Gender, Transitional Justice, and Displacement: Challenges in Africa's Great Lakes Region

This paper focuses on Africa's Great Lakes region, where levels of displacement have been chronically high by any standard. It considers briefly three salient gender-specific dynamics of conflict and displacement that need to be incorporated within any post-conflict reconstruction or transitional justice effort. These three areas are by no means the only gender-specific dynamics that could be discussed, but they represent specific concerns highlighted by recent research conducted by the author in the Great Lakes region. They also point to the fact that gender-specific understandings of conflict and displacement are critical more generally to any post-conflict reconstruction. First, the paper considers the implications of sexual and gender-based violence against women and men at all stages of displacement (prior to, during, and post displacement) and the implications for transitional justice mechanisms. Second, it looks at some of the gender-specific economic consequences of displacement and the subsequent search for durable solutions, focusing specifically on the challenges faced by women at the point of return and the relevance of gender specificities for any reparations or restitution programs. Finally, it considers the vulnerability of young men and their association with conflict, which affects their ability to safely repatriate within certain contexts.