Our colleague Martine Wierenga writes to encourage readers to enroll in “Rule of Law, Transitional Justice and Gender Politics,” this year’s Human Rights and Transitional Justice Summer School, sponsored by Leiden University’s Grotius Centre for International Law Studies, located at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Here’s a description of the week-long summer school, to be held July 4 to 8, 2016, at Leiden’s Hague campus:

Transitions from conflict to peace mark transformative moments for accountability, justice and gender politics. In many contexts, the very process of transition presents new opportunities to rethink existing gender narratives and inequalities. But it also creates certain frictions in relation to gender conceptions (e.g. feminism versus gender inclusiveness), patterns of victimization or agency. In contemporary international practice, there is tendency to ‘mainstream’ gender discourses into legal and political responses. This summer school takes a critical look at this phenomenon. It explores how different institutional approaches, bodies of law and school of thoughts shape gender discourses and conceptions. It pays particular attention to the framing and implications of international criminal justice on gender discourses. It studies newly emerging approaches towards gender justice in different fields, such as peace settlements, international jurisprudence, fact-finding and reparation practices, as well as violence against boys and men. It also addresses tensions that arise in the interplay of these different fields (e.g., human rights, criminal law, development). It draws on specific country experiences (e.g. former Yugoslavia, ICC situation countries) to examine the nexus between international responses and local context. It further studies gender politics and complementarity.

The week will feature are area of lectures, role-playing, and other learning exercises. As detailed in the programme, the summer school will open with a keynote address by International Criminal Court Judge Sanji Mmasenon Monageng (above right). Later in the week, Justice Teresa Doherty (above left) of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone will lecture on “Gender justice in the field.”

Among other scheduled speakers are 2 IntLawGrrls contributors:

► Dr. Catherine O’Rourke (below left), Senior Lecturer in Human Rights and International Law at Ulster University, on “Gender narratives and politics” (prior posts)

► Kate Orlovsky (below right), Programme Researcher, ICC and ICL Programme, International Bar Association, on “Gender Politics and complementarity” (prior posts)

Also slated to give lectures are:

► Dr. Chris Dolan, Director Refugee Law Program, Makerere University, Uganda, on “Violence against men and boys”

► Erin Gallagher, ICC Investigator, on “Fact-finding and gender”

► Michelle Jarvis, Principal Legal Counsel, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, on “International jurisprudence and prosecutorial practices”

► Dr. Alejandro Kiss, Legal Officer, Trial Division, Chambers of the International Criminal Court, on “Reparation policies and practices”

► Dr. William Schabas, Professor of Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law at Leiden, on “Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Efforts to address gender-based violence”

► Marieke Wierda, transitional justice expert, on “Introduction to Transitional Justice”

Details and registration here.