Listen to the Women: Human Rights in Conflict Situations - Opening Remarks

This article is a brief restatement of the opening remarks from the symposium “Listen to the Women: Human Rights in Conflict Situations”, presented by Charlotte Bunch. It argues for a feminist framework for addressing the violation of women’s rights within conflict zones, by calling for more active interaction with women in the conflict to ensure that actions for justice are guided by the reality on the ground and not misguided Western tropes about foreign communities. The remarks highlight the current institutions and conventions that condemn gender based violence in war and conflict, but also indicates that these current practices are not enough to deal with the demands of modern warfare which are particularly violent and fragmented.