Source: http://progress.unwomen.org/pdfs/EN-Report-Progress.pdf
UN Women is the United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their rights worldwide.
UN Women recently published a report Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice that examines the injustice that far too many women endure. It also highlights how essential it is to see women as far more than victims, but as agents of change. The report’s comprehensive statistics, compelling stories and keen analysis combine to offer a sound basis for action. It is recommended for all people who care about building a world of equality, opportunity and justice for all.
Progress of the World’s Women outlines ten recommendations to make justice systems work for women. They are proven and achievable and, if implemented, they hold enormous potential to increase women’s access to justice and advance gender equality.
These recommendations are as under:
Support women’s legal organizations: Women’s legal organizations are at the forefront of making justice systems work for women. Where government funded legal aid is limited, women’s organizations step in to provide the advice and support that women need to pursue a legal case, to put a stop to violence, to seek a divorce or to claim land that is rightfully theirs.
Implement gender- sensitive law reform: Gender-sensitive law reform is the foundation for women’s access to justice. Without a solid legal foundation, attempts to make courts more accessible to women, police less hostile to their complaints and other necessary reforms to the administration of justice are likely to founder.
Support one-stop shops to reduce attrition in the justice chain: The justice chain, the series of steps that a woman must take to seek redress, is characterized by high levels of attrition, whereby cases are dropped as they progress through the system. As a result, only a fraction of cases end in a conviction or a just outcome
Put women on the front line of law enforcement: Under-reporting of crimes against women is a serious problem in all regions. Across 57 countries, crime surveys show that on average 10 percent of women say they have experienced sexual assault, but of these only 11 percent reported it. This compares to a similar incidence of robbery, on average 8 percent, but a reporting rate of 38 percent.
Invest in women’s access to justice: Making justice systems work for women – whether through catalyzing legal reform, or supporting legal aid, one-stop shops and training for judges – requires investment. Recognizing the importance of strengthening the rule of law, governments spend a significant amount on justice aid. However, targeted funding for gender equality remains low.
Train judges and monitor decisions: Balanced, well-informed and unbiased judicial decision-making is an essential part of ensuring that women who go to court get justice. However, even where laws are in place to guarantee women’s rights, they are not always properly or fairly applied by judges.
Increase women’s access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict: Sexual violence as a tactic of warfare has been used systematically and deliberately for centuries. It is used against civilian populations as a deliberate vector of HIV, for the purpose of forced impregnation, to drive the forcible displacement of populations and to terrorize whole communities.
Implement gender-responsive reparations programs: Reparations are the most victim focused justice mechanism and can be an essential vehicle for women’s recovery. In the Central African Republic, in common with many post-conflict contexts, women say that reparations are needed to help them recover losses and alleviate poverty, but they are also important to recognize women’s suffering.
Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators: In countries where women’s representation in parliament increases substantially, new laws that advance women’s rights often follow.
Put gender equality at the heart of the Millennium Development Goals: The MDGs are interdependent and each one depends on making progress on women’s rights. Scaling up investment and action on the gender equality dimensions of all the Goals has the dual advantage of addressing widespread inequality and accelerating progress overall.
