Madeleine Rees OBE delivers powerful 40th International Peace Lecture at 黑料入口
黑料入口 welcomed leading human rights lawyer Madeleine Rees OBE on Wednesday, 8 October, to deliver the 40th International Peace Lecture, a landmark event in a series that has brought together global voices on peace, justice, and human
, Secretary General of the Women鈥檚 International League for Peace and Freedom, addressed a packed Roscoe Theatre and online audience with a lecture titled The Continuous Struggle: Women鈥檚 Rights in the Last Four Decades and the Backlash Against Progress. Drawing on her work with women from Argentina, Bosnia, Syria, and Ukraine, Rees explored how gender justice has evolved in conflict-affected regions and how progress is increasingly threatened by rising authoritarianism, legal rollbacks, and cultural resistance.
Her talk highlighted the urgent need to protect hard-won rights, confront structural violence, and reimagine peacebuilding through a feminist lens. Rees鈥檚 reflections were rooted in decades of frontline advocacy, legal reform, and international diplomacy, 鈥�We insert ourselves into what we see and learn from existing structures. Male and female binary. History matters, but it鈥檚 biased; it鈥檚 mainly not women鈥檚 views. It鈥檚 not that women were written out of history but it鈥檚 that women were never written in.鈥�
The lecture examined the pushback against gender and its negative impact on accessing justice, understanding conflict, and addressing its consequences. Rees argued that binary approaches, especially regarding gender, hinder the structural changes needed to end exclusion, inequality, and violence.
Peace is about equilibrium. If we have inequalities, discrimination, and binary narratives. We鈥檙e automatically moving away from equilibrium, causing injustice and fear. And when you have fear, you have no peace.
The lecture explored what interdisciplinary research is required to shift from a Hobbesian dystopia characterised by perpetual competitiveness and individualism, and to rebuild or establish a shared human connection.
The event marked forty years since former Psychology lecturer formally launched the lecture series. Inspired by staff protests against nuclear weapons at Greenham Common, the series was founded to create space for public dialogue on peace and the future.
, Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies and organiser of this year鈥檚 lecture, said:
The 40th anniversary of the lecture was a wonderful opportunity to honour the founders of the series and to ensure that their legacy continues in the years ahead. Their vision for establishing the lecture remains just as relevant today as it was in 1985, and Madeleine perfectly captured that spirit by showing us how to continue striving for peace in these turbulent times.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A and networking reception, bringing together students, researchers, activists, and members of the public.
The International Peace Lecture is hosted annually by the Department of Politics in the School of Social Sciences. It remains a vital space for critical reflection, civic engagement, and global dialogue.