- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor joins international gender, justice, and security research hub funded by nearly $20 million grant

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 19:13:57 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor is part of an international research network that has been awarded more than £15 million pounds, or $19.6 million, to address gendered dimensions of injustice and insecurity around the world. Over the past two years, Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, associate professor in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, has traveled to war-affected countries across the world as part of the Justice, Conflict and Development Network. The international research team investigated how peace can be achieved in societies emerging from conflict. That project was funded by a 2016 grant worth approximately £150,000 British pounds by the, which supports cutting edge research and innovation that addresses the global issues faced by developing countries. Through the team’s study of justice initiatives and economic development challenges in Colombia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Uganda, the researchers developed new research questions and applied for additional funding to continue their research. The London School of Economics (LSE) Centre for Women, Peace, and Security, which will lead the new coalition of research institutions, was awarded a from the Global Challenges Research Fund to create the Gender, Justice, and Security Hub. The new Hub is part of the, a pioneering new approach to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges through investment across 12 global research hubs. Over the next five years, these Interdisciplinary Research Hubs will work across 85 countries with governments, international agencies, partners, and nongovernmental organizations on the ground in developing countries and around the globe to develop creative and sustainable solutions which help make the world, and the UK, safer, healthier, and more prosperous. “This is building upon our previous research of the that was trying to accomplish two things. The first was to identify important research questions about the interplay of three issues: economic development issues and challenge, justice issues, and conflict dynamics,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “We are trying to establish policies that might help to ensure peace in the long run, even in conflict-affected countries where the people might never see justice. The second thing we are trying to do is facilitate collaboration among academics, activists, nonprofits, and policy makers across the world.” The LSE-led Hub seeks to advance sustainable peace by developing an evidence base around gender, justice, and inclusive security in conflict-affected societies. With 44 partners across 17 countries, it will expand research capacity and interdisciplinary research. The Hub will also connect with leading ambassadors for gender justice to turn research insights into ongoing actions that will improve lives. “When you have had periods of mass violence, there are often massive human rights violations. People who are victims want to see justice, but different people have different views of what a just response is,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “We are also looking at the drivers of the conflicts, the simmering tensions that continue in these areas, and how those issues prevent peace building in societies that have been deeply affected by conflict and civil war. A new focus of the project will be gender, how conflict affects individuals differently depending on their gender, and how justice and development are experienced differently according to one’s gender.” As an example of the type of research the hub will investigate, Wiebelhaus-Brahm said one of the biggest research areas emerging from post-conflict Sri Lanka is the promotion of gender equality stemming from women who fought in the civil war. “One of my colleagues has done research investigating female Tamil Tiger fighters,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “She has looked at how women have adapted to the end of the war. Women decided to join the rebellion for lots of different reasons. The rebels did sometimes pressure people to support the rebellion. Some said they volunteered to protect a younger brother from joining. Finally, some women saw it as empowering, that joining the rebels gave them more independence. In interviews, a lot of women talked about the equality they experienced as part of the rebellion. After the war, a lot of these women have been shunted back into traditional women’s work.” Wiebelhaus-Brahm will be investigating issues related to the funding for peace and justice initiatives and reconstruction projects in countries emerging from conflict and civil war. His share of the grant, which is approximately £100,000 pounds (around $130,000), will be used to fund research tools, travel expenses, and graduate research assistants. “I will be collecting data on how much funding is being devoted to justice initiatives and where that funding is coming from,” he said. “I will also look at attempts to come up with comparable cross-national measures related to gender and development and justice issues. This research will look at existing data from the United Nations, such as that relating to women’s access to justice. The goal will be to identify existing measures or to come up with measures that can compare a variety of relevant issues across countries to determine how specific countries are doing in terms of successful justice initiatives and the promotion of gender equality.” Professor Christine Chinkin, founding director of the LSE Center for Women, Peace, and Security, will serve as the principal investigator for the Gender, Justice, and Security Hub. “The Hub provides an amazing opportunity to work with our partners overseas to explore, through research and exchanges, the potential of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda to help deliver on the global challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Chinkin said.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor investigates effects of Sri Lankan civil war

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 14:10:10 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor traveled to Sri Lanka as part of an 18-member international research team investigating how peace can be achieved in a post-conflict region. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, assistant professor in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock School of Public Affairs, traveled to Sri Lanka Jan. 5-14 as part of the Justice, Conflict and Development Network. The goal of the Justice, Conflict, and Development Network is to understand how peace can be achieved in countries affected by conflict through the study of justice initiatives and economic development in four countries: Colombia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Uganda. The trip to Sri Lanka is the third of four planned visits. The network visited Colombia in April 2017 and Uganda in July 2017. “In Sri Lanka, there has been a civil war that has been waged from 1983 until 2009,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “Sri Lanka is dealing with the consequences of that war and how that war ended. Many civilians died. It is estimated that 100,000 people died in the civil war, approximately 40,000 in the last few months alone. There are people who still don’t know what happened to their loved ones. Nine years later and there are still lots of consequences remaining.” Sri Lanka’s civil war pitted the government, dominated by the Sinhalese majority, against the Tamil minority predominantly in the country’s north and northeast. Government forces seized the last area controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009. The country has been trying to rebuild and heal from the conflict ever since, but it has been a slow, hard process filled with old and new sources of conflict. “When we were on the east coast, we visited a town where there is a community of farmers,” he said. “When the military came in those last few months of the war, they took over much of the land. Since the war, the farmers have struggled to secure ownership of their land. The government has taken it over, and they haven’t been able to get a clear answer from the government about securing property rights.” In addition to disputes in land ownership, other major conflicts stemming from the civil war include an effort by victims and human rights activists to prosecute members of the military for war crimes, as well as providing housing for people displaced by the war and job training for women who are now the sole providers for their families. Moreover, tensions between different religious and ethnic factions have in some ways been exacerbated after the war.

