"International Women’s Day is a good time to remember the importance of justice in the lives of women around the world."

 

 

 

 

 

Brigid Inder 

Executive Director - Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice 

Brigid Inder and her organization Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice are recognized as influential and deeply committed advocates for women in international justice. Whether by establishing the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes as a priority at the ICC, or by challenging gender and geographical representation gaps in leadership positions, Brigid endeavors to create a truly inclusive and effective ICC and a wider system of international justice. After a long career working on gender equality issues, Brigid was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2014 by Her Majesty, The Queen for services to women’s rights and international justice. She is also the recipient of the inaugural Bertha von Suttner Peace Prize.

Brigid Inder, OBE, is the Executive Director of the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ). Among her many efforts with the Women’s Initiatives, Brigid’s influential advocacy with the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2004 has been applauded for helping to establish the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes as a substantive priority within the work of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).

As the ICC Prosecutor’s Special Advisor on Gender from 2012-2016, Brigid co-wrote the Policy on Sexual and Gender-based Crimes with the OTP, the first such policy developed by an international court or tribunal. Through WIGJ’s advocacy on the ICC’s substantive work, along with its focus on the integration of women within legal proceedings as well as the institutional development of the ICC with respect to gender and geographical diversity amongst elected officials and senior managers, Brigid supports the ICC in becoming an institution capable of delivering on its mandate and ensuring women and gender issues are included within the Court’s structures and its justice outcomes.

"International Women’s Day is a good time to remember the importance of justice in the lives of women around the world. Whether in family courts, or seeking the right to inherit property, advocating for attitudinal changes to protect women from harmful practices or enforcing laws which prohibit violence and sexual harassment, all of these efforts are to establish the central truth of gender equality. For women living in countries with armed conflicts, the basis for many of the forms of gender-based violence are similar to those expressed in peaceful countries, however they become exaggerated in scale and brutality during war. Today is a good opportunity to remember our common bonds."

Toward this end, Brigid created the Gender Report Card on the ICC in 2005 and subsequently co-wrote, edited and oversaw the production of this annual publication for a decade. The Gender Report Card, the WIGJ flagship publication, provided the most up-to-date analysis on gender issues within the substantive work and institutional development of the Court. Bringing this attention to national processes, Brigid led the organization’s work during the Juba Peace Talks between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army to ensure the participation of women most affected by the armed conflict in the latter stages of the peace process – a strategy which contributed to the inclusion of gender issues within some of the final peace agreements.

Brigid furthermore designed and initiated WIGJ’s Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) documentation programme in eastern DRC focusing on areas of high density conflict, and for over ten years this programme has supported the inclusion of girl soldiers and SGBV charges brought by the ICC Prosecutor in some of the DRC cases as well advocated for accountability for these crimes and the participation of SGBV victims in domestic prosecutions.

Serving on the Board of the UK Government’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, a global strategy raising awareness about and motivating action on this issue, Brigid was in 2017 appointed to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relation’s Advisory Committee on Conflict-related Sexual Violence.