Access to Gendered Justice: Advances and Obstacles in Guatemala and the U.S. in Comparative Perspective

Access to Gendered Justice: Advances and Obstacles in Guatemala and the U.S. in Comparative Perspective
Date
Fri March 8th 2019, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Event Sponsor
Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University Libraries
Location
Bolivar House, 582 Alvarado Row, Stanford, CA
Speaker:

This symposium explores recent advances and obstacles to accessing gendered justice in Guatemala and the United States in both formal and other venues such as indigenous justice systems. Both Guatemala and the U.S. have recently opened up new formal avenues for survivors of gendered violence to receive justice. Guatemala, which passed one of the hemisphere’s first and most comprehensive femicide laws in 2008, has specialized courts that hear cases of femicide, physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence against women and children. In addition, in 2017 the High-Risk Court of Guatemala convicted two former military officers of crimes against humanity on counts of rape, murder and slavery in Sepur Zarco. In addition, some indigenous systems of government and just have also begun to work with local communities on issues of gendered violence and harassment.

In U.S., beginning in 2014 under the Obama administration U.S. immigration courts could grant asylum to women who were victims of varied types of violence, including domestic violence. In June of 2018, a ruling by Attorney Jeff Sessions, attempted to limit the granting of asylum to women and other who were victims of “private” violence, a label the Attorney General gave to domestic violence and gang violence.  Sessions’ ruling assumed that private violence can be separated from public violence and that violence perpetrated by state actors can be parsed from that carried out by non-state actors. Those who have worked with survivors of domestic and other violences through the asylum process suggest otherwise.

Through exploring the varied avenues of gendered justice in Guatemala as well as the advances and obstacles for gendered asylum in the U.S. and in a larger comparative context, the speakers at this conference seek to advance understanding of the complex context of gendered violence and to propose analytical and practical strategies for justice, both formal and communal.

Keynote Speech 3/7/19: Gendered Embodied Structures of Violence: Mam Women Seeking Justice in Guatemala and the U.S. by Lynn Stephen, CLAS Latin American Perspectives Lecturer 2018-19

One-Day Symposium, 3/8/19: Panel 1. Gendered Justice in Guatemala 9:00 am- 11:15 am

Break 11:15 am -11:30 am

Panel 2. Gender Violence and Justice in Latin American and In U.S. Immigration Courts 11:30 am-1:00 p.m

Lunch 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm 

Panel 3. Comparative Perspectives from Stanford Faculty 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

  • Beatriz Magaloni
  • Angela Garcia
  • James Fearon (TBC)

Closing Discussion, all 3:30 pm

For Panelist bio, abstracts,titles here

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