To mark International Women's Day on 8 March 2016, Ciné-ONU Vienna presented "Burden of Peace", a documentary about Claudia Paz y Paz, the first female Attorney General of Guatemala who had a major impact on the Guatemalan justice system by indicting major criminals and fighting impunity. In her fight for justice, she achieved what no one has done before her: she indicted former dictator Efraín Rios Montt on charges of genocide. His conviction became the first in the world of a former Head of State for genocide in a national court.
In his message for International Women's day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of empowering women as agents of change. Claudia Paz y Paz shows us the important role of women in the peace process and the unique challenges women face.
Following the film there was a panel discussion with the President of the UN Women National Committee Austria, Lilly Sucharipa, Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, Angela Kane, and Olga Zudova, Senior Legal Advisor at UNODC, moderated by UNIS Director Martin Nesirky.
The film was screened by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna in cooperation with the National Committee for UN Women (Austria), This Human World (THW) Film Festival and Topkino.
