The Vienna Tribunal: A Harrowing Canadian Documentary

In June of 1993, women from around the world came together to shine light on the international plight of women: overt abuse and consequential tribulation brought on by the flagrant disregard for human rights when dealing with women all across the globe. The Vienna Tribunal is a harrowing Canadian documentary which highlights the events of this 1993 United Nations World Conference on human rights held in Vienna. In this film, brave women activists from across 25 nations gathered to tell their own personal stories, to share the stories of women who were unable to share their own, as well as to listen, learn, and identify with the stories of fellow women. The heart-rendering stories told were testimonies of the recurrent instances of abuse that

First and foremost, I felt a sense of awe and admiration regarding the immense courage that these women displayed in coming forward with these stories and genuinely commend each and every one of them. Furthermore, as a mother, a woman, and a visible minority, this film struck me on a deep and personal level, but in all honesty, it left me a little unsure of how to feel exactly. The fact that multitudinous women have gotten victimized by men holding a position of power, and further, men who are supposed to protect them, is abominable, cruel, and downright enraging; unfortunately, it is a reality that disgusts me but does not surprise me. To expand, this uncertainty that has left me afflicted stems from the fact that although I am grateful that many steps have been taken to actualize women’s rights, I know that is an ongoing battle with no clear-cut end in

For example, in the case of Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, there is a great deal more work that must be done by the people in power to provide a solution to this detrimental nation-wide issue. Scholars note that there are obvious “connections between higher rates of violence facing Indigenous women — eight times more likely to disappear and five times more likely to be murdered — and colonial hierarchies of race, gender and class that are deeply rooted in past and present Canadian society” (Tolley 2012). Furthermore, it is recognized that “violence(s) perpetrated against Indigenous women is one of many manifestations of violent colonial legacies of poverty, racism, misogyny, discrimination, criminalization, [and] dispossession” (Tolley 2012). Indigenous women are disproportionately abused, murdered, and exploited within the boundaries of this country. It is a disturbing and ongoing reality which must be corrected as swiftly as possible. This mass injustice is just one of many examples wherein women’s rights have been disregarded and abused in our contemporary