Members of the Justice, Conflict, and Development Network visit Sigiriya, an ancient rock fortress and World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka.

“This trip was incredibly rewarding to get to speak with people who have experienced the war and are pushing for justice and equitable development,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Sri Lanka is an incredibly beautiful country, and it has so much potential. There is a lot of economic growth happening in the country. In some ways on the surface, it is hard to believe the war took place.” The group also interviewed members of the Sri Lankan military, who paint a different picture of the country. “In Trincomalee, there are several major naval bases, and we arranged a meeting with some of the officials there who presented a very different view of things,” he said. “The military views itself as being the defender of the country. They said that things are very peaceful in Sri Lanka, and the relationship between different ethnic groups is harmonious. In their view, Sri Lanka has moved past the war and things are fine.” The project is headed by Kirsten Ainley, director of the at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Additional members of the coalition include professors from around the world, government officials, and members of nonprofit and activist organizations. “We are looking at societies deeply affected by civil war,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “This project is trying to understand what have been the effects of conflict and what are the justice and economic development needs of these societies that, with the exception of Syria, are emerging from conflict.” One of the biggest research areas emerging from post-conflict Sri Lanka is the promotion of gender equality stemming from women who fought in the civil war.

Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm visits the Sri Lankan parliament building with colleague Stephen Oola.

“One of my colleagues has done research investigating female Tamil Tiger fighters,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “She has looked at how women have adapted to the end of the war. Women decided to join the rebellion for lots of different reasons. The rebels did sometimes pressure people to support the rebellion. Some said they volunteered to protect a younger brother from joining, and some women saw it as empowering and gave them more independence. In interviews, a lot of women talked about the equality they experienced as part of the rebellion. After the war, a lot of these women have been shunted back into traditional women’s work.” The project is funded by the, which awarded the network a grant in 2016 worth approximately £150,000 British pounds, largely to develop relationships that bridge academics and practitioners from developed and developing countries and to fund travel for members of the network to research the four countries. The network recently submitted a larger grant to continue its research in additional countries.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor headed to Sri Lanka to investigate justice and economic development

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 15:00:36 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor is part of an 18-person international research network visiting Sri Lanka in January to investigate how peace can be achieved in a post-conflict region. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, assistant professor in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock School of Public Affairs, will head to Sri Lanka Jan. 5-14 as part of the. The network’s goal is to understand how peace can be achieved in countries affected by conflict through the study of justice initiatives and economic development in four countries: Colombia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Uganda. The upcoming trip to Sri Lanka is the third of four planned visits. The network visited Colombia in April and Uganda in July. “We are looking at societies deeply affected by civil war,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “This project is trying to understand what have been the effects of conflict and what are the justice and economic development needs of these societies that, with the exception of Syria, are emerging from conflict.” In Sri Lanka, network members will meet in the capital, Colombo, and then visit places deeply affected by the conflict. Sri Lanka was engulfed in a civil war between the government, dominated by the Sinhalese majority, and the Tamil minority in the country’s north and northeast from 1983 to 2009. Government forces seized the last area controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009. The country has been trying to rebuild and heal from the conflict for the past eight years. “One of the challenges has been that the government’s military victory has led it to largely ignore the economic and political marginalization that led some Tamils to take up arms in the first place. Moreover, the civil war itself created new justice and development needs that are as yet unmet. Yet, these groups share a country and need to find a way to coexist,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “In the northern part of the country, there are tremendous issues that still need to be worked out. During our visit, we will try to understand the continuing consequences of the war in an economic, social, and political sense. “We want to better understand what has been done to deal with the effects of the conflict. The government, in recent years, has pledged they will prosecute people in the military who engaged in war crimes that targeted civilians. There has been very little progress, however. There are people who lost their livelihoods. How are they rebuilding?” Another issue facing the people of Sri Lanka is deciding how displaced people can return to their homes. “In societies that have experienced civil war, we often see issues about land ownership. People may have owned land, and they had to flee or abandon the property, possibly forced to sell it on the cheap,” Wiebelhaus-Brahm said. “Land ownership often becomes highly concentrated. With the war over, people want to go back to their communities and their land, but someone else is on the land now. It’s often difficult for the poorer families to reacquire land ownership. The wealthy owners have often turned it into commercial agricultural operations, often leaving not enough land to grow food.” The project is headed by Kirsten Ainley, director of the at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Additional members of the coalition include professors from around the world, government officials, and members of nonprofit and activist organizations. The project is funded by the, which awarded the network a grant in 2016 worth approximately £150,000 British pounds, largely to fund travel for members of the network to research the four countries. The network recently submitted a larger grant to continue their research in additional countries.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock professor joins international gender, justice, and security research hub funded by nearly $20 million grant

����Vlog��ý Little Rock professor investigates effects of Sri Lankan civil war

����Vlog��ý Little Rock professor headed to Sri Lanka to investigate justice and economic development

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor joins international gender, justice, and security research hub funded by nearly $20 million grant

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor investigates effects of Sri Lankan civil war

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor headed to Sri Lanka to investigate justice and economic development