of Cape Town
Femicide, “partnerdrap”, honor killings, widow burning, witch trials. All societies have gendered violence and killings, often triggered by perceived violation of gender norms. Is there a need for an international convention on violence against woman, and, if so, what should it look like? And what is the most feasible approach to getting it in place?
10:10 – 11:30 Roundtable What are effective institutional solutions to the problem of gender based violence?
Common strategies have been to use the law to criminalize gender violence, increase penalties, put more people in jail. Is this effective? Is the criminal law the best tool? In Latin America #NiUnaMenos – the ‘not one less’ movement – challenges what is seen as a cultural strain of aggressive hypermasculinity driving and allowing high levels of violence against women in the region, despite protective laws. Do we need to approach these problems by other means, such as gender education in schools? And how useful are short-term measures such as shelters in contexts of long term protection needs? This session mark the publication of Torunn Wimpelmann’s book The Pitfalls of Protection: Gender, Violence, and Power in Afghanistan Moderator: Sara Ekblom (LawTransform/University of Bergen) Introductions by Paola Bergallo (Di Tella University, Buenos Aires), Torunn Wimpelmann (CMI), Hans Fredrik Marthinussen (University of Bergen)