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Gender, Conflict, and the Law – Towards a Gender-Competent Approach in International Humanitarian Law

“Gender competence isn’t a bonus — it’s a matter of survival.” – This statement captured the core message of the panel “Gender, Conflict, and the Law”, held on 14 May 2025 at Europa-Universität Viadrina. The event made clear how international law systematically overlooks gender specificities and creates gaps — and how urgently an intersectional, non-binary decolonial approach to international law is needed in order to ensure protection and rights. It’s not one confined to any single international law framework. While the initial event focus was put on humanitarian law, the discussion moved beyond that — taking a critical look at the broader shortcomings of the international legal system, including international criminal law.

Panelists with Organizing Team, Foto: Lidia Dabrowska

Moderated by Prof. Dr. Eva Kocher, professor for European and German labour law and the head of the Center for Interdisciplinary Labour Law Research at the Law Faculty of Europa-Universität Viadrina, the panel featured Alexandra Lily Kather, international criminal lawyer, and Natali Gbele, doctoral researcher working on international humanitarian law and military AI applications.

One of the central takeaways was the urgent need for gender competence across all legal roles — from investigators to prosecutors to judges to researchers. A non-binary, intersectional, and anti-colonial lens is crucial to making sense of how international law operates in conflict and post-conflict settings. The panel pointed to tools like the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes as useful entry points, while stressing that much more is needed in both theory and practice. Additionally, the panellists critically discussed the (non)definition of gender in the context of international law which creates opportunities and challenges at the same time (see further discussions on this topic here).

The discussion also highlighted a major gap: there is no explicit prohibition of sexual violence in armed conflict under international law. Such acts may fall under broader provisions — like torture or inhumane treatment — but only if those applying the law have the necessary gender competence to recognise the specific harms and gender dimensions involved.

Gbele spoke to the risks emerging from military AI systems, where built-in gender and racial biases — for instance, the failure of recognition software to detect women of colour in the context of selecting (un)lawful targets — can have life-or-death consequences. These technological developments raise new challenges for gender in relation to international law that urgently require attention.

The panel also critiqued the overuse of the concept of “vulnerability” in legal and humanitarian discourse. According to Kather, framing certain groups as vulnerable can sometimes obscure the systemic power structures and exclusions that create harm in the first place.

A lively exchange followed around the question of whether gender competence should be integrated into military training — or whether, from a feminist perspective, the military itself should be questioned and challenged as an institution. This sparked a deeper conversation about the tensions between reformist and abolitionist approaches within feminist legal thought.

To close, the speakers were asked to share their vision for the future of international law. There was broad agreement that inclusion, reform, and rethinking are needed — not just in the rules themselves, but in how law is interpreted, taught, and applied. Academic research plays a key role in developing critical frameworks and in equipping the next generation of legal practitioners to approach international law based on gender competences as a core skill. The panel underscored that achieving gender justice in international law is not merely about adding new rules or categories but about transforming the way we understand, apply, and teach international law.

Event Room with Panel at the front. Foto: Jelena Hoffmann

The event was made possible thanks to the generous support of Berliner Arbeitskreis für Rechtswirklichkeit which enabled us to host this conversation in Frankfurt (Oder) and welcomed speakers whose experience and expertise we were excited to learn from.

The event brought together students and academic staff from a range of disciplines. Many in the room were part of the LL.M. programme in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Europa-Universität Viadrin, but we were especially glad to see participants from outside the programme, as well as international attendees joining us online. The event was designed as a hybrid format, with 30 participants in person at the university’s Senatssaal and about 25 online, allowing for broad and inclusive participation.

I would like to thank the co-organizers of this event for their great efforts to realize this thought-provoking and thoughtful conversation: Ishita Uppal, Jelena Hoffmann and Mirjam Kobold.

Sonya Zayneb Ouertani is a research coordinator in the program “re:constitution – Exchange and Analysis on Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe” at the Forum Transregionale Studien in Berlin. Her work and interests focus on critical engagement with human rights, democratization, and the rule of law.


OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Sonya Ouertani (22. Juli 2025). Gender, Conflict, and the Law – Towards a Gender-Competent Approach in International Humanitarian Law. Rechtswirklichkeit. Abgerufen am 23. Januar 2026 von https://doi.org/10.58079/14ele


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Eine Antwort

  1. Kavia sagt:

    Sehr gut erklärt, auch für 📚 Anfänger verständlich und nachvollziehbar

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