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David Eichert

@davideichert.bsky.social
2.3K followers 479 following 82 posts

Departmental Lecturer in IR at Oxford. Sexual violence, law, feminist/queer/decolonial methods. Any pronouns 🌈

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Reposted by David Eichert
Prof Melanie O'Brien @drmelob.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
One of the women alleging sexual misconduct by Karim Khan has gone public. Interview with Armanpour here. #ICC #IntLaw www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/e...
cnn.com
Exclusive: Lawyer goes public with sexual misconduct claims against ICC chief prosecutor. He denies the allegations | CNN
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is under intense scrutiny as member countries prepare to vote this month on whether to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following an investigation into allegat...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Yes it seems like the entire world is falling apart all the time, but one thing will never change: delusional queers being delusional at karaoke 🌈
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
While the event is inspired by the last 6+ years at the ICC, we want to make this an expansive event for talking about law's ability to "settle" allegations, what happens when allegations refuse to be settled, the hypocrisy of international law, etc. Happy to answer questions!
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
CFP: The Afterlives of Sexual Violence Allegations I'm co-organizing a one-day workshop to talk about what happens *after* an institution like the ICC "resolves" sexual violence allegations. Please submit an abstract and join us to talk feministly about law & violence: tinyurl.com/afterlivesicc
“The Political Afterlives of Sexual Violence Allegations: The ICC as Case Study”

CFP: Workshop & Special Issue
7 December 2026, The Hague

What happens after an institution responds to internal sexual violence allegations? The
International Criminal Court – an organization endowed with a global mission to address the
world’s worst acts of sexual violence – has been plagued in recent years by serious allegations
of workplace misconduct and gendered violence. This includes a 2020 independent report
which documented systematic sexual harassment within the Court, as well as serious
allegations against Prosecutor Karim Khan which were dismissed by a panel of judges in early
2026 (although reports vary about whether Khan was actually cleared of wrongdoing). The
institutional responses to both crises were bureaucratic, slow, and frequently secretive, leaving
observers with many questions about whether and how these processes advance the Court’s
purported commitment to gender justice.

