Dr Moumita Mandal

• International Law
• Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in International Law
• International Human Rights Law
• International Humanitarian Law
• International Criminal Law
• International Environmental Law and Climate Change
• Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Climate Change & Cost Factor

• The Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women
• The Cost of Climate Change Heightened Sexual and Gender-based Violence: A Challenge for International Law
• Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in International Law: Making International Institutions Work

Presented on "Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in International Law: Making International Institutions Work", at the Rhineland Lectures in International Law, the Institute for International Law, University of Bonn, 22 June 2023.

Presented on “The Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law", at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany, on 14 June 2023.

Invited to attend the Colloquium at the occasion of the Centenary of the Hague Academy of International Law: Challenges of International Law at the Time of the Centenary of the Hague Academy of International Law, the Peace Palace, Hague, Netherlands, 25 and 26 May 2023.

Presented paper "On the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation: Making International Human Rights Law Work" on Human Rights Day Webinar: Intersections of Human Rights and Criminal Law organized by Human Rights Studies Programme &Centre for Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; & Indian Law Institute, New Delhi; 9-10 December 2021.

Presented a paper on "Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones: A Weapon of War", International Symposium on International Humanitarian Law, Human rights Law on Torture and Space Law; organized by Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi, India, 13-14 April 2019.

Presented a paper on "Sexual Violence against Women in Armed Conflicts: Some Legal Reflections", CILS, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 8 March 2019.

Presented a paper on "India’s Response to Undermining the International Institutions: Some Legal Issues", All India International and Area Studies Convention 2019, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 30 January -1 February 2019

Presented a paper on "Challenges to Implement of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation", in the Annual International Human Rights Day Seminar on Assertion of Human Rights in National and International Context, Human Rights Studies Program, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 10 December 2018.

Presented on "Quest for Human Bodily Integrity: Reflections on Recent Judicial Inroads in India", CILS, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 05 October 2018.

Presented on "Sexual & Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in International Conflicts: Some Legal Perspectives", CILS, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 12 February 2016.

Presented on "Role of Apology in International Law: Does it help in Dispute Resolution?" CILS, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India, 22 April 2016.

Dr Moumita Mandal joined the research group 'Legitimation and Delegitimation in Global Cooperation' in July 2023 and will be a  Research Fellow at the Centre until November 2023.

Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women

Climate change has emerged as the predominant ‘world problematique’. Though entire populations are affected by climate change, women and girls suffer the most. As already seen, as a consequence of natural disasters and during Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, women faced heightened real-life challenges specially being vulnerable to different forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). They face double victimization as human beings as well as because of their gender. Women are exposed to SGBV due to weak or absence of social, economic, political security and the culture of widespread impunity to the perpetrators.

According to a report of 28 April 2022 by S&P Global, ‘climate change could see 4% of global annual economic output lost by 2050’. According to different studies, the world economy may face huge economic losses due to climate change. In conditions driven by events such as pandemics, epidemics and climatic conditions, there is heightened risk of violence against women. The Deputy Executive Director of the UN Women (2016) has indicated “that the cost of violence against women could amount to around 2 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).” Thus, it is clear that SGBV due to climate change imposes double economic burden on States. Climate change and SGBV cause economic loss for States, societies and families both individually and jointly. Both result in phenomenal economic losses.

International law does not yield any international legal instrument that deals with SGBV against women during and after climate change-induced disasters. This is more ominous when growing evidence suggests the role of climate change in exacerbating SGBV against women and girls. Even texts of the three specific climate change treaties (1992 UNFCCC, 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement) do not address this issue. It has been given attention only through the decisions of the Conference of the Parties in recent years. It is a new challenge for international law that needs to be duly addressed in a timely manner.

• Managing Editor, Environmental Policy and Law (Amsterdam, Netherlands: IOS Press)
• Member of the Advisory Board, RMLNLU Law Review, Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow

Awarded the prestigious Guest Researcher Fellowship by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL), Heidelberg, Germany; 17 April-17 July 2023

• Assistant Professor, Vivekananda School of Law and Legal Studies, VIPS, GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi, India; November 2021 – till date.
• Assistant Professor, School of Law, Sharda University, Delhi NCR; September 2020– October 2021.
• Remedial Classes for MA Core Courses: (i) International Law of Peace and (ii) Legal Controls of International Conflicts; School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi, India; 2017-2019.

• Examiner and expert of doctoral thesis evolution and viva-voce, JNU, New Delhi, 2023.
• Judge at the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition 2022, jointly hosted by Amity Law School, Delhi NRC, and the International Law Students Association (ILSA) from 24 -27 February 2022.
• Rapporteur at the  Seminar on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2018, at the Human Rights Studies Programme, SIS, JNU, New Delhi, India.
• Drafted project for the West Bengal Commission for Women on Advocacy Programme, District Level Seminar and Impact Study on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005: A Report and Recommendations, 2013.