The Reykjavík Dialogue 2021: Conference On Gender-Based Violence Begins

From August 16th-18th, activists and survivors will be welcomed by the Government of Iceland, in collaboration with the city of Reykjavík and the Nordic Council of Ministers to The Reykjavík Dialogue 2021, a digital and in-person event to discuss violence against women in the wake of the #MeToo and #SayHerName movements, as well as the increase in violence against women during the coronavirus pandemic. The Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference (RIKK) at the University of Iceland have also organised and collaborated on the event.

The conference that will take place on August 16th-17th will focus on survivor-centred justice, demands for state and perpetuator accountability and investigating the deep roots of this type of violence and harassment. They will discuss themes of restorative and transformative justice, colonial and racial historical legacies and their impacts on feminist justice, centering intersectionality in judicial systems and the need to revamp the current justice system, as stated on their website.

The Dialogue will take place from August 17th-18th wherein participants will set an agenda for working towards an end to violence against women in the coming five years, from 2021-2026. Their website states, “The Dialogue seeks to move from a focus on risk or vulnerability to prioritising the ending of harms and violations towards the realisation of rights and justice.” Survivor’s voices will be centralised in the discussion on what justice means to them.

Regional preparatory dialogues took place in various parts of the world in June and July “to shape and feed into the conversation in Reykjavík.” The forthcoming Regional Dialogue will discuss what has been learnt about violence against women and girls, important achievements of and for survivors and building an agenda for ending the violence over the next five years.

Icelandic Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Jane Townsley, UN Women Senior Policy Expert, Dr. Islah Jad, Associate Professor at Bir Zeit University, Abena P.A. Busia, Professor Ghana’s Ambassador to Brazil and Myriam Sfeir, Director of the Arab Institute for Women are a few of the notable speakers.

You can still register for to attend the event in-person or online here. The entire event will be held in English. Interpretations are available in French, Spanish and Chinese by request. Captioning and sign language services will also be available.

Livestream of the event can be found at The Reykjavík Dialogue 2021 until August 18th.

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