The goal of this CFP is to gather feminist scholars, practitioners, and lawyers to think about
the political afterlives of internal sexual violence allegations. Using the recent allegations at
the ICC as a case study and springboard for further theorization, our hope is that contributors
will think broadly about the diverse ramifications of sexual violence allegations – in the writing
of legal history, in the politics of diplomacy and budgeting, in future contestations about gender
representation and justice. This focus on afterlives emphasizes how the meaning(s) of a legal
finding can evolve and change beyond initial rulings and decisions, especially in “black box”
investigations where very little information is publicly available.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Happy International Workers' Day from France, y'all! ✊🌹
Union float in Paris
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Lol just kidding www.reuters.com/world/allega...
reuters.com
Allegations against ICC war crimes prosecutor still under review despite report he was cleared
Allegations of sexual misconduct against the ‌prosecutor of the International Criminal Court are still under review by the court's executive branch, an internal memo shared with staff on Sunday said, ...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
It makes me wonder: Is SV just more visible at the ICC bc of feminist involvement? Why do we not hear of such violence at the ICJ or other intl organizations? Perhaps a key undertheorized role of feminism here is the ability to call out hypocrisy (although whether that has any effect is unclear)
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
5) The ICC has been a success story for the institutionalization of feminist political ideas (in 2022, I even heard Khan himself thank feminists for their contributions to intl law). Which makes the Court's many failures all the more painful.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
So it's worth questioning: will future histories of international law continue to link the two? What about other investigations (Russia, USA and Afghanistan) -- why do commentators rarely allege a link there? (These are genuine questions from me, more than challenges)
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
4) One thing I've noted over the past year is how many media outlets connect the allegations against Khan to his decision to investigate Israel/Hamas. There is a potential link there (I have no idea!) but it's also equally possible that the two events are completely unrelated
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
3) Again, I have no knowledge of the actual investigation, but judges make incorrect rulings about SV all the time, in all legal jurisdictions. Sexual violence, especially of the kind alleged here, is famously difficult to prove
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
2) Can Karim Khan ever work on SV issues again? Obviously the Prosecutor's office is diverse & full of wonderful people, but I worry that any future action on SV will just get submerged in commentary about Khan as a discredited figurehead or the Court as a hypocritical actor
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
1) Sexual misconduct/violence has been a concern for several years at the ICC, not just in relation to Karim Khan. I hope that states & staff do not take this decision as a sign that the internal culture at the Court has somehow been fixed -- SV is never just a "one bad apple" situation
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
A few thoughts now that this debacle is over(??), from someone with no actual knowledge of the investigation 🧵
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
A highlight of being at Oxford is inviting smart friends to present their new books, then taking them to dinner to celebrate! (I also get dinner, so win-win scenario) @senthorun.bsky.social @mstambolis.bsky.social
Sen Raj presenting his new book Sen Raj and me at dinnerMichael Stambolis presenting his bookUs all at dinner, with Hugo Bouvard
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Jamie J. Hagen @jamiejhagen.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
📚Announcing a few events where I'll be talking about my book this Spring. More details to follow, but save the dates! Get in touch if you'd like to arrange a time for me to visit your bookstore, policy event or campus to talk about the legacy and importance of queer feminist solidarity against war.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Come do an event in Oxford plz! Congrats!
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
New conspiracy theory: British weather is actually funded by Big Umbrella so we keep buying new ones every few months 💦💦💦
Umbrella bent at an almost 90 degree angle
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us Bread, but give us Roses 🌹 youtu.be/ftVpyoSUpt8?...
youtu.be
Lucy Dacus - Bread and Roses @ Zohran Mamdani’s Inauguration 1/1/26
YouTube video by boygenius source
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Reposted by David Eichert
Esther Cyna @esthercyna.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
🔈Join us for "21st-Century US: A Historical Assessment" U Paris Cité, Nov 20&21! Organized by @tamaraboussac.bsky.social @hbouvard.bsky.social & Anne Légier, supported by @echelles-umr8264.bsky.social @chcscuvsq.bsky.social @institutdesameriques.fr @mondesamericains.ehess.fr @parissaclay.bsky.social
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Obligatory "first week of work" post: I'm settled into my new role teaching at Oxford, and it's just as lovely as it sounds 🍂
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Andrew Cutting @andrewcutting.coe.int · 08/10/2025
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has adopted a groundbreaking recommendation to the organisation’s 46 member states on equal rights for intersex persons👇 🔗 www.coe.int/en/web/porta... @coe.int #Consent #Equality #NoDiscrimination
coe.int
Council of Europe adopts landmark Recommendation on equal rights for intersex persons
<p>Historic milestone calls for prohibition of non-consensual medical interventions and for full equality and non-discrimination against intersex persons across all areas of life</p>
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
If you're in Paris next month, please come to our book event at Sciences Po! We have an amazing international panel of editors, authors, and civil society reps who will discuss what feminist theory can offer the International Criminal Court 👩‍⚖️
Flyer for the event with registration link at tinyurl.com/ParisFemICC
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Reposted by David Eichert
Lucy Gaynor @lucyjgaynor.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
“This, today, is not the end” Are these in absentia hearings against #Kony a new beginning? An end? Something else entirely? Yesterday these long-awaited, unprecedented hearings were adjourned. I watched & reflected on time, audience, #history, & #justice. lucygaynor.substack.com/p/this-today...
lucygaynor.substack.com
“This, today, is not the end”
10 September 2025: Confirmation of Charges Hearing for an Absent Kony, Day 2
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
I've been doing a lot of immigration stuff recently & my small act of resistance has been trying to smile despite the "no smiling" rule. Here's my latest success:
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
I'm literally hosting a karaoké soirée here in Paris later this month -- you're all welcome to join! 🌈
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Anyway all this is to say that we should hold people accountable for the bad things they do. If accountability means replacing the ICC prosecutor, then hopefully it happens quickly!
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
An optimistic person would think of this hypocrisy as part of a cycle -- intl actors condemn SV, and when their actions don't match their words, we can wave their words in front of them to call them out A more pessimistic person would maybe just say that intl orgs were never meant to end SV...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
To give another example, Russia at the UN is always condemning SV (esp. SV allegedly committed by Ukrainian troops). Obvious hypocrisy, yes, but also politics. What was once a feminist tool (naming and shaming) becomes a weapon of patriarchy for keeping toxic men in positions of moral supremacy
Screenshot from a recent UN debate on conflict-related sexual violence, showing the Russian diplomat reading a statement about SV in Ukraine
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Thanks to feminist activism, "sexual violence" is now an indisputably "bad thing" in international politics. So political actors can gain a lot by condemning it -- those condemnations make one a "good person" So much of diplomacy is about moral high ground, and condemning SV is an easy path to that
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
If allegations are true, then it means that Khan was publicly condemning workplace SV while at the same time engaging in sexual harrassment & worse Which is horrible, but also not terribly surprising in the context of SV in international organizations...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
In 2022 I attended an ICC meeting where, among other things, they launched a new Strategy on Gender Equality and Workplace Culture. Khan attended & spoke about the importance of having a safe gender-sensitive workplace (you can see his bald head in this pic)...
Lawyers listening to a speaker at the ICC, next to tables with weird sweet potato chips in glass bottles
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
A few thoughts about the SV allegations at the Intl Criminal Court:
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I logged onto Etsy for the first time in a while & their "recommended for you" algorithm seems to have a very specific idea about my interests...
Ad for "grandpacore" clothingAd for "sardines" as a search category
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Quick weekend trip to the French Alps. Beautiful views & a lot of hills to climb! ⛰️
Quaint mountain valley
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Reposted by David Eichert
Lucy Gaynor @lucyjgaynor.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Today, in the databases of #justice: Ah, the "much-awaited [REDACTED]" which "confirm [REDACTED] particularly in the [REDACTED]. The life of trial (half)observation(?)
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Also I was pretty confused by the book's subtitle ("the Necessity of Violence") until I got to the final section and the author just straight up cites Fanon. Then it ties together very poetically 💣
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
I just finished "Babel" by RF Kuang and cannot recommend it enough. Get yourself a copy! Assign it in your politics classes!
A picture of the book copy, displaying the title "Babel: On the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution"
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Really vibing with this article from E. Tendayi Achiume: "The Postcolonial Case for Rethinking Borders" www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...
"We should reject this consensus. A closer look at the experiences of immigrants should lead us to the conclusion that First World nations have no right to exclude Third World migrants, including the unauthorized economic migrants that dominate contemporary political debates. This claim, that countries like the United States have no right to exclude migrants like those from Central America, will seem radical to many. But it is a corollary of the past and present relationship between, on the one hand, powerful nations like the United States, which advance their national interests extraterritorially, and, on the other, the peoples in the Third World that they subordinate. Third and First World peoples are not political strangers. Due to neocolonial and other forms of imperial interconnection, they are bound in a relationship of co-sovereignty that makes Third World peoples political insiders to First World nation-states."
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
I'm a big fan of Pride here in France. There's basically no corporate sponsorship & you can join the parade for as long as you want, wave signs, then go cool off in a café with lovely people. Happy Pride! 🌈🥰✊
Pride crowd next to the LouvreCardboard sign saying "Decolonize queerness, resist pinkwashing"
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Reposted by David Eichert
The Marshall Project @themarshallproject.org · 23/06/2025
Castration — both reversible and permanent — does lead to the reduction of testosterone and a diminished libido. But “there is literally no evidence that testosterone is the driving factor of individuals committing crimes of a sexual nature,” said a senior analyst with the Sentencing Project.
themarshallproject.org
These States Are Debating Castration for Sex Crimes. Experts Call It Cruel and Pointless.
Critics say there’s no evidence that castration prevents future sex offenses. Yet several states are weighing such measures.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
This is the ultimate "you had to be there" moment... I made a joke about the windows during class once and got *zero* laughs!
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
Gloria Anzaldúa, "Borderlands" (re: Los Angeles protests) ✊
Part of a poem by Anzaldúa:

This is my home
this thin edge of
barbwire.

But the skin of the earth is seamless.
The sea cannot be fenced.
el mar does not stop at borders.
To show the white man what she thought of his
arrogance,
Yemaya blew that wire fence down.

This land was Mexican once,
was Indian always
and is.
And will be again.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Finally, Enloe's classic "How Do They Militarize a Can of Soup?," read in conjunction with Clausewitz, to question if war is an extension of politics or just made to look like it is! www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
degruyterbrill.com
1. How Do They Militarize a Can of Soup?
1. How Do They Militarize a Can of Soup? was published in Maneuvers on page 1.
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
"The Problems of Genocide" by @dirkmoses.bsky.social is an excellent conversation starter to get students to move beyond "is it genocide?" towards more interesting questions about the political meaning(s) of "genocide" -- www.cambridge.org/core/books/p...
cambridge.org
The Problems of Genocide
Cambridge Core - Regional History after 1500 - The Problems of Genocide
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Cynthia Cockburn's "Continuum of Violence" also really resonated with students -- why can "war" end but "violence" continue for marginalized groups? academic.oup.com/california-s...
academic.oup.com
The Continuum of Violence: A Gender Perspective on War and Peace
Abstract. This chapter suggests that a gender perspective on the successive moments in the flux of peace and war is not an optional extra but a stark neces
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Sally Engle Merry's "The Seductions of Quantification" -- a great conversation starter for how to count wartime violence and why it feels important: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
press.uchicago.edu
The Seductions of Quantification
We live in a world where seemingly everything can be measured. We rely on indicators to translate social phenomena into simple, quantified terms, which in turn can be used to guide individuals, organi...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
"No War No Peace" by @rogermacginty.bsky.social -- by far the most cited by students during their oral exams. We started the semester questioning if "war" and "peace" were the only two options in world politics, and (spoiler) they weren't! www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
No War, No Peace: Why So Many Peace Processes Fail to Deliver Peace
Download Citation | No War, No Peace: Why So Many Peace Processes Fail to Deliver Peace | Many societies emerging from civil war can be described as experiencing ‘no war, no peace’ situations. Despite...
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David Eichert @davideichert.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
The semester is ending here in Paris & I'm looking back on what worked best. In case anyone needs some syllabus help or summer reading, here are a few great readings from my IR/history course on "War and Peace" 🕊️
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