Acknowledgements

In Australia, we have a tradition of acknowledging the First Nations’ lands that we live and work on. While this acknowledgement is a symbolic gesture, it helps to signify our understanding that this land was never ceded, and that the effects of colonialism and dispossession for Australia’s indigenous peoples are ongoing, and that as editors from settler backgrounds, we have been privileged by colonialist structures. The editors of this project are grateful to have worked on the lands of the Aniwan, Awabakal and Worimi, Bedegal, Cammeraygal, Gadigal, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung, Gamilaraay, and Dharug peoples. We are deeply grateful to be able to contribute to the long history of knowledge-sharing on these lands.

This extensive volume has been created over four years through a committed feminist process. The editorial team have sustained each other through illnesses, including cancer and COVID-19, and most importantly through our care responsibilities, which have included the birth of four precious children and the care of four precious others. Of course, there is also a village of invisible supporters who have stood beside and behind us, and who have enabled us to teach, write, edit, and manage our care commitments. We are each so grateful for those who have provided us the opportunity to have such full and rewarding (and sometimes exhausting!) lives.

As editors, we have been respectful of each other’s views and critiques, finding a path through any differences. We have worked closely as a team, each taking up the editorial baton when passed to us, and feeling able to hand it back when the need arose. That said, we are indebted to Kcasey for a ‘her’culean effort as the editorial mainstay, driving the book with such a careful and generous approach through its gestation. We are also grateful for Louise’s mentoring, including showing us how to ‘think outside the office’, working hard while enjoying the wonders of nature – in this case the beautiful ocean pools on Bedegal and Awabakal and Worimi waters.

Essential to the completion and quality of this project have been two exemplary research assistants: Sarah Easy and Adrienne Ringin. It is true to say that this volume could not have been finished without their skills, expert knowledge, and timely and thoughtful responses, which have enabled us to gather a large collection including twenty-seven judgments, nine reflections, seven additional chapters, and poetic and photographic interventions. We know the authors too have been grateful for their support in identifying issues, tracking down footnotes, and guiding their contributions where necessary. We also appreciated Sarah and Adrienne making their own important contributions to the volume by donning fictional robes to write judgments on Cote d’Ivore, Afghanistan, and Uganda.

Developed over the course of a global pandemic, this book has been created during a unique and disruptive period for all our contributors, especially those with primary caring responsibilities, which includes almost everyone in this volume. Despite our disappointment at not being able to meet in person during the process of writing due to lockdowns, we are hugely grateful to every author who joined in online workshops and participated in group chats, and for ultimately producing outstanding chapters that collectively make a critically important contribution to the feminist judging methodology and international criminal law. We are thankful for their insights and imagination, and for them having the integrity to give us frank and constructive feedback when they saw the need.

There are many other individuals who have encouraged us in our endeavours in ways which have contributed significantly to this volume. Thanks to Bridget Crawford, Kathy Stanchi, and Linda Berger (Feminist Judgement Series at Cambridge University Press) for so enthusiastically encouraging our submission and supporting our proposal. We also acknowledge with gratitude Matt Galloway at Cambridge University Press, who has waited patiently for the manuscript and gently guided us through the production process.

We are grateful to Rosemary Hunter, Catherine O’Rouke, and Heather Douglas for helping us grapple with the conceptual and practical issues related to the use of the feminist judgments methodology, and for their encouragement of our ambition to bridge domestic-level analysis with international criminal law. Some of their guidance has been video-recorded and can be found here for those wishing to benefit from their wisdom.Footnote ¹ We are also indebted to the Australian Indigenous Legal Judgments collection,Footnote ² edited by Nicole Watson and Heather Douglas, for influencing our thinking and opening us up to more radical reimaginings of judicial writing.

We wish to thank Judges Navi Pillay and Hilary Charlesworth for being so supportive of the idea of this volume. We are indebted to Judge Pillay for sharing her wisdom in the Foreword, reinforcing the value of a diverse judiciary to the achievement of gender justice.

Inspired by other feminist judgment collections, we were keen to capture non-traditional expressions of the law. In this volume we have been privileged to work with two poets, Maxine Beneba Clarke and Sara Saleh, both of whom have a legal background. Through their rich and unique voices, Maxine and Sara capture more poignantly than any legal judgment ever could the struggle, tragedy, disappointment, and hope that the International Criminal Court provides to those who experience conflict. The editors also wish to acknowledge and thank Vanessa Chong and Fortify Rights for their assistance and support in connecting us with Azimul Haas, Omal Khair, and Dil Kayas – the Rohingya media fellows whose photographs feature on the cover of the book and in a dedicated photo essay.

We each offer our gratitude to our friends and colleagues from our academic homes at the University of Newcastle School of Law and Justice, Australian Human Rights Institute, Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales (UNSW), and Sydney University Law School. We’re especially grateful to our co-workers, Pat Filmer-Sanky and Catherine Oddie from the College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle, Steph Manefield, Oras Kalaf, and Susie Shaw at UNSW, and Professor Michele Ford, Professor Arlie Loughnan, and Research Manager Julia Robertson at the University of Sydney. We are indebted to everyone from our respective research offices who has assisted in establishing the financials and helped co-ordinate a complex, inter-university project. Thanks also to Paul Chappell and Geeta Arulampalam for their generous hospitality during our fruitful workshop in Newcastle.

The financial support of the Australian Research Council Discovery Program (DP210103628) has enabled us to pursue this ambitious project. We recognise how fortunate we are to have access to this publicly funded research scheme and for the assistance we have received.