The CRSV Observatory Podcast

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Priya Dhanani, a queer feminist and social justice activist. Priya is a PhD candidate in social and gender justice at the new ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence against Women at Monash University in the School of Sciences and Faculty of Arts.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Muna Luqman, a Yemeni activist, peace builder, founder of the organization Food4Humanity and co-founder of the Women in Solidarity Network. She is a member of the Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL). She co-founded the Women in Solidarity Network which encourages women to participate in peace and security efforts.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Professor Olivera Simic, who is currently an Associate Professor at Griffith Law School. She holds LLB from Nis University’s Law School (Serbia), LLM from Essex University (UK), MA from UN University for Peace (Costa Rica) and a PhD from Melbourne Law School. Her research is in the field of transitional justice, international law, gender and crime. Olivera has published numerous articles in scholarly journals, books and media.You can find her books here:Lola’s War: Rape Without Punishment | SpringerLinkSilenced Victims of Wartime Sexual Violence - 1st Edition - Olivera Si (routledge.com)

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Kefaya Khraim from The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC), an independent Palestinian, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that seeks to develop a democratic Palestinian society based on the principles of gender equality and social justice. Established in Jerusalem in 1991, the organisation has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). By forging a feminist vision based on equality and social justice, WCLAC plays a prominent role in addressing gender-based violence in Palestinian society in both the public and private spheres. WCLAC aims to address the causes and consequences of gender-based violence within the Palestinian community as well as the gender-specific effects of increasing militarisation associated with the Israeli occupation. To this end, WCLAC acts not only to reverse historical negligence, negative cultural legacies and discriminatory social attitudes towards Palestinian women, but also, to address the needs of women victimised by Israel’s violent actions in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT). As a leading defender of women’s rights in Palestine, WCLAC is proud of its uncompromising commitment to provide legal aid, social counselling and protection services to women in an environment where human rights abuses are rampant and women’s issues are regularly overlooked.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Lindsey Goldberg, focusing on the experiences of rebel women in conflict zones. Lindsey is an Assistant Professor of International Relations, specializing in Feminist IR. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender and global conflict with particular emphasis on gendered experiences within and across armed rebel movements. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Iowa where she also completed a graduate certificate in gender, women’s and sexuality studies. Her current book project explores the relationships between rebel ideologies, the development of masculinities and femininities, and the perpetration of reproductive violence across armed rebel movements

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Hala Al Karib, the Regional Director of SIHA, an organization established in 1995 by a coalition of women’s rights activists with the aim of strengthening the capacities of women’s rights organizations and addressing women’s subordination and violence against women and girls in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHoA). Hala talks about the conflict underway in Sudan and the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Gurpreet Kaur, Project Assistant and Expert in Feminist Approaches to Disarmament, SCRAP Weapons, on the nexus between weapons and conflict-related sexual violence.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Professor Philipp Schulz, a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS) at the University of Bremen. He obtained his PhD in 2018 from the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) at Ulster University. Since 2016, he is a research associate at the Refugee Law Project (RLP) at the School of Law at Makerere University. His research interests include international relations, peace and conflict research, feminist security studies as well as research ethics. His research engages with the gender dynamics of armed conflicts and political violence, with a particular focus on masculinities. In this episode, he talks about the prevalence of CRSV targeting men and boys.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Akila Radhakrishnan, a human rights lawyer and the President of the Global Justice Center. Prior to her work with the Global Justice Center, Radhakrishnan worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as well as with DPK Consulting and Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Morgane GRECO, a junior legal advisor for the Great Lakes program. She joined TRIAL International in September 2022. Before that, she articled at the French Ministry of Justice in Paris, at the United Nations HQ in New York, as well as in a children’s rights NGO in Montreal. Interested in processes of reconciliation in post-conflict societies, she has lived in Cyprus and Canada. Morgane holds a Master’s degree in International Criminal Justice from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France) and a M.Sc. in International Studies from the University of Montreal (Canada). She also has two bachelors in law and political sciences from the Université Lumière Lyon II (France).

