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On Tuesday 10th February, the LSE campus was filled with security, rumours and excitement for the opening of Europe’s first academic Centre for ‘Women, Peace and Security’. Ensconced within the Shaw Library, LSE Director Craig Calhoun welcomed William Hague and Angelina Jolie Pitt, to formally launch the new research centre which will pioneer global efforts to bring an end to sexual violence in conflict.

William Hague’s new guise as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict has allowed him to focus extensively on the issue, and the Tory titan has called for a ‘Global Change in Attitudes’. Speaking passionately, the former foreign secretary argued that sexual violence should ‘not be accepted as an inevitable feature of conflict’: the world cannot simply wait until conflict has found a victor before seeking accountability. For Mr Hague, the suppression of women has been “the single greatest injustice of untapped potential available of humanity” and going forward, he hopes that the centre will “lead the way in ending the Exclusion and oppression of women in all settings, not just conflict.”

UNHCR Special Envoy, Hollywood actress and humanitarian advocate Angelina Jolie awarded the LSE with a ‘badge of honour’, dedicated to the victims that the Centre will be helping. Jolie highlighted the case of the 13-year old Iraqi girl who she had recently met in Iraq who had suffered as a sex slave at the hands of ISIS extremist fighters. The global campaigner commended LSE for its history of shaping the world and set out her vision for a future in which there is no place for sexual violence. She hopes that the centre will create a ‘‘crucible of ideas’’, a platform from which a ‘’decisive difference’’ can be made.

The Centre will build upon the foundations of the 2012 Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative which was founded by Hague and Jolie. In providing an ‘academic underpinning’ it will also find ways to support the courage and rights of survivors of women in areas of conflict. One practical application of the research generated by the centre will be to significantly improve the safety of women in refugee camps. Current refugee camps do not offer a sufficient degree of protection for women and children, who are often at their most vulnerable. The importance of the centre has been highlighted by the significant financial investment made by the Ministry of Defence. The MoD will provide £1 Million in investment, and this represents a considerable step up in the British Government’s commitment to protecting women’s rights across the globe.

The LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security has also received international backing. Current and former US Secretaries of States John Kerry and Hilary Clinton have contributed messages of support. Secretary Kerry outlined how the centre was especially welcome at this time ‘’as we strive to prevent further atrocities by Daesh, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups that are kidnapping and abusing women and girls and consigning thousands into slavery”. Potential Democratic Presidential Nominee Hilary Clinton also lent her support, by saying she looks forward to the great work and contributions that the centre will make in the future.

The Centre’s inaugural director will be LSE academic and Professor of International Law, Christine Chinkin, whose ultimate aim is, in her own words, to ‘make the world a better place for women’. Under Chinkin’s tenure, the centre will bring together academics, policy makers, activists, NGOs and the defence establishment to create a forum for debate on issues relating to gender and war. Additionally, the centre will seek to go beyond academic research to change norms and values more broadly. With a clearly defined purpose and a network of powerful supporters and ambassadors, LSE and the UK hopes to assume a global leadership role, providing a hub to co-ordinate efforts internationally. It will not only develop an education program of research and data analysis but follow LSE’s illustrious history in influencing global policy.

From September 2016, students at the LSE and beyond will be able study for a Masters degree in Women, Peace and Security. Whilst comprehensively tackling the issue of sexual violence against women in conflict, the program will also place significant emphasis on the need to empower women more generally. It aims to enable participants to take up positions of political and administrative leadership to ensure that women issues are involved in the decision making process across the entire spectrum of conflict, from interstate warfare to humanitarian intervention and post conflict reconstruction. The final word came from Angelina Jolie: ‘it is time for the empowerment of women to be the highest priority for the highest minds.’

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  • Erin Duffy

    Erin Duffy is a first year undergraduate from Liverpool studying International Relations at LSE. Travel, American Politics and long distance running are her main areas of interest. As for future plans, she is looking to have a career in either politics or journalism which will hopefully provide her with the opportunity to work all over the world.

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