Il disarmo: riflessioni giuridiche femministe all’epoca di gravi crisi internazionali

This paper, after explaining what is meant by disarmament and arms control from an international legal point of view, will briefly provide an overview of the treaty law in force on disarmament, to emphasize the absence of women and gender non-conforming people from the debate. It will then discuss, with reference to armaments used between States, two recent legal writings specifically devoted to disarmament, with only one of the two recalling the role of women’s peace movements. The goal is to challenge established narratives in international legal scholarship that have been passed down from generation to generation of jurists and lawyers. In a second part, the article will explain how small arms and light weapons have a disproportionate impact on women and girls and evaluate from a gender perspective the legal tools available for their reduction. The paper argues that international and regional organizations, including the European Union, should consider peace feminist contributions to the disarmament debate, and bring the issue of disarmament back as a central topic on the political agenda, for this and future generations of human and non-human beings.