Amelie Frieberg is a Ph.D. Candidate and Teaching Assistant at the Department of Political Science at Trinity College Dublin. She specializes in conflict research and her research interests include explaining sexual violence in armed conflicts and insurgent behaviour. With her work, Amelie seeks to explain and predict socialisation patterns by insurgent groups in connection to conflict-related sexual violence.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Apolline Pierson, the Programme Manager, National Survivor Networks, and learns about the prevalence of CRSV in the DRC and the Mukwege Foundation's work in addressing it.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Isata Kabia, the Founder and Director of Voice of Women-SL (VoW-SL), an organization working to increase women’s political participation and leadership, encourage women to vote and support a record number of women running for office in Sierra Leone. Isata served as a government Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (2018) and as the Minister of State II at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Dr Susan Risal, a peace practitioner based in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is a Chief Executive Officer of Nagarik Aawaz (Citizen’s Voices)-a peace-building organization in Nepal which works with conflict-affected youth and women. In 2003, she joined Nagarik Aawaz as an Admin/Finance Officer. She became a Program Manager at Nagarik Aawaz in 2009, and was later promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2011. Susan holds two Masters Degrees: Masters in Business Administration from Tribhuvan University of Nepal and Masters in Applied Conflict Transformation Studies from Pannasastra University of Cambodia. Currently, she is a PhD Fellow of Applied Conflict Transformation Studies, which is a collaborative programme between Center for Peace Studies and Pannasatra University, Cambodia. Her Phd Research topic is “Understanding the definition of justice and dignity through the perspectives of sexually and physically tortured women of the conflict era of Nepal”.

This episode features Elena Floriani, currently working at WAVE as Project & Research Coordinator. She is in charge of leading the production of the bi-annual WAVE Country Report, a key publication presenting the situation of women’s support services in 46 European countries, and of coordinating and implementing WAVE’s international project work. To donate to the program Elena mentions, head here: https://www.betterplace.at/support-womens-human-rights-defenders-in-ua

This episode features Dr Ather Zia, a poet and a political anthropologist who teaches Anthropology and Gender Studies at University of Northern Colorado Greeley. She is the author of Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation and Women's activism in Kashmir. She is founder editor of Kashmir Lit and co-founder of Critical Kashmir Studies.

In this episode, Kirthi talks to Kimberly Theidon, Dyan Mazurana, and Dipali Anumol, the co-editors of "Challenging Conceptions: Children Born of Wartime Rape and Sexual Exploitation." The book provides cutting-edge findings on children born of wartime rape, their mothers, and families over the life cycle, discusses actions that can lead to positive changes in public perceptions and government policy regarding children born of wartime rape and their mothers, shows why feminist approaches to post-conflict periods are vitally important to families, societies and nations, and offers compelling qualitative research on how war affected children can change their fate. Interested readers may check out the book here.

Sally is a women, peace and security advocate, a concerned citizen, a teacher and a feminist from Bawock- Cameroon. She works to uphold the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR )especially for adolescent girls and young women. Adolescent girls and young women’s meaningful participation and substantial representation in issues of policies and politics is her mission. She envisage a society void of inequalities and social injustices. A society where the ideals of feminism are valued such that everyone has access to decision making spaces since there is freedom of expression and social inclusion.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks with Meron, from The Women of Tigray. Dedicated to amplifying the voices of women and girls of Tigray, the initiative advocates for the end of rape in war and seeks to expand responses to violence against women and children.

In this episode, Kirthi speaks to Dr Dipti Tamang on the prevalence of CRSV in the context of self-determination in Gorkhaland. Dr Dipti is a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral research fellow in South Asia Program, Cornell University. She is interested in researching gender, socio-political movements, conflict, Women Peace and Security, citizenship and politics of identity, and focuses on the Eastern Himalayan/South Asian Region.In this episode, Dr Dipti mentions the Confluence Collective. Listeners may look it up here: https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/about