12/17/2020
This year GW's Master's in International Policy and Practice (MIPP) decided to update the introduction to its Conflict Resolution Class by focusing on new, emerging complex conflicts, such as privileged violence, violent extremism and hybrid wars. Perpetrators of these types of violence rely heavily on violence against women to achieve their political objectives and to normalize violence in social and political life. Thus, a significant focus of the class was on the drivers of violence against women and conflict resolution approaches for preventing and ending it. GEIA supported the update of the curriculum by suggesting resources. Student Sophia Bagnall conducted a gender analysis of the Houthi movement and insurgency in Yemen using a framework developed by the United Nations.
Professor Lauren Van Metre looked for ways to engage the class in policy panels and discussion sessions on GBV, including a number of events held in support of the United Nation's global advocacy campaign, Orange the World: 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence. The class wore orange and posted a screen shot on their social media accounts. One of the students, Rudi Balay, led an Instagram Live discussion in a human rights group she belongs to called Human Rights Post. The discussion focused on violence against women in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
