This article foregrounds the long-overlooked sexual violence perpetrated against Jewish women during the Holocaust. It calls for fuller integration of survivors’ testimonies of sexual violence into our understanding of Holocaust history and prompts recognition of the ongoing reality of conflict-related sexual violence today.

The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on the Trial of Japan's Military Sexual Slavery in 2000 (hereinafter the ‘Women's International War Crimes Tribunal 2000’), which was hosted in Tokyo, Japan from December 8 to 12, 2000, was a people’s tribunal[1] that held the Japanese government – the perpetrating state - and Emperor Hirohito responsible for war crimes. It was viewed as the most appropriate alternative plan devised at a time when it was no longer feasible to hold a legally effective international court with any cooperation from the Japanese government. 

The World Court of Women has held over 30 sessions since 1992, hearing from survivors of violence, conflict and war from around the world.

From April 21 to 22, 2018, the ‘People's Tribunal on War Crimes by South Korean Troops during the Vietnam War’ (hereinafter the ‘People’s Peace Tribunal’) was held at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Mapo-gu, Seoul.

Violence, militarism and war are gendered phenomena, and peace activism, to be effective, must likewise be gender analytical and gender aware.

Iryna Dovhan, head of SEMA Ukraine, condemns the severe violence and suffering endured by countless women during the Ukraine-Russia war, which has persisted for over a decade.

Colonialism and apartheid were both predicated on the marginalization and subjugation of the population in terms of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and culture.

On November 12~14, 2015, an international people’s tribunal was held in The Hague, the Netherlands for the crimes against humanity that had occurred in Indonesia in 1965.

Written by Jeong Yeong-hwan, Professor at Meiji Gakuin University, and Pak Noja, Professor at the University of Oslo