Posts Tagged World Without Genocide

Event Notice and Special Guest Blog by Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, World Without Genocide

Please join Park Square on Sunday May 19 at 1:30 pm, for a screening of the documentary film I Came to Testify, followed by a conversation with Judge Peggy Kuo, one of the lead prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal of former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who is featured in the film.

Film and Talk, Rape: A Crime Against Humanity

Sunday, May 19, 1:30 pm
Park Square Theatre, Proscenium Stage

Screening: I Came to Testify. Run time, 50 minutes
Talk: Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, Eastern District of New York
Interviewed by John Docherty, Assistant United States Attorney in Minnesota

I Came to Testify is the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foča broke history’s great silence – and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. This historic trial changed international law, designating rape as a crime against humanity and a crime of genocide. We are honored to be joined by Judge Peggy Kuo, who played a critical role in the trial.

This event is part of the series Justice After Genocide*, a series of events presented in anticipation of the upcoming play Heaven, Theatre in Residence Flying Foot Forum’s theatrical look into war-torn Bosnia through music, dance, and story. To deepen our collective understanding of the conflict and of the challenges faced in the war’s aftermath, Park Square is collaborating with World Without Genocide and The Flying Foot Forum to offer this series.

Tickets:
$10 general public, $5 seniors and students; $25 for lawyers’ CLE credits at most programs; ‘clock hours’ for educators. Purchase tickets at the door, no advance registration is required.

Rape Camps

by Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D.
Executive Director, World Without Genocide

People do unspeakable things during war. They view the ‘other’ as less than human and behave in ways that most of us could not even imagine. That was the situation during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s.

Bosnian Serbs abducted Muslim women and girls, brought them to unused schools, hotels, and other buildings, and imprisoned them for months at a time, subjecting them to sexual slavery and cruelty. These places of horror became known as ‘rape camps.’

As the war escalated, an international court was created for the first time since World War II to prosecute the worst perpetrators of the conflict. This court, known as the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, was operated by the United Nations.

One of the many cases was the trial of three leaders of the ‘rape camps.’ The prosecution team was led by three remarkable women: Tejshree Thapa from Nepal, Hildegard Retzlaff from Germany, and Peggy Kuo, an American.

These prosecutors were determined to seek justice. First, however, was the very difficult challenge of finding women survivors who were willing to testify. To speak about their horrors meant reliving the trauma. It also meant that, like women everywhere who have been subjected to sexual violence, they felt shamed and ruined; and now they were being asked to publicly acknowledge what had happened to them. In addition, these women were likely to face deadly intimidation or retribution if they testified. Ultimately, many women came forward and spoke the truth of what had been done to them.

All three defendants were found guilty. More than that, however, the prosecutors changed international law. Rape is now a crime against humanity and a crime of genocide. These women prosecutors, like other women in the legal profession, brought a gendered perspective into that courtroom – and influenced gendered justice around the world.

Peggy Kuo, one of those fierce and determined prosecutors at that trial, will be here on May 19. Join us at Park Square Theatre to meet her and to see the remarkable documentary about the trial.

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Ellen J. Kennedy is the founder and Executive Director of World Without Genocide, a human rights organization headquartered at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, St. Paul, MN.

Through World Without Genocide, Kennedy promotes Holocaust and genocide education in high schools, colleges, faith-based organizations, and civic groups and advocates with elected officials at city, state, and national levels. Kennedy was a professor at the University of St. Thomas for nearly twenty years and the Interim Director at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, for three years. She began as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in September 2010 and remains today.

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Information about JUSTICE AFTER GENOCIDE at: https://parksquaretheatre.org/programs-justice-after-genocide/
Information about HEAVEN at: https://parksquaretheatre.org/box-office/shows/2018-19/heaven/

Justice After Genocide is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter, Federal Bar Association; the Human Rights Committee, Minnesota State Bar Association; DKG, an international women educators’ society; ILSA, the International Law Student Association at Mitchell Hamline School of Law; and the St. Paul and Minneapolis-University Rotary Clubs.