Gender Policy / LGBTIQ+

Germany’s government likes to consider itself a global pioneer in the field of international criminal law, and yet the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch, CCAIL) contains a gender bias that hampers the prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict in accordance with the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In the Syrian case the international community failed to prove that human rights are also for the Syrian people, that everyone has the right to be protected. Twelve years of this ongoing war – and the international community did not do anything for the democratization of the country, they only offered humanitarian help. Interview with the winner of the Anne Klein Women's Award 2023, Joumana Seif.

War and armed conflict almost always go hand in hand with sexual violence – rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage. On occasions when it seems pertinent, such as in the context of the current war in Ukraine, politicians and the media talk about the issue and condemn the violence, but their rhetoric is short on substance.

The elimination of violence against women is tied to the elimination of all forms of heteropatriarchal, homo- and transphobic, (neo-)colonial, racist, capitalist, ableist violence.

Since 2020 a war has been ongoing in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The conflict quickly spread to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, leading to a humanitarian crisis. Sexual violence is being employed deliberately and systematically as an instrument of war by all parties to the conflict in northern Ethiopia. 

Russia is constantly attacking civilian targets in Ukraine, including residential buildings, factories, educational and health facilities.

Despite the high number of rapes, the judicial progress that has been made, and the judgements passed by international, national and local courts, most of the affected women are still far from receiving compensation, reparations, or recognition as a victim.

Feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues are almost as diverse as the communities themselves, yet both movements are discriminated against, marginalized, often attacked, and violated, simply because of their non-conformity to conventional and hegemonic notions of gender.

Digital Rights Foundation, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, conducted a series of focus group discussions with researchers from across the globe in order to deconstruct ‘gendered disinformation’, understand existing work on the subject and identify areas for future interventions.

The Global Feminist Pitch is back to support feminists from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Middle East and (South) Eastern Europe. This year we are looking for ten feminists who will write on the topic of feminist mobilisation in their region. Apply now!