This policy brief shows how gender-sensitive approaches to conflict in general, and the WPS agenda in particular, can benefit from applying an atrocity prevention lens. It argues that atrocity prevention is a necessary and useful perspective for diplomats and activists alike.

Decades after the Rwandan Genocide and the Bosnian War of the 1990s, atrocities continue to be committed and are strongly influenced by gender. The implementation of atrocity prevention (AP) efforts has thus been lackluster and ineffective, especially concerning the role gender plays in these processes. To promote gender-sensitive atrocity-prevention, this brief report outlines the current state of knowledge regarding atrocity prevention and its gendered dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the WPS agenda and the AP field, we advance recommendations and potential solutions to ensure nuanced and effective gender-sensitive AP implementation.

Following her panel discussion at the June 6th seminar on “Gender, Accountability, and Atrocity Prevention” by HL-senteret, PRIO, and STK, the Director of the Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence against Women (CEVAW) Jacqui True agreed to carry out an interview with HL-senteret researcher Ingvill Thorson Plesner. Ms. True addressed the ways gender influences mass atrocities and their prevention, focusing on the cases of Yazidi women, Rwanda, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

Following her panel discussion at the June 6th seminar on “Gender, Accountability, and Atrocity Prevention” by HL-senteret, PRIO, and STK, the Executive Director of the Global Centre for R2P Savita Pawnday agreed to carry out an interview with HL-senteret researcher Ingvill Thorson Plesner. Ms. Pawnday addressed the ways gender influences mass atrocities and their prevention (mentioning the cases of Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Yazidi women), what obstacles lie between gender-sensitive atrocity prevention, and the similarity between the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the Atrocity Prevention agenda.

Following his panel discussion at the June 6th seminar on “Gender, Accountability, and Atrocity Prevention”, Honoré Gatera agreed to carry out an interview with HL-senteret researcher Ingvill Thorson Plesner. His answers touched upon the many various facets of the Rwandan genocide directed against the Tutsi, from the identity and narratives of victims and perpetrators to their gendered dynamics. Here is a snippet of his interview.

Following his panel discussion at the June 6th seminar on “Gender, Accountability, and Atrocity Prevention”, former ICTR President Erik Møse agreed to carry out an interview with HL-senteret researcher Ingvill Thorson Plesner. Here Møse expands on the accountability process during and following the Rwandan genocide directed against the Tutsi, as well as the crucial role of gender in the genocide. Here is the full transcribed interview.

The June 6th seminar by HL-senteret, PRIO, and STK featured a keynote speech by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten. The SRSG touched upon a lot of pivotal topics, upcoming challenges, and policy recommendations during her keynote, highlighting the crucial role that gender plays for atrocities and their prevention.

This post explores the many lessons and challenges of atrocity prevention raised during the panel session of the seminar on Gender, Accountability and Atrocity Prevention on June 6th, in collaboration with PRIO and STK, commemorating 30 years since the Rwandan genocide directed against the Tutsi.